Legend of the Mountain (1979)

A scholar, tasked to copy a sutra, meets with a mysterious old lady and her daughter in the mountains.

Director:

King Hu

Writers:

Ling Chung (screenplay), King Hu

Stars:

Chun Shih, Feng Hsu, Sylvia Chang

5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Chun Shih	...	Ho Qingyun
Feng Hsu	...	Melody
Sylvia Chang	...	Cloud
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hui-Lou Chen	...	Taoist priest Yang
Chang-Ken Chin	...	Superior Monk Fa-yuan (as Chang-gen Jin)
Rainbow Hsu	...	Madam Wang (as Cai-hong Xu)
Sook Jeon	...	Madam Chuang (Cloud's mother) (as Shu Tien)
Wenting Jin	...	Qing (Maid) (as Wen-ting Chin)
Chun Lu	...	Monk
Yueh Sun	...	General Han
Feng Tien	...	Old Chang
Lin Tung	...	Adviser Tsui Hong-zhi (as Lin Tong)
Chia-Hsiang Wu	...	Woodcutter
Ming-Tsai Wu	...	Lama (as Ng Ming-Choi)

Storyline

A scholar, tasked to copy a sutra, meets with a mysterious old lady and her daughter in the mountains.

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Plot Keywords:

spider | ghost | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in House: The State of Japanese Cinema in the 1970s (2018)

User Reviews

Chinese ghost story - the prequel?

Ching Sui Tung, long time admirer of King Hu (he helped arrange Hu's direction of the first Swordsman film), was to take the bare bones of this film and make his legendary "Chinese Ghost Story" films. It's about a monk on retreat to an isolated temple in order to write a sutra, who thereby comes under the observation of two female ghosts who may or not actually fall in love him - Hu maintains a careful ambiguity on this and other issues, clearly conveying to the audience the very confusion of the scholar himself, who never quite gets a handle on what he's accidentally walked into here.

But in the last analysis, this is neither ghost story nor romance, but a determined effort on Hu's part to make a visually beautiful set-piece of open, well-lit Chinese landscape, and high-contrast, sharply defined interiors. In short, it is an attempt to make a beautiful work of art.

Because Hu's principle interest is just this visual beauty, the pacing of the film gets a little slow at times, and Hu shows no interest in "cutting to the chase" story-telling. Consequently, I think he has succeeded in this artistic perfectionism, but at a price, which is that the film is not going to appeal to a wide audience. But given some patience, it offers real rewards to the senses.

Details

Country:

Taiwan Hong Kong South Korea

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

4 October 1979 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Legend of the Mountain

Box Office

Gross USA:

$7,640

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,640

Company Credits

Production Co:

Feng Nian

Technical Specs

Runtime:

192 min 112 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1