The thrilling story of the 1927 version of Journey to the West, which was banned from screening

For fans of the work Journey to the west, Most are familiar with the classic 1986 TV series version. But few people know that this famous film also has a version born in 1927.

According to Thepaper, version Journey to the west this has a name Ban To Cave produced in the 1920s in Shanghai (China), is recognized by experts as the first film adapted from a mythical novel by Ngo Thua An.

1927 version of Journey to the West.

The work is produced in the silent film genre, in black and white form, directed by Dan Do Vu, the female lead is An Minh Chau – Dan Do Vu’s wife.

The project helps the couple Dan Do Vu – An Minh Chau receive a remuneration of 50,000 yuan. At that time, the average family in Shanghai only spent 30 VND/month. With this huge amount of money, the director and his wife used to buy equipment to make the next films.

In 1929, following the success of the first part, Dan Do Vu performed the second part. However, then both parts were banned from showing because the actors were boldly dressed, the film had many scenes that were considered “destructive of fine customs”.

Although the 1927 version of Journey to the West was produced in China, the place where it was discovered was in Norway.

Almost no one knew about this work until 2011, when the National Library of Norway reviewed the 9,000 ancient film reels they were storing.

While recounting, the National Library of Norway suddenly found a film reel with the title in Chinese, known to be the first Asian film to be shown in this country. Only then did they find out that this movie is based on the novel Journey to the west famous author Ngo Thua An.

The reel has both Chinese and Norwegian subtitles, considered the only surviving copy as the original could not be found. Due to being stored for too long, many footages have been severely damaged. Therefore, experts in Norway had to restore it before returning it to the China Film Archive since 2014.

The makeup of the characters looks extremely scary, no less than horror movies today.

Associate professor at the Institute of Humanities and Humanities of Tongji University, Shanghai, Thang Duy Kiet, evaluates the film Journey to the West: Ban To Cave belongs to the “blockbuster” of the 1920s, marking breakthroughs in the use of art effects and techniques.

The film tells the story of Tang Tang’s teachers and students having an accident with 7 spider goblins. The actors playing the spider elves are all men. They dress poorly, the scene has no sound, has a horror color that scares many audiences.

Because it is a silent film, it is difficult to comment on the content as well as the details of Journey to the west this 1927 edition. However, based on the images in the film, it shows the acting level of actors in the leading ranks of Chinese cinema.

Revealing clothes in a scene of the movie.

When the images in the film were released, many viewers were surprised with the level of “boldness” of the actors at that time. In many scenes, it can be seen that both male and female actors are not afraid to show off their skin on the big screen.

Some people think that this is understandable because at that time, Western culture had been introduced into China, so the actors had to dress up to be trendy and in line with the public’s tastes.