Family photography underwater photography

20/kloc-one day at the beginning of 0/2, Tina, a film restorer in the Norwegian National Library, came across a copy of a film with the Norwegian word "spider" written on its cover while sorting out the films in the film archive. This replica has been sleeping in this warehouse for more than 80 years. After so many years, it is on the verge of "death" because its material is a very soluble early nitrate-based film.

Tina realized that if she didn't keep this copy, it might really disappear from this world in a few months. Although I don't know whether this film is classic or not, there are pictures more than 80 years ago in it anyway, so Tina decided to repair Spider as soon as possible.

At this time, Tina knew that the film was from China, and it was an extremely rare Norwegian film imported from China. The key is in the 1920s and 1930s. She didn't realize that what she saved was a lost China film.

20 12 in April, Tina came to Beijing to attend the annual meeting of the International Federation of Film Archives held in Beijing. At the meeting, she and her colleagues mentioned that they were restoring a copy of an old China film, which attracted the attention of China Film Archive. After all, as mentioned above, it is really unimaginable that China's films were introduced to Norway more than 80 years ago.

The Norwegian side quickly sent dozens of screenshots to the Chinese side. As can be seen from the screenshot, this is a silent film with Chinese characters and Norwegian subtitles, which is also rare in foreign films imported from Norway.

After appraisal, China film experts quickly made a judgment: "This is the earliest westward journey film" Pansidong "that has been lost for a long time in China, and it was shot in the 1920s!" This news shocked the field of film research in China. After all, there were few copies of China silent films in the 1920s, and the discovery of Pan-Dong Si was undoubtedly a major breakthrough.

The Norwegian side generously said that a copy of the film will be given to the China Film Archive after the restoration. 2065438+April 2004, the restored film and digital copy traveled halfway around the world and returned to China. Pan finally went home.

So, what kind of movie is Pansi Cave? Who is the director and starring? Why does it play an important role in China's film history? How did it cross the ocean and be introduced to Norway? Why can't I find another copy?

Let's start with the director and the starring role.

First of all, the lucky heroine and the bold director.

Yin Mingzhu, male, 1904, from Suzhou, Jiangsu. Her original name was Yin Shangxian, so she was named Mingzhu because her parents loved her very much. Yin Mingzhu's family background is quite good. His great-grandfather was an academician, his grandfather and grandfather were both great figures, his father was a scholar and his mother was a chess player. In such a family environment, Yin Mingzhu has certain attainments in traditional literature and painters.

Yin Mingzhu's life is full of drama. After the family came down, his father died of a serious illness, leaving orphans and widows. But his father loved to buy lottery tickets before his death. On the day of his death, the lottery ticket he bought before his death won the first prize. Yin Mingzhu and her mother buried her father with the bonus, and then moved to Shanghai with the rest of the money. -

Yin Mingzhu entered a Western-style school in Shanghai. She is cheerful, generous and fashionable, and has become a well-known Miss FF in Shanghai.

However, the beautiful Yin Mingzhu didn't have a smooth marriage and affection until he met a young man with similar life experience and like-minded.

Dan Du Yu, 1897, from Jiangxi. When he was young, his father died and his family followed his mother to Shanghai. Dan Du Yu studies in an art school. After graduation, he drew covers and illustrations for magazines for a living.

By chance, a Frenchman wanted to go back to China, and before he left, he wanted to sell a "Ainao" camera in his hand. Dan Du Yu, who is interested in photography and movies, boldly raised a huge sum of 1000 yuan to buy this machine. You know, at that time, the living expenses of a family of five in Shanghai were around 30 yuan, and this camera was equivalent to a family's living expenses for three years, which was a huge sum.

After Dan Du Yu bought the camera, he dismantled it, installed it and dismantled it, and taught himself the working principle and method of the camera. Later, his nephews, grandnephews, nieces and other family members became his partners, and they made many short films together, which was the earliest small video player.

1920, Dan Du Yu became a member of Shanghai Film Company. The only heavy asset of this small film company as a workshop is that second-hand camera. In order to make a film, Dan Du Yu worked as a screenwriter, director, photographer, developer and editor.

The company has it, the script has it, the camera has it, but there is no heroine. At that time, the social atmosphere did not allow women to make movies, and the female characters in some movies were also cross-linked by men like Peking Opera.

One day, Uichiro Niwa and Miss FF Yin Mingzhu met, and they soon reached an agreement on filming, so Yin Mingzhu became the heroine of Uichiro Niwa's first film "Stone Sea", which was also China's first love movie.

1926, Dan Du Yu and Yin Mingzhu got married. At this time, although the Shanghai film company is famous in the industry, it has not yet become a climate. Although Yin Mingzhu has the potential to become a movie star, she lacks a famous masterpiece.

