Tunnel Warfare

1965 War 96 minutes Directed by Ren Xudong

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About Tunnel Warfare

In 1942 the war reaches the central Hebei plain. Gaojiazhuang has no hills to hide in, so the militia digs tunnels under the houses. Captain Gao Chuanbao uses the passages to hit Japanese troops and slip away. A turncoat, Tang Binghui, gives the Japanese openings. Gao still traps the unit in the tunnels, deals with Tang, and takes the Japanese officer Yamada alive.

Cast & crew

More about Tunnel Warfare

Ren Xudong directed and co-wrote the script with Xu Guoteng, Wang Junyi, and Pan Yunshan. August First Film Studio made it in black and white. The camera work is by Yang Guangyuan. The company shot at Ranzhuang, the Hebei village where tunnel fighting had started. After the picture was finished, the studio gave a print to the Engineering Corps command.

Themes

  • A flat village with nowhere to hide
  • Tunnels under the houses
  • Tang Binghui's betrayal
  • Yamada taken in the passages
  • Gaojiazhuang
  • Gao Chuanbao
  • Tang Binghui
  • Yamada
  • Ranzhuang
  • 1942
  • Hebei
  • August First Film Studio

Making

The theme-song lyric started from the Gaoping militiamen's own words, which Ren Xudong kept filling in from the battle records. Fu Gengchen's first tunes, written in Beijing, struck him as flat until he went down into the tunnels.

Look

Yang Guangyuan shot it in black and white at Ranzhuang, using the village's tunnel mouths and the plain around them.

Music

Fu Gengchen composed the score. He and Ren Xudong wrote the theme "Tunnel Warfare." Deng Yuhua sings "Chairman Mao's Words Kept in the Heart."

Notes

  • Zhu Longguang plays Gao Chuanbao. Wang Bingyu is party secretary Gao Laozhong. Zhang Yongshou is district head Zhao Pingyuan.
  • Wang Xiaozhong plays the Japanese officer Yamada. Liu Jiang plays Tang Binghui, the puppet commander who informs.
  • Liu Xiujie is Lin Xia. Han Guodong is Da Kang. Peng He speaks the narration.
  • Fu Gengchen wrote the theme after a 1963 trip to Gaoping, where an old militiaman sang a local tunnel song. He drilled the real tunnels and interviewed military adviser Wang Yaonan twice.
  • Deng Yuhua sings the inserted song "Chairman Mao's Words Kept in the Heart," words and music by Fu Gengchen.
  • A 2010 television series of the same name used this film as its model.

Scenes

  • The militia opens tunnel mouths inside the houses of Gaojiazhuang.
  • Gao Laozhong runs to the old locust tree and rings the alarm when the Japanese enter at night.
  • Gao Chuanbao turns the passages against Yamada's unit and brings him out alive.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (地道战 1965.webm)

Quotes

Tunnel warfare, hey, tunnel warfare, a hidden army of millions lies in wait.