Release date: July 10, 2018
Prices and Links:
Criterion - $31.96
Amazon - $39.95
Director: King Hu
Writer: King Hu
Starring: Chun Shih, Feng Hsu, Lingfeng Shangguan, Han Hsieh, Ying Bai
The art of martial-arts filmmaking took a leap into bold new territory with this action-packed tale of Ming-dynasty intrigue. After having the emperor’s minister of defense executed, a power-grabbing eunuch sends assassins to trail the victim’s children to a remote point on the northern Chinese border. But that bloodthirsty mission is confounded by a mysterious group of fighters who arrive on the scene, intent on delivering justice and defending the innocent. The first film King Hu made after moving to Taiwan from Hong Kong in search of more creative freedom, Dragon Inn combines rhythmic editing, meticulous choreography, and gorgeous widescreen compositions with a refinement that was new to the wuxia genre. Its blockbuster success breathed new life into a classic formula and established Hu as one of Chinese cinema’s most audacious innovators.
Disc Features
Prices and Links:
Criterion - $31.96
Amazon - $39.95
Director: King Hu
Writer: King Hu
Starring: Chun Shih, Feng Hsu, Lingfeng Shangguan, Han Hsieh, Ying Bai
- Taiwan
- 1967
- 111 minutes
- Color
- 2.35:1
- Mandarin
- Spine #937
The art of martial-arts filmmaking took a leap into bold new territory with this action-packed tale of Ming-dynasty intrigue. After having the emperor’s minister of defense executed, a power-grabbing eunuch sends assassins to trail the victim’s children to a remote point on the northern Chinese border. But that bloodthirsty mission is confounded by a mysterious group of fighters who arrive on the scene, intent on delivering justice and defending the innocent. The first film King Hu made after moving to Taiwan from Hong Kong in search of more creative freedom, Dragon Inn combines rhythmic editing, meticulous choreography, and gorgeous widescreen compositions with a refinement that was new to the wuxia genre. Its blockbuster success breathed new life into a classic formula and established Hu as one of Chinese cinema’s most audacious innovators.
Disc Features
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised by cinematographer Hua Hui-ying, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New interview with actor Shangkuan Ling-fung
- Interview from 2016 with actor Shih Chun
- Scene analysis by author and New York Asian Film Festival cofounder Grady Hendrix
- Newsreel footage of the film’s 1967 premiere in Taipei, Taiwan
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Andrew Chan
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