King Hu was to the wuxia genre what John Ford was to Westerns. He first made his mark with this film for the Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong before going off to found his own studio in Taiwan. It's a superb action thriller with a great central performance by the late Cheng Pei-pei, only let down by a somewhat muddled finale that shifts the focus away from the heroine to her comedy sidekick and his own feud with a completely different villain. A sequel was made two years later, but without Hu's involvement.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
When the children of an executed general manage to escape their captors and flee to the border, rival factions gather at a remote desert inn in order to intercept them. Hu sure knew how to squeeze ever last drop of tension out of cramming a load of enemies into one small inn and having them play nice. This was his first film after leaving the Shaw Brothers (although he had to give them the lion's share of its profits to get out of his contract) and also his first true masterpiece. It takes everything that worked so well in Come Drink With Me and filters out everything that didn't.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was the film that made many critics sit up and start to take wuxia movies more seriously. Set during the Ming Dynasty, it follows a unambitious small town painter (Chun Shih) as he find himself drawn to the mysterious woman (Hsu Feng) who has just moved into the decaying castle next to his home. An intimate and spiritual action epic, this is the crowning achievement of Hu's entire career and certainly the point where he entered his “every frame is a painting” phase. One of the reasons for Hu's break from the Shaw Brothers was so could make more ambitious films, shot on location to really show off the beauty of the natural world. Feng had a small role in Dragon Inn, but Hu obvious saw her immense potential and elevated her to lead for this and his next four films.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A group of rebel spies are sent undercover at a remote inn when they learn that Lee Khan, a high ranking official serving the Mongolian Emperor Yuan, will be staying there. The third and final film in Hu's loose Inn Trilogy. This is something of a step down for him after the creative highs of his previous film. Despite all the acclaim A Touch of Zen enjoyed, it wasn't a big box office hit, so this film feels like an attempt to recapture the financial success of Dragon Inn by essentially just remaking it.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
When Japanese pirates begin attacking along the Chinese coast, a military official gathers together a team of warriors, including a husband and wife sword fighting duo, to stop them. Shot back to back to The Fate of Lee Khan, this is perhaps the purest action film Hu ever made. That's largely thanks to the fight choreography by the legendary Sammo Hung (who also played the main villain). It does drags somewhat towards the end, especially the sequence where two of the team try to infiltrate the pirates, and Hsu Feng feels rather wasted as the token girl.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A wuxia heist film about rival factions plotting to steal a priceless scroll from a Buddhist temple, but that often takes a backseat to all the scheming amongst the monks about who will succeed the abbot. The first of two films Hu made back-to-back at the Bulguksa Buddhist Temple in South Korea with the same cast, many of them his regular collaborators including Feng (great fun here as a frustrated cat burglar). Hu takes full advantage of the location to create some of this more alluring visuals and indulge his fascination with spirituality.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A young scholar travels to a secluded monastery to work on translating Buddhist sutras, but soon become embroiled in a magical struggle for his very soul. Hu's last great film before he went into semi-retirement during the 80s due to poor health and dwindling funds. Although it certainly has elements of the wuxia films that he pioneered, this is more of a spellbinding ghost story than slow burn action film. It gifts Hsu Feng with one of her meatiest roles as the demonic Melody. What lets it down are the many repetitive magical drum battles and Hu often getting a little too carried away with all the poetic natural imagery.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
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