Long men kezhan (1967)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

King Hu

Writer:

King Hu (writer)

Release Date:

21 October 1967 (Taiwan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Plot:

The Eunuch of the Emperor has ordered the commander of his army condemned to death for betrayal and insurrection...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | China | Cult | Wuxia Fiction

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Lingfeng Shangguan
Chun Shih	...	Xiao Shaozi
Ying Bai		(as Pai Ying)
Chien Tsao		(as Tsao Jian)
Han Hsieh
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ying-Chieh Han
Feng Hsu
Shih Lu
Tien Miao

Also Known As:

Dragon Gate Inn (Taiwan)
Dragon Inn (International: English title)

Runtime:

Hong Kong:111 min

Country:

Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Union Film Company

Trivia:

No. 7 in the Hong Kong Film Awards' List of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures

Movie Connections:

Remade as Sun lung moon hak chan (1992)

A bloody dynastic struggle in ancient China comes to vivid life on the screen.

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.