Awards and festivals

Film description

During the Ming dynasty, Gu Shengzai is an unmarried poor scholar who lives with his mother in a decaying house in a small provincial city. One day, he meets his new neighboor, who just moved in the destroyed fort next to their place, the beautiful and mysterious Miss Yang. She pretends to an orphan with her mother but in fact she is the daughter of an honest official who has denounced the misdeed of the powerful and cruel Eunuch Wei. After a night with her, Gu decided to help her and her two allies to fight against Wei’s troops. Gu’s knowledge of strategy and the strengh of Miss Yang and her friends lead them to a victory. But then, Miss Yang disappears and Gu looks for her. He will witness an ultima fight between good and evil.

After the success of "Dragon Inn", King Hu decided to launch both his new studio and this most ambitious film. The film took four years to be completed. The film was a failure but was discovered a few years later in Cannes allowing wuxia movies and King Hu to be officially recognised by the film critics.

Restored copy screening, DCP courtesy of Taiwan Film Institute.

Wafa Ghermani