Mou Tun-fei

Mou Tun-fei
Born(1941-05-03)3 May 1941
Shandong, China
Died25 May 2019(2019-05-25) (aged 78)
Other namesT. F. Mou
Mou Tun Fei
Tun Fei Mou
Chi Chiang He
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active1966–1995
Known forMen Behind the Sun

Mou Tun-fei (Chinese: 牟敦芾; pinyin: Móu Dūnfèi; Wade–Giles: Mou2 Tun1-fei4) (May 3, 1941 - May 25, 2019) was a Chinese filmmaker known for directing the infamous 1988 horror film Men Behind the Sun.

Biography

Mou was born on 3 May 1941, in Shandong, China. His family left China for Taiwan in 1949 due to the Chinese Civil War. Mou attended the National School of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) that could not even afford equipment for the students. Mou thus was forced to learn filmmaking by theory alone, mainly by watching films numerous times in theaters and identifying how many cuts the films contained.[citation needed] After graduation, Mou was assistant director on an anti-communist propaganda film called Give Back My Country and then directed numerous Taiwanese films in a style akin to the Italian neorealist movement.[citation needed] His first and second feature, I Didn't Dare to Tell You (1969) and At the Runway's Edge (1970) were both banned by the Taiwanese government, especially the latter film for containing homosexual overtones.[1]

In 1977, Mou settled in Hong Kong and joined Shaw Brothers Studio. His first film, Gun, was part of an exploitation true crime anthology The Criminals. While at Shaw Brothers, Mou would dabble in crime films (Bank Busters), romance (Melody of Love), horror (Haunted Tales) and kung-fu (A Deadly Secret).[citation needed] However, his most notable work for Shaw Brothers would be Lost Souls (1980), a film telling the story of a group of illegal immigrants taken captive and sexually and physically abused by a gang of human traffickers. Lost Souls has often been called a brazen, vicious and outrageous exploitation film reminiscent of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975).[by whom?]

Mou then left Shaw Brothers to become the first director from Taiwan to work in the mainland.[citation needed] While working on a children’s kung fu film called Young Heroes, Mou began to hear stories about war atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Hearing about the biological experimentation on Chinese prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians spurred Mou to direct Men Behind the Sun (1988), a Hong Kong–mainland co-production about the war crimes committed by the military stationed at Unit 731 in Manchuria. After co-directing the hardcore pornographic film Trilogy of Lust with Julie Lee Wah-yuet, Mou directed a follow-up to Men Behind the Sun called Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre (1995), about the Nanjing Massacre.

Mou died on 25 May 2019 at his home in Philadelphia.[2]

Legacy

In January 2022, the Harvard Film Archive screened Mou's first two films as part of a retrospective examining his early career in Taiwan.[3][4]

Filmography

Year Chinese title English title Director Actor Producer Notes
1969 不敢跟你講 I Didn't Dare to Tell You Yes
1970 跑道終點 End of the Track Yes
1977 香港奇案之五: 奸魔 The Criminals Part 5: The Teenager's Nightmare Yes Credited as "Chi Chiang He"
1977 香港奇案之五: 奸魔 Dreams of Eroticism Yes Uncredited
As part of the "Shaw's Scenario and Direction Group"
1977 包剪搥 Melody of Love Yes
1978 撈過界 Bank Busters Yes
1980 碟仙 Haunted Tales Yes
1980 大大小小一家春 One Son Too Many Yes
1980 打蛇 Lost Souls Yes Yes Credited as "T. F. Mous"
1980 連城訣 A Deadly Secret Yes
1983 自古英雄出少年 Little Heroes Yes
1988 黑太陽731 Men Behind the Sun Yes Credited as "T. F. Mou"
1995 血戀 Trilogy of Lust Yes Pornographic film
1995 黑太陽─南京大屠殺 Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre Yes Yes Credited as "T. F. Mou"

References

  1. ^ "Mou Tun Fei". The Ultimate Guide to Hong Kong Film Directors. Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild. Archived from the original on 2016-09-10. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  2. ^ Lentz III 2020, p. 296.
  3. ^ Burns, Sean (2022-01-25). "Harvard Film Archive Highlights an Unsung Taiwanese Filmmaker". WBUR-FM. Archived from the original on 2026-01-20. Retrieved 2026-01-20.
  4. ^ "Tabooed Initiation: Two Early Films by Mou Tun-fei". Harvard Film Archive. Harvard University. Archived from the original on 2026-01-20. Retrieved 2026-01-20.

Cited literature