The most immediate drawback to this film is the dialogue. At times it's extremely stiff and stilted, or at least the translation is. But it's still a rather remarkable film for for it's time. Try to get past the whole "Phantom of the Opera in Chinese" thing. If you can get beyond that, and watch the film for what it is in its own right, I think it's far more enjoyable. The interplay between light and shadow in the setting is really interesting, and probably more interesting than the plot itself. It's also amazing how Westernized this is for a Chinese film, from the music in the score to the wardrobe, and really to the action scenes at the end of the movie.
9 Reviews
Song at Midnight
jboothmillard19 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I found this Chinese film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it is often referred to as China's first horror film, there are not a lot of details available about the cast, and not many critic reviews for it, so I watched and made my own mind up. It is loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera by Gasto Leroux (the classic Lon Chaney movie was released twelve years before). Basically mysterious musical genius Song Danping fell in love with the daughter of a wealthy lord. He was beaten, scarred with acid and left for dead years ago in the burning wreckage of the old opera house. Following his disfigurement, he refused to let his lover see him, so he asked someone to write a letter telling her that he was dead. He now looms in the revuilt traditional Chinese opera house, he is looking for someone to star in his own private production, he takes and punishes any person that offends him. It was only a matter of time before his lover returned, she does not appear to have found a new love but being deformed he cannot bring himself to reunite with her. Most of the time he covers himself with his dark cloak, and the only time his lover connects with him is hearing him singing from a distance. There is also a political subplot going on involving the leftist revolutionary movement. Starring Menghe Gu, Ping Hu, Shan Jin, Chau-Shui Yee and Wenzhu Zhou. It may be dated in some regards, but it does have some good macabre drama, the face reveal sequence is most memorable, the singing and music is enjoyable listening, and despite it being a familiar story, it does work well, all together it is a worthwhile classic horror. Good!
Chinese version of a well-worn tale
Leofwine_draca11 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
SONG AT MIDNIGHT is a creaky old reworking of Gaston Leroux's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, with the story transferred across to mainland China, where it gets additional political subtext and meaning. It's a stand-out movie because it was China's first horror picture, and already it has imagery and a look familiar from later Chinese cinema: facially-deformed "baddies", cobwebby sets, a plot spurred by human greed and envy. The film is notable for being very derivative, copying bits and pieces of various Universal classics like Dracula and Frankenstein as well as Phantom; it also happens to be slow-paced with dialogue scenes that really test the patience. However, it deserves plaudits for the make-up and set design alone, and it has bags of atmosphere which makes it a must see for any lover of classic horror cinema.
Enjoyable Chinese contribution to thirties monster movies.
Mozjoukine1 September 2005
It would be nice to see Weibang Ma-Xu's other films. He was a busy director logging up credits till the sixties. This is his film which got most attention, though Chinese intellectuals were apparently dismissive of it. Now that the circulation of mainland DVDs has made the pre-WW2 Shanghai films accessible, SONG AT MIDNIGHT turns up in a battered but watchable copy and is unusually intriguing.
Even without sub-titles, the story can be followed. Viewers are helped by familiarity with the "Phantom of the Opera" origins and Ronny Yu's accomplished re-make which drew on another half century of technique and a bigger budget. You can also see the influence of the Lugosi Dracula here but this is a much better film.
The plot has a traveling operetta company arrive at the run down provincial theatre. Their juvenile is having problems but he is coached to triumph by a mysterious hooded figure, who a flash back reveals is a star disfigured by the local power cartel, when he romanced the daughter of an influential family. The young performer sings under the window of the phantom's old love now deranged, who takes him for her former lover. When his old nemesis menaces the ingénue of the company, the Phantom attacks him and is burned in a tower building by an angry mob. This is not a film that coasts on subtlety.
The film making, while not polished, gets by and is full of imaginative touches and striking images. The actor playing the phantom was thought of as one of the country's best at the time and it is interesting to see his work here.
This is certainly more entertaining than much of the more purposeful work that makes it into critical histories. Anyone with a serious interest in film should seek it out.
