Princess Iron Fan

China and Asia, once possessors of a vibrant film industry, were one of the last to produce a feature animated movie. The first full-length cartoon emerging out of the region was China's November 1941's "Princess Iron Fan," inspired by Walt Disney's 1937 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The production is all the more remarkable since the Wan brothers, Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan, the creators of this historic film, was produced while the Japanese had decimated a good portion of China's major cities.

The Wan brothers had been in the animation business since 1926, creating film advertisements while producing their first cartoon, 'Uproar in the Studio" (a lost film). They made China's first short cartoon accompanied by sound in 1935's 'The Camel's Dance.' The Wans managed the Xinhua United Film Company's animated department in Shanghai, once a hub of China's thriving film industry on par with the United States' Hollywood. The city had been overtaken by the Japanese in 1937, scattering its many movie studios. Xinhua was about the only film studio remaining in Shanghai. To make "Princess Iron Fan," the Wans employed 250 artists drawing over 20,000 prints in three years for their adaptation of the 16th-century novel 'Journey to the West.' The feature animated film centers around the Monkey King and his associates who journey to find a magical fan to save their village from fire. They encounter a number of unusual and dangerous creatures to get the treasured iron fan from the vengeful 'Princess Snow White.' Xinhua was able to secure a rotoscope which traces the movement of humans to create realistic animation. A contemporary Chinese film magazine described the process of producing the feature: "Every day for nearly three years, 200-300 technicians worked tirelessly. If you add up all the paper and pencils used in the animation, the quantity would be truly impressive." Chinese audiences filled the theaters showing "Princess Iron Fan." Subtly hidden inside its plot is the cartoon's locust army the Monkey King's friends resisted. The Chinese understood it to be a metaphor for the Japanese military. Whatever independence Xinhua Film Company enjoyed in Shanghai was shattered when the Japanese clamped down on the studio soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Its association with Japan, however, allowed "Princess Iron Fan" to be shown in Japan, where the feature enjoyed an appreciative audience. Future animator Osamu Tezuka saw the film as a teenager, and later said it was this viewing that inspired him to dive into animated films. The so-called Disney of Japan, Tezuka emerged as the most popular animator in that country. "Princess Iron Fan" played a significant role influencing Japan's form of 'anime,' which became popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

Film historian Tian Jiajia wrote the Wans were frustrated by the political situation in China, both during World War Two and post-war, and their work after the release of the milestone feature film was hampered through their remaining years. "The Wan brothers considered their inability to achieve new artistic breakthroughs in animated feature films one of their biggest regrets," Jiania noted. "In the end, 'Princess Iron Fan' became the pinnacle of Chinese modern animated films that subsequent works could not surpass."

I had to watch this because a) it was the first ever animated film made in China, and b) it's an adaptation of part of the classic JOURNEY TO THE WEST series of stories featuring the lovable 'Monkey' and his companions. PRINCESS IRON FAN is short and action packed, and surprisingly well animated for its time. You have to remember that in 1941 China was in the middle of being occupied by Japan, so it's amazing that they managed to make any films during those turbulent times.

The free-flowing animation in this film is one of the things that makes it so easy to watch. The source material is also delightful and the characters instantly recognisable. I was intrigued to see how the animation of the characters is clearly inspired by the look and feel of the early Mickey Mouse cartoons. Some of it is quite juvenile, but the most off-putting thing I found was the way that 90% of the dialogue is shouted, which makes this become tiresome very quickly.

The master and his three disciples are halted in their journey to the west to seek the scriptures. The Great Burning Mountain makes their route impassible. The only way to extinguish it is the Palm Leaf Fan. That is held by Princess Iron Fan, wife of the Great Bull King. While the master stays to preach to the locals, his disciples journey on to get the Great Palm Leaf.

The first Chinese animated feature is a piece of the Journey West legend. Although nominally a tale of deities, the film makers insist it is a parable about humanity, filled with magic, wonder and humor. They have constructed this movie in a variety of animation styles that I find confusing: sometimes graceful, sometimes humorous, sometimes exciting. The images are dimmed not only by the clouds that float through the frame, but also by the poor condition of the print. Although I lack familiarity with the underlying story, it is consistently interesting. Why are some of the background characters portrayed in a recognizably "realistic" style, while others are clearly caricatures? That's up to someone more familiar with Chinese animation to say.

The plot of this movie is probably more interesting for those who are familiar with the original story. Basically there's three henchmen, and they're supposed to get a fan from a princess so that they can put out a magic fire that's in the way for them. As I am not familiar with the original story, I have to admit that I thought the three henchmen were supposed to be considered the bad guys (and I'm still not entirely convinced that the movie for some reasons takes the side of the villains).

It's interesting that the movie opens with a text saying that it's not a fantastical story, but a metaphorical one. Perhaps the metaphors are more obvious for the audience it was made for.

Today, it's the animation that makes this movie interesting. At times it's actually quite good, and with an interesting style. But mostly it's really bad. The rotoscoping is often quite fluid (and nice), but anything that could not be rotoscoped (like the animal faces, or exaggerated movements) is quite jarring. Perfectly understandable (this is one of the first animated features in the world, and the first one from China), and still interesting to watch. It lives up to it's reputation: Obviously influenced by American animation, but still very much Asian.

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.