Dragon Inn

press release: Taiwan | 1967 | 35mm | 111 min. | Mandarin with English subtitles

Director: King Hu; Cast: Lingfeng Shangguan, Chun Shih, Pai Ying

In a complex plot filled with intrigue and set in 1457, a palace eunuch, who also happens to control two royal intelligence agencies, is determined to kill the exiled children of an executed defense minister. The children soon come under the protection of three warriors, swordsmen Xiao and Zhu Ji and Zhu Ji’s sister Zhu Hui, who poses as a boy. The scene for a showdown is set when all of the characters meet at the titular location where, “Eavesdropping, poisoned wine, games of deceit, and sudden death spice up the evening...before the conflict finally surface and the long battle to protect the children can begin” (David Bordwell, Planet Hong Kong). This martial arts classic made in Taiwan by legendary director King Hu has a compellingly digressive story and a great ensemble of primary and secondary villains that put it in the same class as films by Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino. Shot in color and anamorphic widescreen, Dragon Inn also features some of the most exciting fight sequences ever choreographed for an action movie, one of the reasons the film broke Southeast Asian box office records on its original release. Print courtesy Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research. Co-presented with WUD Film.

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