Even without sub-titles, the story can be followed. Viewers are helped by familiarity with the "Phantom of the Opera" origins and Ronny Yu's accomplished re-make which drew on another half century of technique and a bigger budget. You can also see the influence of the Lugosi Dracula here but this is a much better film.
The plot has a traveling operetta company arrive at the run down provincial theatre. Their juvenile is having problems but he is coached to triumph by a mysterious hooded figure, who a flash back reveals is a star disfigured by the local power cartel, when he romanced the daughter of an influential family. The young performer sings under the window of the phantom's old love now deranged, who takes him for her former lover. When his old nemesis menaces the ingénue of the company, the Phantom attacks him and is burned in a tower building by an angry mob. This is not a film that coasts on subtlety.
The film making, while not polished, gets by and is full of imaginative touches and striking images. The actor playing the phantom was thought of as one of the country's best at the time and it is interesting to see his work here.
This is certainly more entertaining than much of the more purposeful work that makes it into critical histories. Anyone with a serious interest in film should seek it out.
Holds Up Well
allyball-631242 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Wanna know something funny about this movie? The Phantom-like character in this movie is called Song and the sort of Raoul character is called Sung and the Phantom teaches Raoul how to sing. So Song teaches Sung how to sing. Yeah, I know these are Chinese names but come on, that had to be more than a coincidence. Anyways, onto the movie. Since I do not speak Chinese, I watched a subtitled version that actually had better subtitles! No walksn foxes here! So I didn't have a problem in knowing what was going on although some of the subtitles seemed a little weird, that was most likely a language thing. With so many changes to the Phantom of the Opera story, this is very loosely a version but it does feature a disfigured musician that falls in love with a singer so I guess that's all you really need. Overall, this was an enjoyable flick but it does have a few issues. First off, the first half of this movie is very slow and honestly bored me a little. However, once Song is scarred by acid, the movie really picks up and becomes a fun watch. Song's makeup is also very well done and is certainly the best of the acid disfigurements. Plus, the scene where he sees his recently disfigured face is probably the most poignant scene in the whole movie and makes the whole "deformity is an injury" thing I'm not very fond of, much more tolerable. I also think that Song and Xia have a very genuine relationship and I liked how he was willing to sacrifice his happiness for hers. Though at the same time, that is done out of his own insecurities about his face which is a bit odd to me. They were so obviously in love, I don't think Xia would reject him because of something as shallow as his face. Oh well, maybe that's touched on in the sequel, which I haven't seen yet. Aside from that plot-hole, the story itself is pretty good and the characters are endearing enough. However, and this might just be a culture thing, I don't really get why it's considered the first Chinese horror film when it really doesn't seem to be scary or even remotely creepy. It seemed like more of a romance and drama film than horror.
Cyrano de Bergerac of the Opera
Cineanalyst27 November 2018
The few reviews on IMDb and elsewhere for this early Chinese film "Song at Midnight" are overly generous methinks. It's true there's some haunting black-and-white imagery, but much of the style and some of the story elements are highly derivative of Universal's classic monster movies, particularly the 1925 "The Phantom of the Opera." The plot is meandering, with scenes that last far too long and with too many forlorn looks. The acting is atrocious, wavering between stilted artificiality, with actors seemingly unsure of what to even do with their hands and so just hold them up awkwardly or where to look and so gaze off at nothing, and outbursts of ridiculous histrionics whenever the story calls for displays of emotion. As most mention, this is a loose reworking of Gaston Leroux's novel "The Phantom of the Opera," but more so inspired by the 1925 Lon Chaney adaptation, as well as strangely anticipating some aspects of the inferior Universal remake in 1943. There's also a clumsy political message thrown in. Seemingly less remarked upon, if at all, is how elements from another French classic, "Cyrano de Bergerac," are melded into an already confused and unfocused narrative.
The similarities to the 1925 film are most apparent at the beginning and end: first, with the shadow shots of the Phantom with superimposed titles, just as in the prior version, except he's singing this time, and, later, with the mob chase. Here, the mob is inexplicable other than being derivative of the 1925 film, wherein the story actually built up to it. Similar to the later 1943 version, however, this Phantom is a musician (a singer instead of a violinist) who becomes disfigured by acid thrown in his face, unlike in the book. In this case, the incident initially leaves the Phantom, named Song Dangping here, with his face and hands wrapped in bandages, which ironically recalls the appearance of the Invisible Man in the 1933 film as played by Claude Rains, who would also go on to star in the 1943 "Phantom of the Opera." Like the 1943 film and most of the adaptations thereafter--worst of all the 2004 adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber integrated musical--this one is also bogged down by musical numbers that interrupt the main horror plot. (The one musical version I'd recommend is the loose reworking "Phantom of the Paradise" (1974).)
