Underplayed Gems

The Legend of the White Serpent (1956)

The Legend of the White Serpent poster
Original title
白夫人の妖恋
Directed by
Shirō Toyoda
Genre
fantasy film
Country
Hong Kong, Japan
Runtime
1h 43m
Rating
6.1 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.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A medicine shop apprentice in Song-dynasty China falls for a mysterious woman with supernatural powers. Their romance draws conflict from villagers, a Taoist monk, and a moneylender.

romanticmysteriousmagicalmelodramaticslow-pacedmorally complexvisually ornatefolkloric

What happens

The Legend of the White Serpent (Japanese: 白夫人の妖恋, Hepburn: Byaku fujin no yōren; lit. 'The Love of Madame White') is a 1956 Japanese romantic fantasy film directed by Shirō Toyoda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Adapted from the Chinese fairy tale Pai-she Chuan and the stories Story of a White Snake and White Woman's Magic by Fusao Hayashi, it stars Ryō Ikebe as Xu Xian, Shirley Yamaguchi as Bai-niang, and Kaoru Yachigusa as Xiao-qing. Set during the Song dynasty, the film follows Xu Xian, a young medicine shop apprentice, who becomes involved with Bai-niang, a mysterious woman with supernatural abilities. Their relationship leads to magical and moral conflicts involving villagers, a Taoist monk, and a local moneylender. The film was released in Japan in 1956 and in the United States in 1965 as Madame White Snake. It won awards for cinematography and received international recognition at the Berlin International Film Festival. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.