Chinese films of the 1940s
Encyclopedia
This is a list of films produced in mainland China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

ordered by year of release in the 1940s.

For an alphabetical listing of Chinese films see :Category:Chinese films.

1940

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Bi yu zan Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang was a prolific Chinese film director and screenwriter active between the 1920s and the 1960s. He is also known by his Cantonese name, Baak Maan Chong, and his English name, Richard Poh. He was born in Anhui.-Career:...

 
Chen Yunchang
Chen Yunchang
Chen Yunchang was a Chinese movie actress in the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:Chen Yunchang was born in Guangzhou in 1919, but her hometown is Taishan, Guangdong. She starred some popular movies including Mulan Joins the Army in 1939.Chen married Tang Yuhan, a doctor in Shanghai, in 1943...

 
Confucius
Confucius (1940 film)
Confucius is a 1940 Chinese film directed by Fei Mu. Produced during the war, the film was released twice in the 1940s before being thought lost. In 2001, the film was rediscovered when an anonymous donor sent a damaged copy of the print to the Hong Kong Film Archive...

Fei Mu
Fei Mu
Fei Mu was a major Chinese film director from the pre-Communist era.-Biography:Born in Shanghai, China, Fei Mu is considered by many to be one of the major film directors prior to the communist revolution in 1949...

 
Biographical/Historical

1941

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Bi hai qing tian
Bi luo gong zhu Zhu Shilin
Zhu Shilin
Zhu Shilin . was a Chinese film director, born in Taicang, Jiangsu, China. Zhu began his career in the thriving film industry of Shanghai, directing actresses like Ruan Lingyu with the Lianhua Film Company...

 
Family Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang was a prolific Chinese film director and screenwriter active between the 1920s and the 1960s. He is also known by his Cantonese name, Baak Maan Chong, and his English name, Richard Poh. He was born in Anhui.-Career:...

,
Li Pingqian 
Drama Adaptation of Ba Jin
Ba Jin
Li Yaotang , courtesy name Feigan , is considered to be one of the most important and widely-read Chinese writers of the 20th century. He wrote under the pen name of Ba Jin , Pa Chin, Li Fei-Kan, Li Pei-Kan, Pa Kin, allegedly taking his pseudonym from Russian anarchists Bakunin and Kropotkin...

's novel
Princess Iron Fan
Princess Iron Fan (1941 film)
Princess Iron Fan , is the first Chinese animated feature film. It was directed in Shanghai under difficult conditions in the thick of World War II by Wan Guchan and Wan Laiming and was released on January 1, 1941.-Plot:...

Wan brothers
Wan brothers
The Wan Brothers were born in the early 20th century in Nanjing, China. They became the founders and pioneers of the Chinese animation industry and made the first Asian animation feature-length film, Princess Iron Fan in 1941.-Background:...

 
Animation First Chinese animated feature film

1942

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Biao zhun fu ren
Bo ai Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang was a prolific Chinese film director and screenwriter active between the 1920s and the 1960s. He is also known by his Cantonese name, Baak Maan Chong, and his English name, Richard Poh. He was born in Anhui.-Career:...

,
Zhu Shilin
Zhu Shilin
Zhu Shilin . was a Chinese film director, born in Taicang, Jiangsu, China. Zhu began his career in the thriving film industry of Shanghai, directing actresses like Ruan Lingyu with the Lianhua Film Company...

 
Chen Yunchang
Chen Yunchang
Chen Yunchang was a Chinese movie actress in the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:Chen Yunchang was born in Guangzhou in 1919, but her hometown is Taishan, Guangdong. She starred some popular movies including Mulan Joins the Army in 1939.Chen married Tang Yuhan, a doctor in Shanghai, in 1943...

 

1943

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Bu qiu ren
Daughter of the Fisherman Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang was a prolific Chinese film director and screenwriter active between the 1920s and the 1960s. He is also known by his Cantonese name, Baak Maan Chong, and his English name, Richard Poh. He was born in Anhui.-Career:...

 
Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan was a popular Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's seven great singing stars. She is probably the most well-known of the seven, as she had a concurrent movie career until 1953.-Biography:...

 
Romance Yu Jia Nu
Eternity Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang was a prolific Chinese film director and screenwriter active between the 1920s and the 1960s. He is also known by his Cantonese name, Baak Maan Chong, and his English name, Richard Poh. He was born in Anhui.-Career:...

,
Ma-Xu Weibang
Ma-Xu Weibang
Ma-Xu Weibang was a Chinese film director active in the mainland during the 1920s through 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...