Otherwise, "Song at Midnight" is similar to other later romantic retellings of Leroux's story, which downplay or, as here, entirely erase the criminal misdeeds of the Phantom. Instead, a random villain is invented--not unlike the 1962 Hammer adaptation, where the villain was also a sexual deviant. Here, as we learn in an extended flashback, Dangping was a political revolutionary as well as a famous singer. Anyways, after the acid attack leaves him as perhaps the most grotesque Phantom I've seen on the screen, to give credit where it's due, Dangping enlists another singer as a surrogate for romancing his former lover, who misbelieves that Dangping is dead. Essentially, this is what Cyrano de Bergerac did, too, to hide his big nose. The Phantom even teaches the younger singer to sing to her.
Little of what make Leroux's story interesting is here. There's no Christine faced with the dilemma between her art, as represented by the Phantom, and a normal life, as embodied by Raoul. The only love triangle in the film at all is tacked on at the end and is more a threat of rape than an actual choice for the woman. "Faust," the original play-within-the-play, which reflected this outer Faustian bargain put to Christine is gone; here, exchanged for "Yellow River Love," a clunky political romance like the outer narrative and Dangping's "Red Blooded," which replaces the Phantom's opera "Don Juan Triumphant" from the book, I suppose. At least, the plays within still relate to the main outer play, though, unlike in the 1943 and other adaptations, even if it is for the clumsy political metaphor of light and darkness. Otherwise, the theatre here is considerably smaller than the Palais Garnier of Paris and, in general, architecture figures less prominently in this adaptation than in others or the book.
What the film does have are rooms full of cobwebs and stormy nights, for the sort of atmosphere one might expect from an old-dark-house horror mystery. There's even an old man with a limp who just seems to be in the film for the same reason. Oddly, in one sequence, the theatre is so cold that you can see the actors' breath. There's also some nice use of fog, moving camera shots and canted angles, but much of this style seems derivative of Hollywood horror output, and some of the canted angles, in particular, are employed for shots that don't seem to call for them. One of the more avante-garde camera tricks to affect the appearance of a room spinning also does no favors to the histrionics of the actress when she learns of the supposed death of Dangping--and just makes the scene rather laughable. Other shots and scenes are just too long; a half hour should've easily been cut from the film. The repetitive shots of the old man leading the theatrical troupe down a corridor, for instance, are especially needless. One can overlook the creaky soundtrack by contrast.
(Note: The Phantom's disfigurement is revealed to him and the spectator through a mirror.)
The similarities to the 1925 film are most apparent at the beginning and end: first, with the shadow shots of the Phantom with superimposed titles, just as in the prior version, except he's singing this time, and, later, with the mob chase. Here, the mob is inexplicable other than being derivative of the 1925 film, wherein the story actually built up to it. Similar to the later 1943 version, however, this Phantom is a musician (a singer instead of a violinist) who becomes disfigured by acid thrown in his face, unlike in the book. In this case, the incident initially leaves the Phantom, named Song Dangping here, with his face and hands wrapped in bandages, which ironically recalls the appearance of the Invisible Man in the 1933 film as played by Claude Rains, who would also go on to star in the 1943 "Phantom of the Opera." Like the 1943 film and most of the adaptations thereafter--worst of all the 2004 adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber integrated musical--this one is also bogged down by musical numbers that interrupt the main horror plot. (The one musical version I'd recommend is the loose reworking "Phantom of the Paradise" (1974).)
