Dragon Inn

This highly influential gem from Touch Of Zen director King Hu is considered by many as the forerunner to the popular ‘Wuxia’ films – brilliantly choreographed martial arts flicks that made expert use of this ancient skill before modern-day wirework techniques took the genre to the next level.

Set during the Chinese Ming dynasty, the relatively simple plot begins with the beheading of the Loyal Minister Yu by the powerful eunuch Tsao (Pai Ying) on trumped up charges of which he was innocent. Not content with the execution, Tsao furthermore condemns Yu’s children into exile while hatching plans to massacre the remaining Yu family members. En route to the border the small group of the exiled and their watchmen have to fend off various attacks from those who mean them harm, and we get a taster of swordfights and kicks to come.
As the group seek sanctuary in the Dragon Gate Inn, Tsao’s secret police henchmen are hot on their heels. Meanwhile, the innkeeper Wu Ning (Cho Kin) turns out to be a former lieutenant of the executed Minister Yu and has called upon the help of expertise swordsman Hsiao (Shih Jun) – a man of considerable wit, skill, agility, and a sense of right and wrong. As Tsao’s men take over the inn for several days and forbid Wu Ning to welcome other guests, the Tsao tribe try too get rid of ‘intruder’ Hsiao by means of poisoned wine and other surprises – all of them fail either due to Hsiao’s razor-sharp foresight or due to the ‘help’ of the waiter (Got Siu-bo) who discretely alerts him.

As Tsao’s men keep on scheming, another pair of martial arts experts turns up at the inn. They are brother and sister and the children of another lieutenant who used to be in the employ of the executed Minister. In particular the young sister, Chu Huei (a 17-year old Polly Kuan) turns out to be a quick and skilled fighter (who also develops a bit of a thing for Hsiao). Now it’s up to innkeeper Wu Ning, Hsiao, and to the fierce and fearless brother-and-sister team, as well as the condemned exiles to fight off Taso’s cunning forces of evil in a battle of life and death – and the stage is set for some jaw-dropping and tightly choreographed fight sequences that roll across the screen at impossibly fast speed!

Far from being a mere martial arts action flick, there is a fair bit of humour to be found here, for example when brother and sister have been warned that their wine has also been poisoned and both try to get out of the situation via a string of hilarious excuses. Some of the fight sequences border on slapstick; of course, these are the ones that presumably demanded the most skill, not to mention absolute perfect timing!

The photography by Wa Wai-ying is stunning and makes the most of the exotic landscape and the traditional costumes. That said, it is the inspired and rich soundtrack by Zhou Lan-ping which fleshes the action out even more. Fusing traditional Chinese music with Ennio Morricone-style Western influences as well as elements from dramatic scores by Modest Mussorgsky, the entire kaleidoscope brilliantly serves the plot (little as there is) from beginning to end.

Gloriously restored and available in Dual Format Edition as part of Eureka’s ‘The Masters of Cinema’ series, the SPECIAL FEATURES of this 1967 classic contain:

• New 1080p transfer of the film on Blu-ray, with a progressive encode on the DVD
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Archival newsreel footage from the film’s première
• Trailer
• Hostel Forces, a new video essay by critic David Cairns
• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring vintage writing on the film by critic Tony Rayns; a testimonial about King Hu by Tsui Hark; an analysis of Hu’s style by Edmond Wong; the eight characteristics of “the inn” in King Hu’s films and archival images