Tie shan gong zhu (1941)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Directors:

Wan Guchan
Wan Laiming

Release Date:

1942 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation

Cast

Wan Guchan	...	(voice)
Chizuko Kanda	...	(Japanese version) (voice)
Wan Laiming	...	(voice)
Shuichi Makino	...	(Japanese version) (voice)
Musei Tokugawa	...	(Japanese version) (voice)
Chaochen Wan	...	(voice)
Dihuan Wan	...	(voice)
Ichiro Yamano	...	(Japanese version) (voice)

Also Known As:

Princess Iron Fan (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:65 min

Country:

China

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Trivia:

First full-length Chinese cartoon, which owed some of its success to its anti-Japanese tone.

Historicaaly Significant, But Not Great

As the DVD jacket states, this is the first full length animated film produced in China. That alone gives it historical significance, while the quality of the film is pretty good. The story has a lot of things going on. It concerns three travelers, a monkey, a pig face (thats the best I can do) and a human male as they try to travel west. They stumble onto the fiery mountain, where the fires can only be quelled if they obtain the iron fan from the local princess (hence the title). She is beautiful, of course, and does not wish to part with it. There are many great images here, but the story itself is not that compelling. Still, it is not very long, and the film, again, is a pioneering one, so I feel it should be watched.