Otherwise, "Song at Midnight" is similar to other later romantic retellings of Leroux's story, which downplay or, as here, entirely erase the criminal misdeeds of the Phantom. Instead, a random villain is invented--not unlike the 1962 Hammer adaptation, where the villain was also a sexual deviant. Here, as we learn in an extended flashback, Dangping was a political revolutionary as well as a famous singer. Anyways, after the acid attack leaves him as perhaps the most grotesque Phantom I've seen on the screen, to give credit where it's due, Dangping enlists another singer as a surrogate for romancing his former lover, who misbelieves that Dangping is dead. Essentially, this is what Cyrano de Bergerac did, too, to hide his big nose. The Phantom even teaches the younger singer to sing to her.
Little of what make Leroux's story interesting is here. There's no Christine faced with the dilemma between her art, as represented by the Phantom, and a normal life, as embodied by Raoul. The only love triangle in the film at all is tacked on at the end and is more a threat of rape than an actual choice for the woman. "Faust," the original play-within-the-play, which reflected this outer Faustian bargain put to Christine is gone; here, exchanged for "Yellow River Love," a clunky political romance like the outer narrative and Dangping's "Red Blooded," which replaces the Phantom's opera "Don Juan Triumphant" from the book, I suppose. At least, the plays within still relate to the main outer play, though, unlike in the 1943 and other adaptations, even if it is for the clumsy political metaphor of light and darkness. Otherwise, the theatre here is considerably smaller than the Palais Garnier of Paris and, in general, architecture figures less prominently in this adaptation than in others or the book.
What the film does have are rooms full of cobwebs and stormy nights, for the sort of atmosphere one might expect from an old-dark-house horror mystery. There's even an old man with a limp who just seems to be in the film for the same reason. Oddly, in one sequence, the theatre is so cold that you can see the actors' breath. There's also some nice use of fog, moving camera shots and canted angles, but much of this style seems derivative of Hollywood horror output, and some of the canted angles, in particular, are employed for shots that don't seem to call for them. One of the more avante-garde camera tricks to affect the appearance of a room spinning also does no favors to the histrionics of the actress when she learns of the supposed death of Dangping--and just makes the scene rather laughable. Other shots and scenes are just too long; a half hour should've easily been cut from the film. The repetitive shots of the old man leading the theatrical troupe down a corridor, for instance, are especially needless. One can overlook the creaky soundtrack by contrast.
(Note: The Phantom's disfigurement is revealed to him and the spectator through a mirror.)
Wonderful early Chinese horror
jluis198414 September 2007
Ever since it was conceived by French writer Gaston Leroux in his novel, "The Phantom of the Opera", the tale of a disfigured musical genius who roams the Opera house has become one of the most famous horror stories of all, and the inspiration of many films. Without a doubt, the most famous of those films was Rupert Julian's "The Phantom of the Opera", produced by Universal studios in 1925 with Lon Chaney as the Phantom. That classic adaptation would be one of Universal's biggest hits of all time, and not only in America, as literally in every country it was shown it became very popular. In one of its showings, the film was seen by a young Chinese filmmaker named Weibang Ma-Xu, whom fascinated by Chaney's performance, conceived his very own version of the story and titled it "Ye Ban Ge Sheng", literally, "A Song at Midnight".
The story is set in an old theater, where many important actors performed once, but that now is abandoned as rumor says that the ghost of famous singer Song Dangping (Shan Jin) roams the place. One night, an acting troupe arrives, hoping to have success in such a famous theater. However, they all end up disappointed when they see the sad state of disuse in which the theater is right now. Despite this, they begin the preparations for their debut, and young singer Sun Xiaoou (Chau-Shui Yee) is chosen to play the lead. Xiaoou retires to practice alone, as he has troubles to sing the part correctly, and it's at this moment when he hears the ghost of Song Dangping, who appears to teach him how to sing. With the aid of the ghost, Xiaoou is a success, but when he tries to thank his master, he discovers the secret behind the ghost of Song Dangping.
As written above, director Weibang Ma-Xu wrote "Ye Ban Ge Sheng" as a reinterpretation of "The Phantom of the Opera"'s story, however, he only took the concept of the deformed musical genius and created his very own tale out of it. "A Song at Midnight" is essentially, a tragic romance with horror elements, as the plot focuses on the Phantom's inability to be with the woman he loves (played by Ping Hu) and his decision to use his disciple to interact with the world he lost. It's a really fresh take on the concept, as it truly keeps the spirit of the story while at the same time adapting it to the Chinese culture. Ma-Xu plays skillfully with mystery and suspense, as he unfolds the details of the story with the care of an artisan. It's pretty obvious that he loved the concept a lot, as his development of both plot and characters is remarkably good.