 
Chen Yunchang
Chen Yunchang
Chen Yunchang was a Chinese movie actress in the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:Chen Yunchang was born in Guangzhou in 1919, but her hometown is Taishan, Guangdong. She starred some popular movies including Mulan Joins the Army in 1939.Chen married Tang Yuhan, a doctor in Shanghai, in 1943...

 
Drama Controversial film on the Opium War, produced under the Japanese occupation

1945

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber (1944 film)
Dream of the Red Chamber is a 1944 Chinese film directed by Bu Wancang. It is an adaptation of the classic Qing-era novel by Cao Xueqin.- External links :* at the Chinese Movie Database...

Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang
Bu Wancang was a prolific Chinese film director and screenwriter active between the 1920s and the 1960s. He is also known by his Cantonese name, Baak Maan Chong, and his English name, Richard Poh. He was born in Anhui.-Career:...

 
Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan was a popular Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's seven great singing stars. She is probably the most well-known of the seven, as she had a concurrent movie career until 1953.-Biography:...

 
Drama Adaptation of the classic Chinese novel
Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber , composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is considered to be a masterpiece of Chinese vernacular literature and is generally acknowledged to be a pinnacle of...


1946

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Phony Phoenixes Huang Zuolin  Shi Hui
Shi Hui (actor)
Shi Hui , born Shi Yutai , was a Chinese actor and film director who gained prominence throughout the 1940s through 1950s. Despite his fame, Shi became a victim of the Anti-Rightist Movement in the mid-1950s and committed suicide soon thereafter....

 
Comedy

1947

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Along the Sungari River Jin Shan  Zhang Ruifang
Zhang Ruifang
Zhang Ruifang is a mainland Chinese film actress. In 1963, Zhang won Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress for her household character in comedy Li Shuangshuang. She is considered one of "Four Dan Actresses" in China , along with Bai Yang, Shu Xiuwen and Qin Yi.-Filmography:-External links:...

 
War
Dream in Paradise Tang Xiaodan  Shangguan Yunzhu  Drama
Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon
Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon
Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon is a 1947 Chinese film directed by Shi Dongshan and Wang Weiyi, starring Bai Yang and Tao Jin, two actors who were the leads in The Spring River Flows East released that same year....

Shi Dongshan
Shi Dongshan
Shi Dongshan was a prominent Chinese film director throughout the 1920s and 1950s. Shi directed several films that have gained in stature in the intervening years, most notably Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon....

 
Bai Yang  Drama
Emperor's Dream
Emperor's Dream
Emperor's Dream is a Chinese animated puppet film produced by the Northeast Film company in China.-Background:On October 1, 1946 the Northeast Film Studio was merged with the Yan'an Film Studio . The film is known to be produced in 1947 when the northeast company was being disintegrated from the...

Animation
Long Live the Mistress! Sang Hu  Shi Hui
Shi Hui (actor)
Shi Hui , born Shi Yutai , was a Chinese actor and film director who gained prominence throughout the 1940s through 1950s. Despite his fame, Shi became a victim of the Anti-Rightist Movement in the mid-1950s and committed suicide soon thereafter....

 
Drama
Night Inn
Night Inn
Night Inn is a Chinese black-and-white film released in 1947, directed by Huang Zuolin and starring the popular Shanghai singer Zhou Xuan.The film is based on the Chinese theatrical adaptation of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths by playwright Ke Ling...

Huang Zuolin  Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan was a popular Chinese singer and film actress. By the 1940s, she had become one of China's seven great singing stars. She is probably the most well-known of the seven, as she had a concurrent movie career until 1953.-Biography:...

,
Wei Wei
Wei Wei (actress)
Wei Wei is a Chinese actress.-External links:...

 
Drama Adaptation of Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov , primarily known as Maxim Gorky , was a Russian and Soviet author, a founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist.-Early years:...

's The Lower Depths
The Lower Depths
The Lower Depths is perhaps Maxim Gorky's best-known play. It was written during the winter of 1901 and the spring of 1902. Subtitled "Scenes from Russian Life," it depicted a group of impoverished Russians living in a shelter near the Volga. Produced by the Moscow Arts Theatre on December 18,...

The Spring River Flows East Zheng Junli
Zheng Junli
Zheng Junli was a Chinese actor and director born in Shanghai and who rose to prominence in the golden age of Chinese Cinema.-Early years:...

,
Cai Chusheng
Cai Chusheng
Resting Place= Babaoshan Revoluntionary CemeteryCai Chusheng was a Chinese film director of the pre-Communist era. Known best for his progressive output in the 1930s, Cai Chusheng later became a victim to the persecutions of the Cultural Revolution.- Early career :Born in Shanghai to Cantonese...

