Long-lost Chinese spider women film Cave of the Silken Web (1927) to screen on Halloween



Two women standing behind a large spider web

Pearl Ing as the Spider Queen in Cave of the Silken Web (1927)

Cave of the Silken Web (Pan si dong), a 1927 Chinese film that was lost for over eighty years until a partial copy was rediscovered in Norway, has been translated into English by UBC professor Christopher Rea and will be made available free to the public this Halloween.

The silent film adapts an episode from the Ming dynasty novel The Journey to the West, in which the monk Tripitaka is held prisoner in a cave by magical spider-women, before being rescued by the Monkey King and his companions. In the surviving reels, the spider-women attempt to poison the monk, and then force him to marry the Spider Queen, played by silent film star Pearl Ing.

A monk surrounded by women on both sides, one women stroking his chin

Spider-women attempt to seduce the monk Tripitaka

The version of the surviving print that will be screened at UBC this Halloween is a restored digital copy that the National Library of Norway shared with the UBC Chinese Film Classics Project, the world’s largest free online collection of early Chinese films with English subtitles.

The film contains both Chinese and Norwegian intertitles, which often do not match. The Norwegian dialogue includes jokes added for 1920s Norwegian viewers—some of which are very much of their time, says Dr. Rea, the Project founder and author of the book Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949. “When the beautiful queen shocks the monk by transforming into a hideous spider on their wedding night, the Norwegian text makes a quip along the lines of ‘Husbands know this is just what marriage does to a woman.’”

On the left, a beautiful women and on the right, a furry spider

The Spider Queen, before and after marriage

Cave of the Silken Web is significant for several reasons,” says Rea. “It’s an outstanding example of the bold costuming and extensive special effects found in 1920s Chinese films. It is one of the earliest surviving film adaptations of Journey to the West, which has been a perennial favorite with Chinese filmmakers and audiences. The Norwegian-Chinese connection is also further evidence of what film historians know well: that Chinese film culture has been global since early days.”

A free live screening of Cave of the Silken Web, with a new musical score by Donald Sosin, will be held at at the UBC Asian Centre (1871 West Mall, Vancouver), at 12noon on October 31. The screening will be followed by a conversation between UBC professors Mila Zuo and Christopher Rea. On Halloween, the new translation of the film will also be published on YouTube.

 

Contact: Christopher Rea (chris.rea@ubc.ca)