Interestingly, the idea of the story wasn't the only thing Ma-Xu adapted from Western film-making, the style Ma-Xu uses in "A Song at Midnight" is also clearly inspired by Universal horror movies of the 20s and the 30s (mainly "Frankenstein" and "Dracula"). With the excellent cinematography by Boqing Xue and Xingsan Yu, together with a slightly expressionist set design, director Ma-Xu creates an ominous gloomy atmosphere of mystery and magic that really sets the mood for this story of horror and romance (most of the scenes are set at night). Naturally, the film has many limitations due to budgetary reasons, however, Weibang Ma-Xu inventively manages to create a very powerful film that looks great despite his limited resources. I also must say that the work of make-up for this Phantom is simply excellent.
The cast is pretty effective in their performances, and despite the natural melodrama of the story, there's little overacting in the film. In his debut on film, Chau-Shui Yee (who would become a big star in the 40s) is very good as the young Sun Xiaoou, and while he looks a bit wooden at times, he truly had a natural presence in front of the camera. As the tragic anti-hero Sing Dangping (Shan Jin) is simply excellent, managing both the fearsome and the vulnerable sides of his character with a great ease and control. It's impossible to know if the singing voices of their characters are those of Shan Jin and Chau-Shui Yee, but their work is simply masterful. Ping Hu plays Li Xiaoxia, Sang Dangping's lover, and while she looks beautiful in her role, she is prone to overacting just a bit too much for her own sake, although it's not really a problem.
While an interesting example for early Chinese horror, "Ye Ban Ge Sheng" is sadly far from being a masterpiece, as there are several details that prevent this film from being perfect. Contrary to what could be expected, the film's main problem is not caused by the low budget, but by the strange pace the film has at times. What I mean is that often the story flows at a good pace but suddenly it gets slowed by long scenes of Chinese opera that, while of great beauty (and very interesting to foreigners), damage the pace the story has and can be boring to people not expecting this (In a way similar to Universal's 1943 remake of "The Phantom of the Opera"). Other than that, the movie is an excellent Chinese entry into the early horror genre, and those with a fondness for Universal horror films from the 30s will find a movie very much akin to their tastes.
Sadly, when it was initially released, "A Song at Midnight" struggled to be taken seriously because Chinese critics considered it was "too American" for a Chinese film. Fortunately, audiences reacted better and it is now one of the most famous horror films in the country (so much that Ma-Xu directed a sequel in the 40s, the Shaw brothers made a remake in the 60s, and recently Ronny Yu has done another version in the 90s). Fans of Asian cinema, this movie was the beginning of all. 8/10
The story is set in an old theater, where many important actors performed once, but that now is abandoned as rumor says that the ghost of famous singer Song Dangping (Shan Jin) roams the place. One night, an acting troupe arrives, hoping to have success in such a famous theater. However, they all end up disappointed when they see the sad state of disuse in which the theater is right now. Despite this, they begin the preparations for their debut, and young singer Sun Xiaoou (Chau-Shui Yee) is chosen to play the lead. Xiaoou retires to practice alone, as he has troubles to sing the part correctly, and it's at this moment when he hears the ghost of Song Dangping, who appears to teach him how to sing. With the aid of the ghost, Xiaoou is a success, but when he tries to thank his master, he discovers the secret behind the ghost of Song Dangping.
As written above, director Weibang Ma-Xu wrote "Ye Ban Ge Sheng" as a reinterpretation of "The Phantom of the Opera"'s story, however, he only took the concept of the deformed musical genius and created his very own tale out of it. "A Song at Midnight" is essentially, a tragic romance with horror elements, as the plot focuses on the Phantom's inability to be with the woman he loves (played by Ping Hu) and his decision to use his disciple to interact with the world he lost. It's a really fresh take on the concept, as it truly keeps the spirit of the story while at the same time adapting it to the Chinese culture. Ma-Xu plays skillfully with mystery and suspense, as he unfolds the details of the story with the care of an artisan. It's pretty obvious that he loved the concept a lot, as his development of both plot and characters is remarkably good.
