Song at Midnight (aka “Midnight Song”) is not a typical Chinese horror story as it does not feature any iconographic characters from traditional Chinese horror fiction, such as fox-spirits, ghostly maidens, Taoist priests, itinerant scholars.
It was helmed by Ma-Xu Weibang, a director known for his work in the horror genre, released just months prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War in China.
Often referred to as the first Chinese horror film, or as the first horror-musical, it was inspired by the 1923 silent The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as the 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, and its 1925 film adaptation.
As one of subplot concerns Chinese leftist revolutionaries, it did not easily evade the censorship of Kuomintang. To circumvent the censorship, director Ma-Xu Weibang visited “Yiyong jun jinxing gu” (March of the Volunteers) writer Tian Han while writing the script to ensure that the text would be approved.
Cast
Jin Shan as Song Danping (an opera singer)
Hu Ping as Li Xiaoxia (Song Danping’s lover)
Gu Menghe as Tang Jun (the thug)
Shi Chao as Sun Xiao’ou (an opera singer)
Xu Manli as Lv Die (Sun Xiaoo’u’s lover)
Wang Weiyi as Old Zhang (Old gatekeeper)
Liu Shangwen as the leader of the opera troupe
Zhou Wenzhu as the Nurse
Chen Yun as Shu Fang
Xiao Ying as Li Xianchen
Li Junpan as Zhong Xiaotian
Chen Baoqi as Troupe Director
Wang Yingying as Mrs. Zhong
Midnight Song (aka “Song at Midnight”) (1937): Japan Ma-Xu Weibang
Song at Midnight (aka “Midnight Song”) is not a typical Chinese horror story as it does not feature any iconographic characters from traditional Chinese horror fiction, such as fox-spirits, ghostly maidens, Taoist priests, itinerant scholars.
It was helmed by Ma-Xu Weibang, a director known for his work in the horror genre, released just months prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War in China.
Often referred to as the first Chinese horror film, or as the first horror-musical, it was inspired by the 1923 silent The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as the 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, and its 1925 film adaptation.
As one of subplot concerns Chinese leftist revolutionaries, it did not easily evade the censorship of Kuomintang. To circumvent the censorship, director Ma-Xu Weibang visited “Yiyong jun jinxing gu” (March of the Volunteers) writer Tian Han while writing the script to ensure that the text would be approved.
Cast
Jin Shan as Song Danping (an opera singer)
Hu Ping as Li Xiaoxia (Song Danping’s lover)
Gu Menghe as Tang Jun (the thug)
Shi Chao as Sun Xiao’ou (an opera singer)
Xu Manli as Lv Die (Sun Xiaoo’u’s lover)
Wang Weiyi as Old Zhang (Old gatekeeper)
Liu Shangwen as the leader of the opera troupe
Zhou Wenzhu as the Nurse
Chen Yun as Shu Fang
Xiao Ying as Li Xianchen
Li Junpan as Zhong Xiaotian
Chen Baoqi as Troupe Director
Wang Yingying as Mrs. Zhong