82 Days to Halloween- 1937 Song at Midnight

Over the next 100 days, I will present one movie of significances in horror, suspense or thrillers for each year from 1919 to 2018. The next film presented here is the Chinese language film Song at Midnight (1937) starring Jin Shan, Gu Menghe, Zhou Wenzhu and directed by Ma-Xu Weibang

Song at Midnight (1937)

Dir- Ma-Xu Weibang

This adaptation of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera is the first horror movie made in China and puts more focus on local politics as a subplot. The story focuses on the disfigured Song Danping who was thought dead after he was left to die when the Opera house was burned down by the angry father of the woman he pursued. Years later he now occupies the rebuilt theater hoping to guide their new star. Song at Midnight is considered an important film in China and is listed among the top 100 best films in China by Asian film critics. The movie has been remade four times with the latest entry in 2005.