Cinematic Siblings

Dragon Inn

Credits

Original title :
Long Men Ke Zhan
Country :
Taïwan
Year :
1967
Director :
King Hu
Version :
vostEN
Duration :
111 minutes
Format :
digital | New Restoration
Actors :
Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan, Chun Shih, Ying Bai

synopsis

In 1457, a group of wandering swordsmen converge at the Dragon Gate Inn near the northern Chinese border, where the imperial secret police lie in wait. A fierce battle of strategy and swordplay ensues, turning the inn into a battleground for justice and survival.

Dragon Inn

Dragon Inn is to the martial arts genre what Stagecoach is to the Western. Hu evokes an entire world in his awe-inspiring wide-angle camerawork and graceful, still-unpredictable action scenes.

RogerEbert.com

Like most action filmmakers, Hu gets little credit for his direction of actors. But in each of his films he finds in his cast’s idiosyncratic expressions, their artful containment and deployment of energy, a beautiful counterpoint to his own stylistic flourishes – a mortal dimension to ground his metaphysical flights.

Criterion Collection

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