King Hu’s first wuxia pian (martial chivalry movie) is credited with launching a new wave in the genre, assimilating ideas from Japanese samurai movies and western thrillers while remaining scrupulously faithful to Chinese traditions. It’s flair and innovative style paved the way for everything from Bruce Lee to Tsui Hark – which is why Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon pays homage to it, not least by casting Cheng Pei-Pei. It gives several of King Hu’s specialties their first airing: the plot which suddenly expands to a larger frame of reference, the use of a traditional inn as a setting for conflict, skillfully coded messages (here, in a song), a heroine in male drag. We see the bad guys first: members of the Five Tiger Gang ambushing a convoy in the countryside, freeing two of their ‘brothers’ from captivity and taking a hostage. Next to appear is Xiyan, known in male drag as ‘Golden Swallow’, sister of the hostaged man, who deliberately provokes a first confrontation with the gang. And then the film’s hero Fan Dabei, known as Drunken Cat, who ‘accidentally’ helps Golden Swallow in her mission to rescue her brother; played by the wonderful Yuch Hua, he’s the original drunken hero and still one of the best. – Tony Rayns
