At the end of the 19th century， the movie was introduced into China. In 1896， a Western movie was shown in Shanghai， which was the first movie showing in China. In 1905， a photo studio in Beijing made the first Chinese movie， which was only a collection of scenes from a Beijing opera based on the classical novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the early thirties， many revolutionary movies were produced， such as Spring Silkworms， Plunder of Peach and Plum， Three Modern Women， The Great Road， Song of the Fishermen， and Crossroads. These movies reflect the realities of society and the wishes of the people.

During the Anti-Japanese War， many progressive movies were made， such as Defend Our Land， The March of Victory， The North is Ours， Sons and Daughters of China， and The Snowy Taihang Mountains. The movies reflected the peoples requirement for resistance against Japan.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War， a great number of excellent movies were produced， such as Remote Love， Along the Songhua River， Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon， and The Spring River Flows East. All of them are about the peoples life or struggles during the War against Japan.

In the liberated areas， the founding of the Yanan Movie Group marks the starting point of the peoples movie industry. This group shot valuable documentaries which included Yanan and the Eighth Route Army， Dr. Norman Bethune， and Nanniwan. In 1946， the Yanan Movie Studio was founded and recorded part of the Liberation War. In October， the Northeast Movie Studio was established. Its main productions were seventeen newsreels entitled The Democratic Northeast.

Many old progressive movies made before the founding of the Peoples Republic of China adopted the realistic style； they， therefore， reflect Chinese society and the lives of the people and show sympathy for the poor. Early movie-makers owned clear purpose of their work： to make movies which could entertain the ordinary people so they made an effort to make the plot development， customs and habits， language and acting of their movies conform to the tastes of the audience. Obviously， the pioneers of Chinas progressive movies made great contributions to the development of Chinas movie industry.

19世紀(jì)末期，電影被引入中國。在中國播放的第一部電影是一部西方電影于1896年在上海上映。 1905年，北京一家照相室選取京劇傳統(tǒng)曲目《三國演義》的一些簡單場景制作了中國第一部電影。在中國電影事業(yè)發(fā)展的最初30年中，出產(chǎn)了許多革命電影，例如：《春蠶》《桃李劫》《三個摩登女性》《大路》《溫光曲》《十字街頭》這些電影集中反映了當(dāng)時(shí)社會的現(xiàn)狀和人民的愿望。

抗戰(zhàn)期間，許多進(jìn)步電影誕生了，例如《保衛(wèi)我們的土地》《勝利進(jìn)行曲》《華北是我們的》《中華兒女》《風(fēng)雪太行山》。這些電影都反映了人民要求堅(jiān)持抗戰(zhàn)的強(qiáng)烈愿望。

抗戰(zhàn)勝利后，中國電影發(fā)行了如《遙遠(yuǎn)的愛》《松花江上》《八千里路云和月》和《一江春水向東流》等大批反映抗戰(zhàn)時(shí)期人民生活和斗爭的杰出電影。

在解放區(qū)，延安電影團(tuán)的成立標(biāo)志著人民電影事業(yè)的開始。先后拍攝了《延安與八路軍》《白求恩大夫》和《南泥灣》等一些價(jià)值很高的紀(jì)錄片。1946年，延安電影制片廠成立，出品了一些解放戰(zhàn)爭的影片。10月，東北電影制片廠成立，主要作品為17部系列新聞片《民主東北》。

新中國成立前很多進(jìn)步影片采用了現(xiàn)實(shí)主義形式，反應(yīng)了中國社會現(xiàn)實(shí)同時(shí)表達(dá)了對窮苦大眾的同情。早期電影制片人的創(chuàng)作目的明確——愉悅普通老百姓，早期電影工作者努力使情節(jié)發(fā)展、風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣、語言、表演都能符合觀眾品位。中國進(jìn)步電影的先驅(qū)們?yōu)橹袊娪笆聵I(yè)的發(fā)展做出了顯然的巨大貢獻(xiàn)。