Ma-Xu Weibang

Ma-Xu Weibang (simplified Chinese: 马徐维邦; traditional Chinese: 馬徐維邦; pinyin: Mǎ-Xú Wéibāng; 1905–1961) was a Chinese film director active in mainland China from the 1920s to 1940s, and later in Hong Kong, perhaps best known for his work in the horror genre, the most important unarguably being The Phantom of the Opera-inspired, Song at Midnight. Ma-Xu was also known for a few acting roles early in his career, as well as for being a screenwriter. The director of 33 known films, much of Ma-Xu's early work has been lost.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ma / Xu.

Ma-Xu was born Xu Weibang in 1905 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Little is known of this early period except that his parents died while Ma-Xu was still a child, which was said to influence his decision to incorporate his wife's surname, "Ma".[1]

Career in film

Ma-Xu studied at the Shanghai Institute of Fine Arts in the early 1920s. Following his graduation, he began working as an actor for the Mingxing Film Company, his first film being Zhang Shichuan's The Marriage Trap in 1924.[1] Following a brief stint in the short-lived Langhua Film Company where he directed his first film in 1926, Ma-Xu returned to Mingxing where he began serving as assistant directors for some of the more established talent.[1] His thriller, The Cry of Apes in a Deserted Valley is the only one of these directorial efforts to have survived.[1]

Ma-Xu's first real success, however, did not come until 1937 with Song at Midnight, often referred to as China's first horror film. Based on Gaston Leroux's classic novel The Phantom of the Opera, the film is now seen as part of the canon of early Chinese cinema, and was also remade as The Phantom Lover by Ronny Yu in 1996. Ma-Xu followed up Song with two additional horror films, Walking Corpse in an Old House (1938) and The Lonely Soul (1938). In 1941, he made a lackluster sequel to Song at Midnight (during the height of the Second Sino-Japanese War), and also co-directed with Bu Wancang the controversial Japanese propaganda film Eternity (also known as The Opium War).

Like Bu, Ma-Xu suffered for his work on The Opium War after the Japanese were defeated and was eventually forced to move to Hong Kong where he continued to work in the film business until 1961, when he was killed in a road accident.[2]

Filmography

Note: in most early Chinese films, there often were no official English translations, leading to a sometimes confusing lack of consistency in titles.

Year	English Title	Chinese Title	Notes
1926	The Love Freak	Qing chang guai ren	Presumed lost
1928	Freak in the Night	Hei ye guai ren	Presumed lost
1929	The Devil Incarnate	Hun shi mo wang	Presumed lost
1930	The Cry of Apes in a Deserted Valley	Kong gu yuan sheng
1934	Pear Blossom in the Storm	暴雨梨花	Presumed lost
1934	Prison of Love	Ai yu	Presumed lost
1935	Han jiang luo yan
1937	Song at Midnight	夜半歌聲
1938	Walking Corpse in an Old House	Gu wu xing shi ji
1938	The Lonely Soul	Leng yue shi hun
1939	Ma feng nu	麻瘋女
1940	Diao Liu shi
1941	Song at Midnight, Part II	夜半歌聲續集
1941	Xian dai qing nian
1942	Yuan yang lei
1943	Eternity	萬世流芳
1943	Qiu Haitang
1947	Tian luo di wang
1947	Chun can meng duan	春殘夢斷
1949	Mei yan qin wang
1949	A Maid's Bitter Story	瓊樓恨	Also known as The Haunted House
1954	Blood Stained Flowers	Bi xue huang hua
1955	Xin yu guang qu
1956	Wo xin chang dan	臥薪嘗膽	Also known as Dangerous Beauty or Beauty of the Beauties[3]
1956	Ghost at Midnight	午夜魂歸	Also known as Foggy Night, Fright Night
1957	The Resurrected Rose	Fu huo de mei gui
1957	Booze, Boobs, and Bucks	酒色財氣
1958	Young Vagabond	流浪兒	Also known as The Vagabond Boy
1958	Hong fu si ben
1959	The Lovers and the Python	毒蟒情鴛

References

1. Robinson, David (Winter 1999–2000), "Return of the Phantom", Film Quarterly, 53 (2): 43, doi:10.2307/1213720
2. Well-known chinese film director dies. (1961, Feb 15). South China Morning Post (1946-Current) Retrieved from ProQuest Historical Newspapers: South China Morning Post
3. Film Screenings

External links

• Ma-Xu Weibang on IMDb
• Ma-Xu Weibang at the Chinese Movie Database