Dragon Inn

A must see swordplay film, probably the best of its kind ever made. The director, King Hu, is the master of tension and suspense and holds the viewer's attention throughout. I cannot rate this fim highly enough. If only it were more readily available.

Long considered one of the masterpieces of the wuxia genre King Hu's "Dragon Inn" is a visually superb epic that's closer in tone to Leone than Kurosawa and it features some of the most balletic fight sequences in all of cinema. The plot is virtually irrelevant; there are good guys and there are bad guys and that's really all you need to know while even the comedy works beautifully. The action takes place almost entirely around the inn of the title and the film was further immortalised by Ming-liang Tsai when he chose it to be the film screening in the near empty cinema in "Goodbye, Dragon Inn", (they would make a great double-bill). It's been surpassed in people's affections by King Hu's later "A Touch of Zen" but this is arguably more fun and it established Hu as a force to be reckoned with in international cinema, a genre master as well as a great visual stylist. Wonderful.

I speculate that King Hu must have left Shaw Brothers with a bad taste in his mouth after doing "Come Drink With Me". "Come Drink with Me" is also one of the greatest martial arts movies despite having room for improvement. This movie feels to me like King Hu made those improvements in it. I consider this his is his masterpiece. I compare it to the movies of Akira Kurosawa. Too bad that King Hu was nowhere near as prolific. This movie could even be considered his one hit wonder.

King Hu seemed to realize the claustrophobic situation of of the good guys and bad guys face to face in the Dragon Inn was great drama but it had to be contrasted with as much wide open space as possible. In "Dragon Inn" most scenes outside the inn are shot in expansive panoramas. Like Kurosawa, King Hu appreciated the way moving the camera brought the audience into the scene. He used tracking shots, particularly during fight sequences, to get this feeling.

Hang Ying-Chieh gets credit as action coordinator. He was the Big Boss in Bruce Lee's "The Big Boss". Remember when Bruce is cut, wipes off his blood then tastes it? Hang Ying-Chieh does the same here. The sword fights are Japanese style - starting with a suspenseful face off, then a sudden attack to cover the distance, just a few quick strokes of action, then stop and wait a few seconds to feel the results. A real sword cut is initially almost painless so the person cut doesn't know until he sees the effect of the cut.

I rate this as one of the best of 1967 and I recommend it to everyone - not just fans of the genre - to everyone.

I saw this during its initial run under the title "Dragon Inn."

This is no ordinary swordplay movie. It is a visual treat of ancient Chinese costumes and weaponry. The traditional Chinese instruments used for the background music added an otherwordly flavor. I left the theatre wondering if the movie was truly historical.

The head of the Yu clan has been condemned to death by the evil prime minister who has usurped imperial power. A palace eunuch who managed to claw his way to power, he is also reputed to be China's greatest swordsman. He plots to eliminate the entire Yu family but is opposed by a master swordsman and swordswoman.

A memorable scene that has nothing to do with fighting is the dinner at Dragon Inn which introduced me to the Mongolian Fire Pot (shabu-shabu) style of eating. To the uninitiated, there is a fire pot in the middle of the table decked out with all sorts of raw food which you put into the boiling water of the firepot and eat them as they are cooked. The cooking water is sipped as soup.

I took my little sister to see it and from then on she got hooked on Chinese swordplay movies. She began reading up on ancient China and in college she majored in history and archaeology -- all because I took her to see Dragon Inn.

I am gratified to learn recently that the female supporting actress Feng Hsu moved on to become a producer-director herself with a number of critically acclaimed films to her credit. I look forward to seeing them soon.

This film takes place during the Ming Dynasty with a powerful government official named "Cao" (Bai Ying) in the act of executing one of his main rivals so that he can secure even more power for himself. Having accomplished that, he then orders his elite agents to track down and kill his rival's two children as well. Fortunately, once word of the order is leaked, a small number of soldiers loyal to their previous master take the two children and flee on foot into the desert to escape those in hot pursuit. Upon then being apprised of this development, Cao subsequently orders some of his men to outflank them on horseback to a tavern known as the Dragon Inn. Once there, however, the agents at the Dragon Inn are surprised when a swordsman named "Xiao Shaozi" (Chun Shih) suddenly arrives and creates problems for all of them. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this is one of those movies which features quite a bit of sword fighting and martial arts--which should please viewers who enjoy action films of this sort. And while I would have preferred a movie with a bit more drama and suspense, I thought it passed the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.