Dragon Inn Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Dragon Inn Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 12, 2018

King Hu's "Dragon Inn" (1967) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include a newly restored trailer; new video program with actor Shih Chun; new featurette with author Grady Hendrix; archival footage from the film's premiere in Taiwan; and more. In Mandarin, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The Inn

It is the eighth year of the Jinghtai Era during the Ming dynasty and powerful eunuchs have taken over the Chinese government. The country’s two most important agencies are the Eastern Agency and Imperial Guards.

The leader of the Eastern Agency, Zhao Shao Qin, executes the supposedly corrupt Minister of Defense, Yu Qian, and publicly announces that his children will be exiled at the remote outpost Dragon Inn. However, Zhao Shao Qin also secretly orders his top assassins to meet the children at Dragon Inn and kill them.

Soon after, the traveling swordsman Xiao Shaozi arrives at Dragon Inn where Zhao Shao Qin’s assassins are patiently waiting for their targets to appear. The swordsman annoys them and they attempt to poison him, but he repeatedly outsmarts them. (Some of the film’s most entertaining scenes are during their quarrels). The assassins’ plan is further complicated when two new swordsmen, the Zhu brothers, arrive and announce that they will spend a few days in Dragon Inn. Convinced that Xiao Shaozi and the Zhu brothers have been sent to save Yu Qian’s children, the assassins decide to eliminate them as quickly as possible.

The major conflict is easy to understand -- Zhao Shao Qin wants Yu Qian’s children killed because he fears that if they are left alive one day they will come after him -- but there are a number of subplots that unnecessarily complicate the relationships between some of the characters and at one point it becomes almost impossible to figure out the exact motives behind their decisions. Indeed, it seems like many of them begin to trust their instincts, but what they sense and see frequently remains a mystery. Needless to say, there are large parts of the film that look and feel rather awkward.

But does the story in a wuxia film of this caliber actually matter? The answer to this question will determine whether one enthusiastically embraces the film or walks away from it underwhelmed.

There are undoubtedly some very impressively choreographed fights, but after a while it begins to look like the film is running out of tricks. There is a simple cycle -- the good and the bad guys clash and the good guys always emerge victorious because they are always smarter and more athletic -- that is repeated multiple times until there are no more jumps, kicks, and spins left to do while holding some sort of a weapon.

Director King Hu completed Dragon Inn in 1967. The film earned excellent reviews and quickly became an international box office sensation. Three year later, King Hu directed A Touch of Zen, which won the Technical Grand Prize award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Eureka Entertainment’s release of Dragon Inn is sourced from a new 4K restoration which is part of the “Taiwan Film Classics Digital Restoration and Value-Adding Project” commissioned by the Ministry of Culture to Chinese Taipei Film Archive in 2013. The restoration was completed at L'Immagine Ritrovata and introduced at Cannes Classics in 2014.

Dragon Inn Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, King Hu's Dragon Inn arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is included with this release:

"Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Chinese Taipei Film Archive in 2013 as part of the Taiwan Film Classics Digital Restoration and Value-Adding Project, this new digital transfer was created under the supervision of cinematographer Hua Hui-ying in 4K on an ARRISCAN Archive Gui film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy, restored the picture element using Revival from DaVinci/Blackmagic and Digital Vision's Phoenix.

Restoration supervisor: Hua Hui-ying; L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna, Italy."

The release is sourced from the same master that Eureka Entertainment accessed when it prepared its Region-B release of Dragon Inn in 2015. The film was fully restored in 4K at L'Immagine Ritrovata, and its director of photography, Mr. Hua Hui-ying, supervised the color grading.

Most unfortunately, I don't think that this is good news because the technical presentation retains all of the anomalies that we highlighted in our review of the Region-B release. In fact, I recently revisited this film and because I knew it well I was able to pay more attention to various details and frankly now I dislike the end result even more than I did two years ago. There are entire sections where it becomes very clear that the native dynamic range of the film has been collapsed. You can see examples in screencaptures #11 and 19 where all of the existing detail is essentially covered by a layer of flat digitally introduced grayness that has destroyed depth. Of course there are areas where time has left its mark and there are some native density fluctuations, but the flatness that you should be able to see during indoor and outdoor footage is clearly introduced by questionable digital work. My guess is that when the raw data was graded some LUTs had preset values that were completely wrong and therefore created a range of other problems, but I would not be surprised if someone confirmed that serious anomalies were also introduced during the fine tuning later on. Either way, as it is the film does not have a proper organic appearance. Image stability is very good. Also, there are no distracting large debris, damage marks, cuts, stains, or other conventional age-related imperfections to report. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Dragon Inn Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Mandarin LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The audio was fully restored, but as I previously mentioned in our review of the Region-B release during different segments the sound is quite thin. It is very possible that some of the thinness is inherited -- it could be that the recording equipment and mixing contributed to it -- but I also think that the existing audio elements were not in perfect condition. This being said, the overall quality is good.

Dragon Inn Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - restored trailer for Dragon Inn. In Mandarin, with printed English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• The Phoenix Rises - in this new video interview, Shangkuang Ling-fung recalls how she made her acting debut in Dragon Inn and discusses King Hu's vision of the film and working methods. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (11 min, 1080p).

• Making History - in this featurette, actor Shih Chun explains how the character he played in Dragon Inn launched his career, and discusses his work with dierctor King Hu during the shooting of the film. The featurette was produced for Criterion in 2016. In Mandarin, with printed English subtitles. (11 min, 1080p).

• Art in Action - in this new featurette, Grady Hendrix, author and cofounder of the New York Asian Film Festival, discusses the groundbreaking martial art style that the films of King Hu promoted and legitimized as well as the profound impact that they had on countless directors and their own styles over the years. Also included is an excellent analysis of a key scene from Dragon Inn. The featurette was produced for Criterion in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (26 min, 1080p).

• Premiere Newsreel - archival footage from the film's premiere in Taipei, Taiwan. In Mandarin, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Andrew Chan and technical credits.

Dragon Inn Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I think that if the folks at Criterion were placed in charge with the restoration of King Hu's Dragon Inn right now we would be looking at a very different and vastly superior presentation of the film. It is not just the color scheme of the existing master that I find problematic, there are some very obvious digital anomalies that the folks at Criterion would not have allowed to sneak in. Unfortunately, the current restored master that L'Immagine Ritrovata produced will remain the definitive presentation of the film. This upcoming release has some very good exclusive bonus features, so if you decide to pick it up they will have to be a major part of your decision.