05-23-2017, 04:42 PM
This goes back to the beginnings of Shaw Brothers. They hadn't really figured out yet how to do fights for film. These resemble Peking Opera stage routines, and the music is straight out of Peking Opera.
So there's these spider maidens living in a cave, and they rest in their webs and wave their six arms about (two women are hidden behind them and wave their arms to give this nice effect). There's also some theremin music (yay!). Anyway, these spider maidens like to sing and dance. I mean, they really really like to sing and dance. And that's what they do, all twenty of them, though there's maybe three who are the main players.
One day these spider maidens spy some travelers. Son of a gun if it isn't the monk, the monkey king, the pig and whatever -- DM knows this stuff better than I do. So, yeah, this is Journey to the West, and the spider maidens are demons determined to lure them into their trap.
I was entertained for the first 44 minutes. Then everyone started doing magic spells that switched people's identities (e.g., the monkey king becomes the pig and the pig the monkey king, or one spider maiden becomes another one, or another interloper makes himself look like a spider maiden), and it was too repetitive and too easy, so the last 30 or 40 minutes drag.
Still, it was worth the look. Historically it shows where Shaw Brothers started, sort of like Disney with their prototypic Mickey Mouse.
So there's these spider maidens living in a cave, and they rest in their webs and wave their six arms about (two women are hidden behind them and wave their arms to give this nice effect). There's also some theremin music (yay!). Anyway, these spider maidens like to sing and dance. I mean, they really really like to sing and dance. And that's what they do, all twenty of them, though there's maybe three who are the main players.
One day these spider maidens spy some travelers. Son of a gun if it isn't the monk, the monkey king, the pig and whatever -- DM knows this stuff better than I do. So, yeah, this is Journey to the West, and the spider maidens are demons determined to lure them into their trap.
I was entertained for the first 44 minutes. Then everyone started doing magic spells that switched people's identities (e.g., the monkey king becomes the pig and the pig the monkey king, or one spider maiden becomes another one, or another interloper makes himself look like a spider maiden), and it was too repetitive and too easy, so the last 30 or 40 minutes drag.
Still, it was worth the look. Historically it shows where Shaw Brothers started, sort of like Disney with their prototypic Mickey Mouse.
I'm nobody's pony.
