R E V I E W

Legend of the Mountain

Winson | 1979 | 112 minutes
Directed by King Hu

With Shih Jun, Hsu Feng, Sylvia Chang

B A C K G R O U N D
director, in cinemas, recent and related films

Ang Lee cited the films of Taiwanese director King Hu as an influence on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. For Western audiences, however, it has been difficult to track down any of his work, even on videotape. The only film to give a clue was 1990's Swordsman, on which he toiled for a time before quitting the production.

Hu's first film was 1964's The Story of Sue San. The acclaimed Come Drink With Me was released in 1966, Dragon Gate Inn in 1967, and A Touch of Zen in 1971. After that he made The Fate of Lee Khan in 1973, The Valiant Ones in 1975, and both this film and Raining in the Mountain in 1979.

M O V I E

plot
A scholar (Shih Jun, who appeared in several of Hu's films) is in need of a hideaway so that he can complete the translation of some holy manuscripts. He comes into a temple and is given a room by the solitary monk who lives there.

Madame Wang (Rainbow Hsu) - a talkative and pushy lady who used to work for the general who formerly resided in the temple - insists on preparing a meal for the honored guest. At that meal, the scholar is introduced to Madame Wang's daughter, Mandy (Hsu Feng). The daughter is beautiful, but there is something otherworldly about her that ties into the title of the movie. (She also turns out to be incredibly fierce.) Another woman becomes involved (Sylvia Chang), as well as another holy man, as the scholar does things he might never have imagined were possible.

performances
Shih Jun's character reacts more than anything else. That's what acting is supposed to be about, but having such a pallid personality at the center of the story leaves a hole in the drama. To be fair, though, Shih Jun carries off his role in the way it was written. Hsu Feng is memorably possessed, Sylvia Chang is sweet, and Rainbow Hsu is a mother-in-law from the worst nightmares of marriage.

production
For much of the running time the pace of the film is quite slow and measured. The compositions are framed beautifully and the landscapes are lovely, but it's a real challenge to pay attention. Two or three sequences near the end are quite dazzling to the eye and well worth watching, but it's too little too late.

Despite my reservations, it's definitely worth watching. King Hu is clearly a director with a considerable amount of talent, and even a minor work such as this one merits a look. Let's hope more of his films become available over time.

rating
Category II for adult themes.

D V D

look
The source print used for the letterboxed presentation looks horrendously aged during the first 10-15 minutes (many scratches are evident and the colors are faded), but the picture improves and the colors become a touch sharper as the story progresses.

sound
Four audio tracks are available: Mandarin DD 2.0 and DD 5.1, and Cantonese DD 2.0 and DD 5.1. Mandarin is the default. I sampled all four tracks, and found none to be truly satisfactory. All are plagued by an audible hiss (quieter on the DD 2.0 tracks) in the background, and play quite loud. Portions of the audio are diverted to the surround channels, but there's no true localization. Again, it may be that this was the best that Winson could produce due to time and money constraints.

subtitles
The disk provides white removable English, traditional Chinese, and simplified Chinese subtitles. The English subtitles were well timed. Many mistakes in spelling made reading them a bit tedious over the course of the film, however.

features
Nine chapters can be selected from a still-picture menu. Otherwise this is a bare-bones disk.

R E C O M M E N D A T I O N
buy, rent, or pass?

Rent. Low priority. Perhaps a minor work of director King Hu, but it whets the appetite for seeing his better-known films.

(Reviewed 02/13/02)

THIS DVD IS AVAILABLE AT HKFLIX.COM