Tunnel War also known as Tunnel Warfare, is a 1965

1965 in film

The year 1965 in film involved some significant events, with The Sound of Music topping the U.S. box office.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...

 Chinese film

Cinema of China

The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...

 produced before the Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

 about a small town which defends itself from the Japanese by use of a network of tunnels during the Second Sino-Japanese War

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

. The film was directed by Ren Xudong and produced by the August First Film Studio.

It is considered to be one of the first movies to discuss the use of tunnels in war

Tunnel warfare

Tunnel warfare is a type of warfare that occurs in tunnels.It can be sometimes linked with urban warfare, as tunnels are often found in urban area and cities, although urban warfare as a whole usually dominates any tunnel considerations...

.

Reception and release

While the film was popular upon its release in 1965, its popularity would not peak until nearly a decade later, when it became of one of the "Three Old Fights" , a collection of three war films from pre-1966 that nevertheless were given wide circulation during the Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

—the other two films were Mine Warfare

Mine warfare

Mine warfare refers to the use of different types of explosive devices:*Land mine, a weight-triggered explosive device intended to maim or kill people or to destroy vehicles...

(1962) and Fighting North and South (1952).

In contrast, some 600 other films made between 1952 and 1966 were banned by the Communist authorities during the social upheaval of the 1970s.