Interestingly, the idea of the story wasn't the only thing Ma-Xu adapted from Western film-making, the style Ma-Xu uses in "A Song at Midnight" is also clearly inspired by Universal horror movies of the 20s and the 30s (mainly "Frankenstein" and "Dracula"). With the excellent cinematography by Boqing Xue and Xingsan Yu, together with a slightly expressionist set design, director Ma-Xu creates an ominous gloomy atmosphere of mystery and magic that really sets the mood for this story of horror and romance (most of the scenes are set at night). Naturally, the film has many limitations due to budgetary reasons, however, Weibang Ma-Xu inventively manages to create a very powerful film that looks great despite his limited resources. I also must say that the work of make-up for this Phantom is simply excellent.
The cast is pretty effective in their performances, and despite the natural melodrama of the story, there's little overacting in the film. In his debut on film, Chau-Shui Yee (who would become a big star in the 40s) is very good as the young Sun Xiaoou, and while he looks a bit wooden at times, he truly had a natural presence in front of the camera. As the tragic anti-hero Sing Dangping (Shan Jin) is simply excellent, managing both the fearsome and the vulnerable sides of his character with a great ease and control. It's impossible to know if the singing voices of their characters are those of Shan Jin and Chau-Shui Yee, but their work is simply masterful. Ping Hu plays Li Xiaoxia, Sang Dangping's lover, and while she looks beautiful in her role, she is prone to overacting just a bit too much for her own sake, although it's not really a problem.
While an interesting example for early Chinese horror, "Ye Ban Ge Sheng" is sadly far from being a masterpiece, as there are several details that prevent this film from being perfect. Contrary to what could be expected, the film's main problem is not caused by the low budget, but by the strange pace the film has at times. What I mean is that often the story flows at a good pace but suddenly it gets slowed by long scenes of Chinese opera that, while of great beauty (and very interesting to foreigners), damage the pace the story has and can be boring to people not expecting this (In a way similar to Universal's 1943 remake of "The Phantom of the Opera"). Other than that, the movie is an excellent Chinese entry into the early horror genre, and those with a fondness for Universal horror films from the 30s will find a movie very much akin to their tastes.
Sadly, when it was initially released, "A Song at Midnight" struggled to be taken seriously because Chinese critics considered it was "too American" for a Chinese film. Fortunately, audiences reacted better and it is now one of the most famous horror films in the country (so much that Ma-Xu directed a sequel in the 40s, the Shaw brothers made a remake in the 60s, and recently Ronny Yu has done another version in the 90s). Fans of Asian cinema, this movie was the beginning of all. 8/10
Artistically a well made movie.
Boba_Fett113820 June 2008
This is artistically a well made and good looking movie but due to its different techniques and approach being used, that's different from the western way of film-making, this movie is also a hard one to watch in parts.
The first halve of the movie is mostly hard to follow. Basically all you see are people walking around and talking. It's often hard to fully understand what is going on and were the movie and its story is heading to. It however soon becomes obvious that this is a movie that is based on the well known Gaston Leroux novel; The Phantom of the Opera. But no, you can't really regard this movie as a Chinese version of The Phantom of the Opera. It's more a reinterpretation of the novel and it picks some different angles with its story.
This is a fairly unknown and rare early Chinese production and also very little about this film is actually known. It nevertheless is listed at many places as you movie you simply have to see and I can understand why, even though this movie is not completely a successful one really as a movie.
Time has not always been kind to this movie and some of the movie its quality has been lost. The quality and used techniques of this movie makes the movie seem older than it in fact really is. I'm not only talking about the types of camera's being used by also the editing, camera positioning and overall directing style. Also the music and sound often doesn't sound right and seems out of place and as if it got added in a much later stage. movie got made in the '30's, it looks more like it had been made 20 years before that. Asian movies in general often look older than they really are due to its techniques. It's for instance also the reason why most Akira Kurosawa movies look as if they were made in the '30's, while in fact they were made in the '50's. Of course this has changed, since the world now is much smaller.
