Dragon Inn

Dragon Inn

Film poster for Dragon Inn
Traditional 龍門客棧
Simplified 龙门客栈
Mandarin Lóng Mén Kè Zhàn
Directed by King Hu
Produced by LS Chang[1]
Written by King Hu[1]
Starring
  • Lingfeng Shangguan
  • Chun Shih
  • Ying Bai
  • Chien Tsao[1]
Music by Lan-Ping Chow[1]
Cinematography Hui-Ying Hua[1]
Edited by Hung-min Chen[2]
Production
companies
Union Film Company[2]
Release dates
  • 1967 (1967)
Running time
 111 minutes[3]
Country Taiwan[3]

Dragon Inn, also known as Dragon Gate Inn, is a 1967 Taiwanese wuxia film directed by King Hu. The film was remade in 1992, as New Dragon Gate Inn, and again in 2011 as The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.

Plot

Tsao, the emperor's first eunuch, has successfully bested General Yu, his political opponent. The general was beheaded but his remaining children have been exiled from China. As the children are being escorted to the western border of the Chinese empire, Tsao plots to have the children killed. Tsao's secret police lie in ambush at the desolate Dragon Gate Inn. Martial arts expert Hsiao shows up at the inn, wanting to meet the innkeeper. Unknown to the secret police is that the innkeeper, Wu Ning, was one of the general's lieutenants and has summoned Hsiao to help the children. A brother-sister martial-artist team (children of another Yu lieutenant) also show up to help. These four race to find Yu's children and lead them to safety.

Production

In 1965, director King Hu left the Hong Kong-based Shaw Brothers Studio just after completing Come Drink with Me.[4] Hu left for Taiwan where he met with Sha Rongfeng.[4] The two created the short-lived studio called the Union Film Company.[4] Dragon Inn was shot in Taiwan in 1966.[4]

Release

Dragon Inn premiered in 1967.[1] The film set box‐office records in Taiwan, Korea, and the Philippines.[5] It was first shown in North America at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[2]

Dragon Inn was released in the United Kingdom on Blu-ray and DVD by the Masters of Cinema Series.[6]

Reception

At the 1968 Golden Horse Awards, Dragon Inn won the award for Best Screenplay and was a runner-up for Best Director.[5]

Modern reception of the film in Taiwan is positive.[7] In 2011, the Tapei Golden Horse Film Festival had 122 industry professionals take part in the survey.[7] This voters included film scholars, festival programmers, film directors, actors and producers to vote for the 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films.[7] Dragon Inn tied with Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love (2000) for ninth place on the list.[7] Empire gave the film four stars out five, referring to it as a "A keystone of the wuxia genre" and noted that the film "may lack plot complexity and period spectacle. But the stand-off in a remote inn is flecked with tension, wit and slick martial artistry."[8]

Aftermath and influence

Dragon Inn was remade twice, first as New Dragon Gate Inn (1992) and again in 2011 as Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.[9][10]

Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang directed the critically acclaimed film Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003).[11] The film is set in a decrepit Taipei movie theater on its final night in business where it is screening Dragon Inn. The films characters either watch the film very closely or humorously distracted from it.[12]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dragon Inn (booklet). Masters of Cinema. 2015. p. 2. EKA70169.
  2. 1 2 3 "Dragon Inn". Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Dragon Inn (Back cover of sleeve). Masters of Cinema. 2015. p. =. EKA70169.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Rayns, Tony (2015). Laying the Foundations: Dragon Gate Inn (booklet). Masters of Cinema. p. 15. EKA70169.
  5. 1 2 "Dragon Inn Press Kit" (PDF). Cannes Film Festival. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 9, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Dragon Inn". Masters of Cinema. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Cremin, Stephen (January 27, 2011). "Horse announces greatest Chinese films". Film Business Asia. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  8. ↑ Parkinson, David (June 28, 2015). "Dragon Inn Review". Empire. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  9. ↑ Teh, Yvonne. "Art House: New Dragon Gate Inn". 48 Hours. South China Morning Post. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ Elley, Derek (January 23, 2012). "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate". Film Business Asia. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Good Bye, Dragon Inn Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  12. ↑ Zacharek, Stephanie (September 16, 2004). "Goodbye, Dragon Inn". Salon. Retrieved November 3, 2015.

External links

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