MAXU WEIBANG:
A BIOGRAPHY
Maxu Weibang was born in 1905, into a family
from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. His original
name was Xu Weibang; but as his parents died
when he was young, he added his wife's family
name (Ma) to his own. He moved to Shanghai at
the age of 18 and, after graduating from Shanghai
Fine Arts Specialised School, he worked as an assistant
teacher. His greatest passion was the study of
make-up: he would frequently try out different types
of opera make-up on his own face. He wrote a letter
to Mingxing Film Co. boss Zheng Zhengqiu,
offering his services, and got a job as a set designer.
He also acted, appearing in The Marriage
Trap (You hun, 1924), A Shanghai Married Woman
(Shanghai yi furen, 1925) and Young Master Feng
(Feng dashaoye, 1925). Thanks to a lucky chance,
at the age of 21 he directed The Love Freak
(Qingchang guairen, 1926) for Langhua Film Co.
When the short-lived company closed down the
same year, he returned to Mingxing where he
worked as a set designer, actor and assistant director
- in the last capacity on Zhang Shichuan's Love
and Gold (Aiqing yu huangjin, 1926). From 1929 he
worked as a director for several different companies,
both large and small, finally achieving major
success with Midnight Song, the so-called "first
Chinese horror movie," based on The Phantom of
the Opera. When the film opened in Shanghai in
February 1937, to massive publicity, it was a huge
success, and was eventually banned to children
under six. During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-
45), he remained in Shanghai, and continued to
work, even making a sequel to Midnight Song. In
1949 he left Shanghai for Hong Kong, where he
worked at companies like Great Wall and Xinhua. In
Hong Kong, where his first movie was A Maid's
Bitter Story, he directed a variety of films, mostly in
Mandarin, a few in Cantonese, and (at the end of
his career) some opera films in Hokkien. However,
he never equalled the success he had had with
Midnight Song, and his career slowly declined. In
1961 (sources differ as to the exact date) he died in
Hong Kong after being knocked down by a car.
Maxu directed (and mostly wrote) almost 40
movies, the majority of which are thought to be lost.
MAXU WEIBANG:
FILMOGRAFIA/A FILMOGRAPHY
The filmography below is certainly not complete; as
most of the films had no official English titles, those
below are rough translations. For convenience, all original
titles are in their Mandarin forms.
In Shanghai:
1926: The Love Freak (Qing chang guairen;
muto/silent)
1928: Freak in the Night (Heiye guairen; co-regia/codir.;
muto/silent)
1929: Devil Incarnate (Hunshi mowang; +attore/+
actor; muto/silent)
1930: The Cry of Apes in a Deserted Valley (Kong gu
yuan sheng; +attore/+actor; muto/silent)
1934: Pear Blossom in the Storm (Baoyu lihua;
muto/silent); Prison of Love (Ai yu; +attore/+actor;
muto/silent)
1935: A Goose Sets Down on the Wintry River (Han
jiang luo yan)
1937: Midnight Song (Yeban gesheng)
1938: Tale of a Corpse-Haunted Old House (Gu wu
xing shi ji); Poetic Spirit of the Cold Moon (Leng yue shi
hun)
1939: Leper Woman (Mafeng nü)
1940: The Diao and Liu Families (Diao Liu shi)
1941: Midnight Song II (Yeban gesheng xuji);
Contemporary Youth (Xiandai qingnian)
1942: Lovers' Tears (Yuanyang lei); Night Rain on the
Cold Mountain (Han shan ye yu)
1943: Fame across the Generations (Wan shi liu fang;
co-regia/co-dir.); Autumn Begonia (Qiu haitang; due
parti/two parts)
1945: Renewal in the Flames (Huozhong lian wan hu
gengxin; co-regia/co-dir.); Grand Hotel (Da fandian)
1947: Dragnet (Tian luo di wang); Broken Spring
Dream (Chun can meng duan; co-regia/co-dir.)
1949: The Prince and the Beauty (Meiyan qinwang)
In Hong Kong:
1949: The Haunted House/A Maid's Bitter Story
(Qionglou hen)
1954: Blood and Flowers/The 72 Martyrs of Canton (Bi
xue huang hua; co-regia/co-dir.); New Song of the
Fishermen (Xin yu guang qu)
1956: The Unconquered/Hsi Shih (Wo xin chang dan);
Terror on a Foggy Night (Wu ye jing hun)
1957: Resurrected Rose (Fuhuode meigui); Booze,
Boobs and Bucks/Wine, Women, and All the Rest (Jiu se
cai qi); Return of the Swallow/Love in Bangkok (Yan guilai/
Mangu zhi lian)
1958: The Young Vagabond (Liulang'er)
1959: The Elopement (Hong fu siben); Rouge Well
(Yanzhi jing)
1960: Story of Han Kee (Lian Li sheng Han Qi/An tang
ren mu)
1961: The Lovers and the Poison Snake (Du mang
qing yuan; HK-Thai co-prod.)