So, 1927, the couple filmed "Pansi Cave", which was a great production of that year.

The second is the "silk hole" that became an instant hit.

1927 pansi cave was filmed and became popular in Shanghai as soon as it was released. In fact, as early as the filming process, there were follow-up reports in the declaration, and this way of news preheating has been used to this day.

The script of "Pan Dong Si" is directly adapted from the original novel of Journey to the West, with little change. The film takes out all the dark, horrible and erotic descriptions in the novel, which can be regarded as a real respect for the original novel.

When we were young, the episode about Pansi Cave in the 86th edition of The Journey to the West was actually greatly deleted. Even so, the horror images of spiders and centipedes, spiders taking a bath and eight quit playing in the water have already made the audience relish. If you want to see what the original is like and don't want to turn over the book, you can just watch the movie "Pan Dong Si".

The duration of the movie "Pansi Cave" 100 minutes. What we can see at present is only about 60 minutes. The beginning and part of the film are missing. According to the records, there should be 72 changes in the Monkey King at the beginning. Other missing content is the most wonderful part of "Pansi Cave". For example, the Monkey King turned into an eagle and took the clothes of Spider Essence. This paragraph is the most regrettable, because according to the data, this eagle is a real eagle, and it took dozens of trainings to make accurate movements, including aerial photography.

The other scene of Bajie turning into a catfish and flirting with Spider Spirit is also very "wonderful", which is the most "attractive" scene in this paragraph, and it is a pity that Pansi Cave actually has underwater shooting.

However, even the remaining 60 minutes of the film are more exciting in terms of content. There are not only erotic images of horror, but also fighting scenes similar to martial arts in Chinese drama, as well as the nonsense of the Monkey King's beating Pig and Bajie, and even some special effects.

Horror, monsters, westward journey, eroticism, comedy, martial arts, etc. With so many materials gathered together, even today's cinemas must have a good box office, not to mention Shanghai in the last century.

Because of this, "Pan Sidong" became an instant hit in the Shanghai market, and the box office and copy income flowed into the Shanghai Film Company. According to the data, Shanghai Film Company earned 50,000 yuan for this film alone. What is the concept of 50,000 yuan? Taken together, it is enough for a family of five to live for one hundred years. Dan Duyu used the money to buy new equipment and even a car. Yin Mingzhu also became the first generation actress in China through this film.

Of course, Pan Dong Si is a silent film. If anyone wants to see it now, they should be prepared psychologically. Although there are subtitles, the silent viewing experience is indeed a special feeling.

3. Why is the "Pansi Cave" lost?

Realistically speaking, although Pan was very popular in Shanghai, it was also criticized by the literary and art circles because the film was too commercialized. You see, the situation of commercial films has always been like this, and sometimes it is difficult to have both the box office and the art.

However, even though "Sacrifice to Pan Dong" is a film with strong commercial and even erotic flavor, its historical reference and research value is immeasurable, which is why the copy of this film is so precious.

So, how did Pansidong get to Norway?

It turns out that Pan's popularity in Shanghai has also driven the movie-watching fever in other regions. Not only domestic cities, but also Southeast Asian countries such as Siam, Annan, and the Philippines introduced the film one after another. Norway also introduced the film to China on 1929, and showed it in the famous Colosseum cinema in Norway for six days. Then it was copied and turned around and entered the Norwegian National Library.

Although there are many replicas in Pansi Cave, few of them have been preserved. On the one hand, it is because of the nitrate-based material of the film, which is very easy to be dissolved by fire, and will rupture itself if the temperature and humidity are not appropriate.

On the other hand, because of the war, two film companies established after Uichiro Niwa were bombed by the Japanese invaders in the 1932/February 28th incident and the1August 3rd incident in 1937, respectively, and their equipment and copies were set on fire. Many copies in other regions also have such bad luck, so "Pansi Cave" was lost in China.

Fortunately, except for a well-equipped film archive, Norway has basically never experienced a war (it surrendered quickly in World War II), so it has preserved a precious replica of Pansi Cave.

Due to the popularity of Pan-Dong Si, many colleagues followed suit and made films on the theme of Westward Journey. At that time, there were movies of Journey to the West everywhere in cinemas. Dan Du Yu is not immune. He filmed the silk cave on 1929. According to records, this movie has a bigger brain hole, and it is a story about centipede essence and spider essence crossing to Shanghai after 1000 years. It can be called the originator of China's crossing film.

It's a pity that the copy of "Silk Cave Sequel" has not been found.

Now, this national treasure "Pansi Cave" can be watched online. What are you waiting for?