The Cave of the Silken Web aka Pan Si Dong (1927) 01

The Cave of the Silken Web aka Pan Si Dong (1927) 02

''The Cave of the Silken Web'' () a.k.a. ''Journey to the West - the Spiders Cave'' () a.k.a. ''Spiders'' is a 1927

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

film directed by

Dan Duyu Dan Duyu (但杜宇; 1897–1972), also romanized as Dan Do-yu, was a Chinese film director and cinematographer who directed more than 30 films from 1922 to 1952. He was married to film actress Yin Mingzhu (who starred in his 1927 film '' The Cav ...

and starring

Yin Mingzhu Yin Mingzhu (; 1904–1989), also known as Pearl Ing, was a Chinese actress. Mingzhu was most famous for her role as an actress but was also an investor and production coordinator specifically during her time off camera in the 1930s. She was the m ...

as the first spider spirit. It is based on an episode of the shenmo fantasy novel ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popu ...

'', a Chinese literary

classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

written in the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. The ten-reel silent film was produced by Shanghai Yingxi Company. It was thought to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

, until 2011, when an original copy of ''The Cave of the Silken Web'' was discovered in the archives of the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, o ...

Mo i Rana Mo i Rana () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city, and the administrative centre of the Municipalities of Norway, municipality of Rana, Norway, Rana, in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Helgeland region of Nordland, just sou ...

, Norway. The film was presented at the

Films from the South Films from the South ( no, Film fra sør) is an international movie festival held annually in Oslo, Norway. Movies from Africa, Asia, and Latin-America are shown. The festival has its origin in the student film club of University of Oslo, and has b ...

2013 festival in Oslo. Roughly three-quarters of the film is preserved, the first reel and a section in the middle is lost. The Norwegian copy has retained the original Chinese

intertitles In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

, but includes additional jokes in Norwegian written for the local audience.

Cast

as First Spider Spirit * Xia Peizhen as Second Spider Spirit * Wu Wenchao as

Sun Wukong The Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong ( zh, t=孫悟空, s=孙悟空, first=t) in Mandarin Chinese, is a legendary mythical figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel ''Journey to the West'' ( zh, ...

* Jiang Meikang as

Tang Sanzang Tang Sanzang () is a central character in the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West'' by Wu Cheng'en. Tang Sanzang is based on the historical Buddhist monk Xuanzang. He is also widely known by his courtesy name, Tang Seng, () or Sanzang (). ...

* Zhou Hongquan as

Zhu Bajie Zhu Bajie (), also named Zhu Wuneng, is one of the three helpers of Tang Sanzang and a major character of the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West''. Zhu means " swine" and Bajie means " eight precepts". Buddhist scholars consider that both e ...

* Dan Erchun as

Sha Wujing Sha Wujing () is one of the three disciples of the Buddhist pilgrim Tang Sanzang in the 16th century novel ''Journey to the West'' written by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming dynasty, although versions of his character predate the Ming novel. In the sour ...

* He Rongzhu as Man In White * Chen Baoqi as Yellow Flower Daoist Spirit

Sequel

The film was followed by a sequel in 1930: ''The Cave of the Silken Web II'' () a.k.a. ''Spiders II'', also directed by Dan Duyu and starring Yin Mingzhu. The sequel is believed to be a

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cave of the Silken Web 1927 films Films based on Journey to the West 1920s rediscovered films Chinese silent films Chinese black-and-white films Rediscovered Chinese films

Cast

Sequel

See also

References

External links