Pan si dong

Despite a few missing reels, what we've got is a crammed array of adventure spectacle with the ever-popular Journey to the West bunch (including a notably oily and jumpy Sun Wukong). A particularly crowd-pleasing (and sole remaining) vehicle for the sometimes more serious but always glamorous Yin Minzhu and directed by long-time business partner (and very recent husband) Dan Duyu, so the Spider Lady and minions are much more charming than menacing (she's even charming as a giant spider prop!).

Luckily this story had been made into plays for many years so they knew just how to present it. This is a very classic story and is told in a way that is pretty straightforward. Part of the film was missing so I can't say for sure but unlike most versions of the story I've seen the focus seems more on the demons and less so on the heroes.

So odd watching a obscure Chinese silent film with Norwegian title-cards! Apparently a decent print was found and restored here in Norway and presented in 2014 to the Chinese as a gift. And it's certainly a adventurous film spending a lot of time in caves with large spiders. Not sure the lore of this story got me, but I was intrigued. Definitely had it's entertaining aspects.