Previous note link is kak so here my copy/pasted note from a few weeks ago.
This extraordinary animation, 大鬧天宮 (Havoc in Heaven) is from the Shanghai Animation Film Studio and this particular scene is taken from the second part of the film that was completed in 1964 (the first part was completed in 1961). The film is based on the classic story “Journey to the West”. It was released for viewing in 1965. The four Wan brothers are regarded as the fathers of animation in China and were famous for the animation “Princess Iron Fan” in 1941. They were Wan Laiming, Wan Guchan, Wan Chaochen and Wan Dihuan.
It is somewhat of a miracle that the makers were able to complete the film as it was just after the Anti-Rightist Campaign in which the CCP killed anywhere from 550,000 to 2 million intellectuals and party members who were suspected of not being leftist enough. Indeed, this was to be the last major animated film made in China before the whole industry was shut down because of the Cultural Revolution that began in 1966.
I’ve chosen this version as it is the original with original Peking Opera soundtrack. Later versions have had a different soundtrack and also been brightened and colourised. While the newer versions are also stunning I prefer this original aesthetic as it is the version I first saw as a young boy in the early 1970s.
This is the scene where 孫悟空, the Monkey King, fights with 二郎神, Erlang Shen.
I will try to upload the whole original two part movie at some point with English subtitles.
https://www.flare.pub/w/naddr1qqrk5snzw4jrvjgzyrt4xcnqhzx00ewv8l9ylq3ypu6zhsycwck08wz46htkteuvjhwukqcyqqqgtwcst3h23
