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Song at Midnight (simplified Chinese: ????; traditional Chinese: ????; pinyin: Yè bàn g? sh?ng) (also known as Midnight Song, Singing at Midnight or literally Voice of Midnight) is a 1937 film directed by Ma-Xu Weibang. Often referred to as the first Chinese horror film, Song at Midnight is a remake/adaptation of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, though the film injects a significant political subplot involving the leftist revolutionary movement to the original story.
| Song at Midnight | |
|---|---|
The Cinema Epoch edition DVD of Song at Midnight | |
| Directed by | Ma-Xu Weibang |
| Produced by | Zhang Shankun |
| Written by | Ma-Xu Weibang |
| Starring | Jin Shan Gu Menghe Zhou Wenzhu Hu Ping |
| Cinematography | Yu Xingsan Xue Boqing |
Production company | Xinhua Film Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | China |
| Language | Mandarin |
The film stars Gu Menghe, Zhou Wenzhu, and Jin Shan as the disfigured anti-hero Song Danping. Ma-Xu made one sequel to Song at Midnight in 1941 during the war. Both films resurfaced in the West at the Udine Far East Film Festival in 1998. Since then, the film has been shown at various film festivals around the world, notably at the 62nd Venice International Film Festival's "Secret History of Chinese Cinema" retrospective.
Screenplay
Based on The Phantom of the Opera, a disfigured musical genius roams a traditional Chinese opera house, punishing those who offend him. In this version of Phantom's adaptation, the Phantom teaches a guy, while in the original story Cristine was a female singer. The phantom asks the Opera singer to go to his beloved and sings for her, because he left her without any notice.
Today the film is well regarded, and was named as one of the best 100 Chinese films by both the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005, and by Asia Weekly in 1999.
Song at Midnight has also been remade four times. The first remake, translated as The Mid-Nightmare is a two-parter by Hong Kong director, Yuan Qiuxia, released in 1962 (part I) and 1963 (part II). It stars Betty Loh Ti and Lao Zhei. The second remake, also called Song of Midnight, was made in 1985. A third remake directed by Ronny Yu was released in 1995, under of the title of The Phantom Lover. Pop singer Leslie Cheung played the lead role of Song Danping. The film was remade for the fourth and final time in 2005 as a television series.
- Gu Menghe
- Hu Ping
- Jin Shan
- Yee Chau-shui
- Zhou Wenzhu
As part of their Chinese film retrospective, Cinema Epoch released Song at Midnight on Region 0 DVD on May 8, 2007. The DVD includes subtitles in English.
An earlier DVD edition by the Guangzhou Beauty Culture Communication Co. Ltd was released on December 1, 2006 in the United States.