The second halve of the movie is definitely the best when it mixes its (romantic) drama with horror elements. The movie and its story then soon starts to get truly powerful and the movie becomes an even bigger pleasure to watch.
It was already a pleasure to watch this movie due to its visual look, even though time hadn't been kind on the overall quality of the movie. It using fine, almost at times expressionistic looking sets, which probably had more to do with the budget restrictions of the movie. The movie is artistically more interesting to watch than movie-wise really.
It's acting is obviously over-the-top and also one of the reasons why this movie is more outdated looking and feeling than it's 1937 release date would suggest. The actors obviously weren't movie actors but who can blame them, since in the '30's China there of course really wasn't a movie industry. It also got made in the same year as the second Sino-Japanese war started between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, though there already had been some fighting going on between those two, years before the actual war started, so no big surprise really that this movie got made with limited resources and both cast & crew involved obviously didn't had much experience yet in the movie business, though director Weibang Ma-Xu on a very regular basis, had been making movies since 1926 on and continued to do so till his early death in 1961.
It's an interesting movie to watch.
8/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
The first halve of the movie is mostly hard to follow. Basically all you see are people walking around and talking. It's often hard to fully understand what is going on and were the movie and its story is heading to. It however soon becomes obvious that this is a movie that is based on the well known Gaston Leroux novel; The Phantom of the Opera. But no, you can't really regard this movie as a Chinese version of The Phantom of the Opera. It's more a reinterpretation of the novel and it picks some different angles with its story.
This is a fairly unknown and rare early Chinese production and also very little about this film is actually known. It nevertheless is listed at many places as you movie you simply have to see and I can understand why, even though this movie is not completely a successful one really as a movie.
Time has not always been kind to this movie and some of the movie its quality has been lost. The quality and used techniques of this movie makes the movie seem older than it in fact really is. I'm not only talking about the types of camera's being used by also the editing, camera positioning and overall directing style. Also the music and sound often doesn't sound right and seems out of place and as if it got added in a much later stage. movie got made in the '30's, it looks more like it had been made 20 years before that. Asian movies in general often look older than they really are due to its techniques. It's for instance also the reason why most Akira Kurosawa movies look as if they were made in the '30's, while in fact they were made in the '50's. Of course this has changed, since the world now is much smaller.
The second halve of the movie is definitely the best when it mixes its (romantic) drama with horror elements. The movie and its story then soon starts to get truly powerful and the movie becomes an even bigger pleasure to watch.
It was already a pleasure to watch this movie due to its visual look, even though time hadn't been kind on the overall quality of the movie. It using fine, almost at times expressionistic looking sets, which probably had more to do with the budget restrictions of the movie. The movie is artistically more interesting to watch than movie-wise really.
It's acting is obviously over-the-top and also one of the reasons why this movie is more outdated looking and feeling than it's 1937 release date would suggest. The actors obviously weren't movie actors but who can blame them, since in the '30's China there of course really wasn't a movie industry. It also got made in the same year as the second Sino-Japanese war started between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, though there already had been some fighting going on between those two, years before the actual war started, so no big surprise really that this movie got made with limited resources and both cast & crew involved obviously didn't had much experience yet in the movie business, though director Weibang Ma-Xu on a very regular basis, had been making movies since 1926 on and continued to do so till his early death in 1961.
It's an interesting movie to watch.
8/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
Better than earlier flicks but underrated
zzmale23 April 2004
The literal translation of the title of this movie is: the Song at the Midnight.
This horror flick in the early Chinese movie industry made in the pre-revolutionary era China was better than the earlier silent horror flicks made in China in the 1920's, and like its predecessor, it is rather rare.
Like its predecessor, this Chinese horror flicks made a decade later than the silent horror flicks in the 1920's did not do well in the box office because when it was released, there was something much more horrible in real life: China was at War.
This horror flick in the early Chinese movie industry made in the pre-revolutionary era China was better than the earlier silent horror flicks made in China in the 1920's, and like its predecessor, it is rather rare.
Like its predecessor, this Chinese horror flicks made a decade later than the silent horror flicks in the 1920's did not do well in the box office because when it was released, there was something much more horrible in real life: China was at War.
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