繁體中文
費穆字敬廬，號緝止，原籍江蘇吳縣，1906年10月10日生於上海。1916年舉家遷居北平，小學畢業後升讀法文高等學堂。1922年他結識朱石麟，並與賀孟斧、宗惟庚合辦《好萊塢》電影雜誌。1924年畢業後任職臨城礦務局會計主任，公餘為報紙寫散文、隨筆，並以敬廬的筆名為朱石麟主編的《真光影報》寫影評。1927年他調往天津出任中法儲蓄會主任。1930年他放棄原有工作，應聘為天津華北電影公司編譯主任，翻譯英文字幕及編寫說明書。1931年他為侯曜編導的《故宮新怨》任助理導演，並開始編寫電影劇本。1932年他自津返滬，正式成為聯華公司導演，處女作為阮玲玉主演的《城市之夜》（1933），其後的《人生》（1934）與《香雪海》（1934）亦由阮玲玉擔綱。1936年他編導的《狼山喋血記》被視為「國防電影」的重要作品。1938年他離滬赴港，翌年底返回上海，籌拍民華影業公司的創業作《孔夫子》（1940）。1941年12月8日太平洋戰爭爆發，日軍進駐上海租界，敵偽組織成立中華聯合製片股份有限公司，他拒絕與敵偽合作而退出影壇，轉向舞台劇，編導《楊貴妃》、《秋海棠》、《浮生六記》、《紅塵》等劇。抗戰勝利後他主持上海實驗電影工場，開拍《錦繡河山》但未完成。1948年他拍出傳世之作《小城之春》，以及由片商吳性栽投資、專為此片成立華藝影片公司攝製、梅蘭芳主演的彩色戲曲片《生死恨》，後者是中國第一部彩色電影。1949年5月他南下香港，翌年得吳性栽支持，與費魯伊、朱石麟等創辦龍馬影片公司，並編寫《江湖兒女》的劇本，惜未及開拍，便於1951年1月30日因心臟病突發逝世。他早年提出以氛圍凝聚情緒的「空氣」理論；《小城之春》以長鏡頭與意境見稱，於2005年香港電影金像獎的「中國電影一百年最佳華語電影一百部」評選中獲選為第一名，並曾於2002年被導演田壯壯重拍。女兒費明儀早年曾參與電影演出，其後成為著名聲樂家。
English
Fei Mu, courtesy name Jinglu, was born in Shanghai on 10 October 1906 to a family from Wu County, Jiangsu. The household moved to Beiping in 1916, and after primary school he entered the Higher School of French Studies. In 1922 he met Zhu Shilin and helped launch the film magazine Hollywood with He Mengfu and Zong Weigeng. After graduating in 1924 he worked as chief accountant for a mining bureau, writing essays in his spare time and, under the pen name Jinglu, film criticism for Zhu Shilin's magazine Zhenguang. Moved to Tianjin in 1927, he abandoned his post in 1930 to become head of translation at the North China Film Company, subtitling foreign films. In 1931 he assisted Hou Yao on Forgotten Grudges in the Old Palace and began writing scripts. Returning to Shanghai in 1932, he became a director at Lianhua, making his debut with Night in the City (1933), followed by Life (1934) and Sea of Fragrant Snow (1934), both starring Ruan Lingyu. His The Wolf Hill Bloodshed (1936) is regarded as a key 'national-defence film'. He came to Hong Kong in 1938 but returned to Shanghai to produce Confucius (1940). After the Pacific War broke out on 8 December 1941 and Japanese troops entered the Shanghai concessions, he refused to join the puppet-run United Photoplay company and left the screen, turning to the stage with plays including Yang Guifei, Autumn Begonia, Six Chapters of a Floating Life and Red Dust. After the war he ran the Shanghai Experimental Film Studio and began, but never finished, Splendid Rivers and Mountains. In 1948 he completed Spring in a Small Town and, backed by the distributor Wu Xingzai, who set up the Huayi company for it, the Mei Lanfang colour opera film Remorse at Death, China's first colour film. Moving to Hong Kong in May 1949, he co-founded Dragon-Horse Films with Fei Luyi and Zhu Shilin and wrote the screenplay River of Love, which was never shot. He died of a heart attack on 30 January 1951. He had earlier proposed his 'atmosphere' theory of cinema, and Spring in a Small Town, famed for its long takes and mood, was voted first in the Hong Kong Film Awards' 2005 list of the 100 best Chinese-language films and was remade by Tian Zhuangzhuang in 2002. His daughter Fei Ming-yi acted in films early on and later became a noted singer.
