Ang Aswang (1933)

1933 – Ang Aswang (Manila Talkatone)

[Release date 1st January 1933; the first optical sound film in the Philippines, also released with the English title “The Witch”]  

Director/Producer George Musser Cinematography Charles Miller Sound William P. Smith   

Cast Celia Xerex-Burgos, Luis Ayesa, Arturo Swanson, Matias Garcia, Monserrat Garcia, Mary Walter, Monang Carvajal   

HORROR  

Info researched and compiled by Isidra Reyes ANCX, and posted on Facebook's "The Aswang Project"

The very first movie photographed in the Philippines with optical sound was Manila Talkatone Studio’s Ang Aswang (1933).

This was also the first feature film produced by Manila Talkatone Studios which took a year to complete. According to Nick de Ocampo’s Film, American Influences on Philippine Cinema, George Musser (the Director) did not devote all his time to making the film and only shot on weekends and holidays. 

Despite its Filipino language title, the dialogue of Ang Aswang was in Spanish and English, perhaps to reach a wider audience abroad, particularly the United States and Latin America. Ang Aswang even had an English title, The Vampire, perhaps for non-Filipino viewers unfamiliar with this Philippine mythological creature. Starring in the film together with the actress Mary Walter and “Queen of Horror Pictures” Monang Carvajal were newcomers Monserrat Garcia, Arturo Swanson, stage veteran Matias Garcia, and the beautiful Celia Xerez-Burgos who was entrusted with the leading female role. 

Aswangs in various forms and guises have long fascinated Filipino filmmakers and moviegoers. The very first Tagalog horror photoplay was Jose Nepomuceno’s Tianak (1926)*, starring Rosa del Rosario and Rogelio de la Rosa, which was a huge moneymaker. Jose Nepomuceno followed it up with Ang Mananaggal (1927) with Mary Walter in the title role. 

Still photo from George Musser’s Ang Aswang (1933) showing a levitating aswang. (Source: CCP Encyclopedia of Art, Second Edition, Vol. 6-Film)

* Tianak was in fact released in 1932 and not in 1926, thus making Ang Mananangaal (1927) the first Filipino horror film.