 
Drama

1948

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Go After an Easy Prey
Go After an Easy Prey
Go After an Easy Prey is a Chinese animated film in black and white from 1948. It is also referred to as "Turtle Caught in a Jar".-Translation:The title of the film is a phrase describing something as easy to catch as a turtle...

Animation North East Film Studio
Myriad of Lights
Myriad of Lights
Myriad of Lights , also translated as Lights of Ten Thousand Homes, is a 1948 Chinese film directed by Shen Fu and starring Shangguang Yunzhu, Hu Yin and Lan Ma....

Shen Fu  Drama
Remorse at Death
Remorse at Death
Remorse at Death is a 1948 Chinese film directed by Fei Mu and generally considered China's first color film. Remorse at Death is a filmed stage performance of the Chinese opera of the same name. It starred and was co-written by Mei Lanfang, one of the century's best-known Chinese opera singers...

Fei Mu
Fei Mu
Fei Mu was a major Chinese film director from the pre-Communist era.-Biography:Born in Shanghai, China, Fei Mu is considered by many to be one of the major film directors prior to the communist revolution in 1949...

 
Mei Lanfang
Méi Lánfang
Mei Lanfang was one of the most famous Beijing opera artists in modern history, exclusively known for his qingyi roles, a type of dan role. Méi Lánfāng is his stage name, and in Chinese it is generally considered a feminine name. His real name was Méi Lán...

 
Musical/Opera First Chinese color film
Spring in a Small Town
Spring in a Small Town
Spring in a Small Town is a Chinese film released in 1948 and directed by Fei Mu . The film was based on a short story by Li Tianji , and was produced by the Wenhua Film Company....

Fei Mu
Fei Mu
Fei Mu was a major Chinese film director from the pre-Communist era.-Biography:Born in Shanghai, China, Fei Mu is considered by many to be one of the major film directors prior to the communist revolution in 1949...

 
Wei Wei
Wei Wei (actress)
Wei Wei is a Chinese actress.-External links:...

 
Romantic Drama Named the greatest Chinese language film made by the Hong Kong Film Awards
Hong Kong Film Awards
The Hong Kong Film Awards , founded in 1982, are the most prestigious film awards in Hong Kong and among the most respected in mainland China and Taiwan. Award ceremonies are held annually, typically in April. The Awards recognize achievement in all aspects of filmmaking, such as directing,...


1949

Title Director Actors Genre Notability
Bridge
Bridge (1949 film)
Bridge is a 1949 Chinese war film made shortly after the Communist revolution in China; as such, it is considered the first film completed after the founding of the People's Republic of China...

Wang Bin  War
Crows and Sparrows
Crows and Sparrows
Crows and Sparrows was a 1949 Chinese film made by Kunlun Studios on the eve of the Communist victory and directed by Zheng Junli. Notable for its extremely critical view of corrupt Nationalist bureaucrats, the film was made as Chiang Kai-shek's Nanjing-based government was on the verge of...

Zheng Junli
Zheng Junli
Zheng Junli was a Chinese actor and director born in Shanghai and who rose to prominence in the golden age of Chinese Cinema.-Early years:...

 
Drama
Daughters of China Ling Zifeng
Zhai Qiang 
War
Orphan on the Streets Zhao Ming,
Yan Gong 
Wang Longji,
Lin Zhen
Drama Kunlun Film Company production, also known as The Winter of Three Hairs
Sorrows and Joys of Middle Age Sang Hu  Shi Hui
Shi Hui (actor)
Shi Hui , born Shi Yutai , was a Chinese actor and film director who gained prominence throughout the 1940s through 1950s. Despite his fame, Shi became a victim of the Anti-Rightist Movement in the mid-1950s and committed suicide soon thereafter....

 
Drama
Three Women
Three Women (1949 film)
Three Women also known as Women Side-By-Side is a 1949 Chinese film directed by Chen Liting. The film, based on a play by the leftist writer Tian Han , tells the story of three women in contemporary China, a former revolutionary, a factory worker, and a Chinese Nora.- Cast :*Gao Zhongshi*Huang...

Chen Liting  Sha Li,
Huang Zongying,
Shangguan Yunzhu
Drama Also known as Women Side by Side

See also

  • Cinema of China
    Cinema of China
    The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...

  • Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures as chosen by the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards
    24th Hong Kong Film Awards
    Ceremony for the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards was held on 27 March 2005 in the Hong Kong Coliseum and hosted by Carol Cheng and Lawrence Cheng. Twenty-nine winners in nineteen categories were unveiled, with films Kung Fu Hustle and 2046 being the year's biggest winners...


External links

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