A must see swordplay film, probably the best of its kind ever made. The director King Hu is a master of tension.Tsao, the Eunuch of the Emperor, has condemned the commander of the army to death for betrayal and insurrection. The commander’s family have been murdered to cut off his bloodline, save his two youngest children, a son and daughter. They are banished from the empire to the outlands in an attempt to draw out the commander’s confidant and adviser. 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.
Dragon Inn premiered in 1967. At the 1968 Golden Horse Awards, the film won the award for Best Screenplay and was a runner-up for Best Director. It has been called "one of the most important wuxia pian films to emerge from the Chinese-speaking world". This tense tale of highly skilled martial artists hidden in an inn was said to be the inspiration for Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers (2004).
Written and directed by: King Hu
Starring: Lingfeng Shangguan, Chun Shih, Ying Bai, Chien Tsao
Run time: 111 minutes
Classification: 12
