Dragon Inn (1967)

When the children of an executed General are pursued in 1457 China, some heroic martial arts swordsmen intervene.

Director:

King Hu

Writer:

King Hu

Stars:

Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan, Chun Shih, Ying Bai

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan	...	(as Lingfeng Shangguan)
Chun Shih	...	Xiao Shaozi
Ying Bai	...	(as Pai Ying)
Feng Hsu
Chien Tsao
Han Hsieh
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ah-Tsai
Ying-Chieh Han
Simon Hsu	...	(as Hsu Yao-kuang)
Fei Kao
Ming Kao
Hsiao-Pao Ko
Chieh Li
Chu Liu
Shih Lu

Storyline

The Eunuch of the Emperor has ordered the commander of his army condemned to death for betrayal and insurrection. The commander's family was was murdered to cut off his bloodline, but his two youngest, a son and a daughter, were expelled from the empire to the outlands in an attempt to draw out the commanders confidant and adviser. In order to complete the plan, the Eunuch sent his ultra-secret Black Arrow Troop to assassinate the two remaining children and the advisor. The ambush: to be carried out at the Inn Of Dragon's Gate at the border. The plans fail as journeymen of great swordsmanship turn up at the inn. From that point until the end of the flic many battles take place. This film is a masterpiece of martial arts swords-play and speaks the tune of "The Swordsman" and the "Zatoichi" films. A must see for fans of classic Asian cinema.

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Plot Keywords:

soldier | sword | hair bun | poison | poisoned | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #937.

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Connections

Featured in Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)

User Reviews

The 1st Chinese Sword-fighting Classic and Box Office Champion

This is the original of the 1992 remake of the same title(with a NEW) and 2nd of the "INN" trilogy by King Hu after Come Drink With Me. It was a major hit all over Chinese areas in South East Asia and discovered Shang Kuan Ling Feng(note the mistake by a previous comment)as the 2nd most popular Sword woman(the 1st was Cheng Pei Pei, and later 3rd Hsu Feng(Hsia Nu aka A Touch of Zen). All these 3 females stars are made popular by him and they are also the 3 most popular swords women in Chinese Cinema.

If there is any complaint by any viewer, it's the pace that many may find it a bit slow but isn't most highly regarded movies slow ?? The finale scene is the most climatic in a Chinese action that critc compared this film to "Rio Bravo" and "The Wild Bunch".

Beware of some mistakes in the original English subtitles mentioned by the director himself.

You can watch some scenes of it if you go to the movie Bu San(2003) aka Goodbye, Dragon Inn(here in IMDb and watch the trailer) which paid tribute to this movie.

The 90's remake is nothing better except for an additional character well acted by Maggie Cheung.

Details

Country:

Taiwan Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

21 October 1967 (Taiwan)

Also Known As:

Dragon Inn

Company Credits

Production Co:

Union Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1