Underplayed Gems

The Cave of the Silken Web (1927)

The Cave of the Silken Web poster
Original title
盘丝洞
Directed by
Dan Duyu
Genre
fantasy film, silent film
Country
Republic of China
Runtime
1 min
Rating
5.4 of 10 from 8 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A monk on a sacred journey to retrieve Buddhist scriptures is lured into a cave by six women who are actually spider spirits. They try to trick him into breaking his vows and then plan to eat him. The monk becomes trapped as the women scheme to keep him and one plans to marry him.

whimsicalplayfulsuspensefulatmosphericsilent-eramysteriouscautionaryfantastical

What happens

The Cave of the Silken Web (traditional Chinese: 盤絲洞; simplified Chinese: 盘丝洞; pinyin: Pan Si Dong) a.k.a. Journey to the West – the Spiders Cave (西遊記-盤絲洞; 西游记-盘丝洞) a.k.a. Spiders is a 1927 Chinese film directed by Dan Duyu and starring Yin Mingzhu as the first spider spirit. It is based on an episode of the shenmo fantasy novel Journey to the West, a Chinese literary classic written in the Ming Dynasty. This film follows a monk on a journey to the west to find ancient sutras. Six women lure him into their "spider cave." In the kitchen, away from the monk, the spider women and their servant discuss eating him. They try to get the monk to eat, specifically non-vegetarian food, but he refuses. The monk grows weary and suspicious and tries to leave, but the spider women don't let him. Later, someone accuses the spider women of holding the monk against his will. They deny the accusation and invite the accuser to search their home. Eventually, the monk is set to marry one of the spider women, unaware of her true nature. The ten-reel silent film was produced by Shanghai Yingxi Company. It was thought to be a lost film until 2011, when an original copy of The Cave of the Silken Web was discovered in the archives of the National Library in Mo i Rana, Norway. The film was presented at the 2013 Films from the South 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, but includes additional jokes in Norwegian written for the local audience. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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