Princess Iron Fan (1941)

Just what I expected

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I seriously think this is the only Chinese movie I've ever seen that wasn't a martial arts film. Why do I keep seeing Chinese films recently? Anyway, it's the first animated Chinese film. Then again, I can't think of any others at all. This was based on "Journey To The West" which I've heard of a lot, but don't really know what it's about. I was surprised at how surreal the story was.It features a shapeshifting monkey, pig, and man who try to get a magic fan from the title princess. It's always great to learn about other cultures. This is another animated film debut made during World War II, but unlike "Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors", it wasn't a propaganda film. The Japanese certainly saw it though. The animation does look weak many times, but that can be forgiven. With over a billion people, you should know about them. ***

This was the first Chinese animated feature film and I must say the animation itself is impressive. The use of rotorscoping added more than it detracted from the movie, and lent a surreal quality to the atmosphere. The story was handled well enough that it makes me wish to seek out the picture's source material, Journey to the West, since the plot here only covers a fraction of the heroes' adventure.My problem with Princess Iron Fan is that it feels more like an overlong short subject rather than a feature. While the slapstick routines are charming at first, they go on for much too long, making the eighty minute running time feel like an eternity. This one is more for animation geeks and fans of Chinese cinema than anybody else.

First feature length animated film from China is a retelling of some of the story of the Monkey King. Three travelers are stopped in there travels by a huge area of fire. The fire can only be conquered by a fan in the possession of the titled character. They must get the fan from her and deal with further complications if they want to continue on their way.Historically important film is a mixed bag when it comes to entertainment. I know part of the problem, at least to these Western eyes is that the film storytelling is not in a style I'm used to. Its similar in a way to the classic forms of Chinese entertainment. Its also very much of the time with the film looking and acting like other films from the period which in all honesty are not my cup of tea.The animation is a mix of straight animation and rotoscoped action. Ralph Bakshi has argued that in many cases the use of rotoscoping was more in use than we might like to admit, but here the the effect is out in front in all its glory.The more fantastical elements are not rotoscoped- after all how does one copy a fire demon? The background designs are actually quite beautiful, and along with some of the character design the film often takes on the quality of a classical painting come to life.That said, the film can be dull. The film goes on and on in a couple of different directions and it has sequences (a follow the bouncing ball one for example) that make it very much for a specific audience. Its not bad, but it just means that my interest wandered from moment to moment- kind of like when I went to a Chinese New Year show in Manhattan and quickly wondered what in the hell we had gotten myself into.Animation fans and those who want to know about the history of Chinese film should see it. Others may want to consider what they want to do.

The novel "Journey to the West" (Xiyouji) was written around 1590, and to this day forms an important part of children (and adult) culture in China, possibly also in neighboring countries like Japan. The figure of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, has long been the Chinese equivalent of Mickey Mouse, in toys, comics, animations in TV and cinema.Having read a number of Sun Wukong books, I immediately recognized all the crew members: the monk Xuanzang, riding his white horse; Shazeng, the "sand" monk; pig-headed Zhu Bajie. So even though this animation film is old, black & white, and sometimes imperfectly produced, I immediately felt at home with it - and enjoyed some of the ideas very much, like the beetle trick. I'm not sure how children would react to this movie today, but I had my childish pleasure with it!