Fei Mu

Fei Mu (费穆, October 10, 1906 Shanghai, China – January 31, 1951, aged 44, Hong Kong) was a prominent Chinese film director in the pre-Communist era.

He was born in Shanghai in 1906 and began his career working as an assistant to film pioneer Hou Yao. Known for his artistic style and costume dramas, he directed his first film, Night in the City, at the age of 27 and received both critical and popular acclaim, although the film is now lost. He continued to make films with the Lianhua Film Company throughout the 1930s and became a major talent in the industry. His 1948 film, Spring in a Small Town, was declared the greatest Chinese film ever made by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society in 2005. After the Communist revolution in 1949, Fei Mu fled to Hong Kong and founded the Longma Film Company, where he produced films until his death in 1951. His work fell into obscurity on the mainland but was rediscovered in the 1980s when the China Film Archive re-opened after the Cultural Revolution.

Fei Mu Filmography

 

Lian hua jiao xiang qu

“Lianhua Symphony” – a small collection, consisting of eight short films shot in 1937 by young filmmakers Shanghai Lianhua Film Company.

Spring in a Small Town

After eight years of marriage to Liyan – once rich but now a shadow of his former self following a long, ruinous war – Yuwen does little except deliver his daily medication. A surprise visit from Liyan’s friend Zhang re-energises the household, but also stirs up dangerously suppressed longings and resentments.

Song of China

A businessman moves his family from the city to the countryside to open a school.

Blood on Wolf Mountain

Blood on Wolf Mountain tells the story of a village that is beset by a pack of wolves. Made just prior to the commencement of full-scale war with the Japanese, the film itself is often considered an allegory of conflict between China and Japan.