The film:
A horror-musical! Phantom of the Opera (1925) inspired Song at Midnight’s premise and the genre atmospherics, but this film has a lot more going on, including a convoluted revolutionary backstory for the maimed “phantom” and a violent love triangle. The marketing campaign claimed that the film scared a child to death.
Yeban gesheng
Director: Ma-Xu Weibang
Studio: Xinhua
Date of release: February 20, 1937
118 minutes
Music: Sinn Sing Hoi (Xian Xinghai)
Lyrics: Tian Han
Cast: Hu Ping, Jin Shan, Zhou Wenzhu, Shi Chao, Xu Manli, Gu Menghe, Wang Weiyi
English subtitles translated by Christopher Rea
Learn more:
See the video lectures and other material on the Song at Midnight (1937) module of the Chinese Film Classics online course.
Song at Midnight (1937) is discussed in chapter 7 of the book Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949.
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