In 1992, "New Dragon Gate Inn", produced by Xu Ke and directed by Li Huimin, was considered a monument to martial arts films in the 90s, ranking No. 215 in the Douban movie Top 250, with nearly 340,000 people scoring 8.6 points – the most notable feature of this film is a "new" word, because its story is not original, but adapted from hu Jinquan's "Dragon Gate Inn" in 1967.
In the works produced and directed by Xu Ke, remaking someone else's classic like this can be said to be an extremely rare thing, and the reason why he has a special love for "Dragon Gate Inn" is because this film has enlightening significance for him.
When "Dragon Gate Inn" was released as an import film, it beat Shaw's "One-Armed Knife" and became the first film with a box office of more than 2 million since the opening of Hong Kong.
Therefore, Hong Kong people are extremely impressed by this film, and it is also a representative work of director Hu Jinquan after leaving Shaw.
Shi Jun and Shangguan Lingfeng became popular because of this film, and Xu Feng, who was only 16 years old, also took this film as a starting point, and was designated as the heroine by Hu Jinquan in the next "Heroine", which began her acting path of playing women in the film industry.
One
"Dragon Gate Inn", formerly known as "Chong Jun", is a script created by Hu Jinquan, telling the story of the dragon gate that takes place on the frontier.
The story of the film takes place in the eighth year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty (1457 AD), when eunuchs were in power, spies ran rampant, and loyal and good people were mutilated. Due to the new emperor's ascension to the throne, the power of Cao Jixiang controlled the two major secret service organizations of Dongchang and Jinyiwei.
Crown Prince Taifu and Bingbu Shangshu Yuqian held military power, and he was upright, patriotic and protective of the people, and he was in direct opposition to Cao Jixiang. Fearing Yu Qian's strength, Cao Jixiang framed him for "wanting to meet the foreign domain", and then ordered Dongchang to command Cao Shaoqin (White Eagle) to execute him. Yu Qian's three sons and daughters, Yu Mian ( Yu Mian ) , the second son Yu Guang , and daughter Yu Xin (Xu Feng ) were sentenced to be the dragon gate of the army.
Cao Shaoqin, fearing revenge from Qian's descendants, gathered the fans of Dongchang in order to cut the grass and remove the roots, and Pi Shaotang (Miao Tian) and Mao Zongxian (Played by Han Yingjie) of Dongchang went to Longmen to intercept and kill Qian's sons and daughters on the way to Shubian.
Therefore, Pi Shaotang and Mao Zongxian came to Longmen with a large army and took control of the Longmen Inn, where they waited for Qian's children.
At this time, several jianghu warriors stayed at the Dragon Gate Inn, one was the swordsman Xiao Shaowei (Shi Jun), who was righteous and skillful, and used an umbrella sword as a weapon.
He came to find Wu Ning (Cao Jian), the treasurer of the Dragon Gate Inn, Wu Ning, whose real name was Ye Han'an, originally joined the army of Yu Qian's army, and was demoted to Longmen because of dissatisfaction with the government, and opened an inn here.
The second is Yu Qian's old tunjun zhenfu Zhu Ji (Xue Han) and Zhu Hui (Shangguan Lingfeng) brother and sister, the two of them came to Longmen, also to protect Yu Qian's children.
Xiao Shaowei, Wu Ning, Zhu Ji, and Zhu Hui secretly conspired, and decided to join forces against Cao Shaoqin, the commander of the East Factory.
When Ya Gong escorted Yu Qian's three sons and daughters to the Dragon Gate Inn, the curtain of war between the two sides also opened.
Although Xiao Shaodi's four men and the servants were not superior in numbers, their martial arts were stronger than Fanzi's, and they soon had an advantage in the fight. Mao Zongxian was stabbed to death by Xiao Shaowei with a sword, and both sides suffered mutual losses, and the fans were finally beaten away.
Xiao Shaowei and the others retreated to the Longmen Inn, using the inn as a base to prepare for the second round of attack.
Wu Ning not only healed the servants, but also bandaged the wounds of the injured fans, which made the fans very moved.
Among them were the tatar brothers Dora and Dosa, who decided to abandon the dark and stay behind to help Wu Ning.
At this time, Cao Shaoqin also arrived with a large army, and he and Pi Shaotang joined hands, preparing to wipe out the people of the Longmen Inn.
Cao Shaoqin killed the obstructing Longmen Defenders' General Banner Gui Yuzhang, and then led the team to surround the Longmen Inn. But he did not expect that Xiao Shaowei and the others had already left the inn, so he had to order his men to quickly catch up with Yu Qian's family.
Xiao Shaowei was afraid that Yu Qian's family members would be chased by Cao Shaoqin, so he asked Wu Ning and Zhu Hui to take Yu Qian's children and servants to go first, while he and Zhu Ji, Duo La, and Duo Sa stayed behind to deal with Cao Shaoqin. When the fans of the East Factory chased after them, Yu Qian's children had already gone far.
Cao Shaoqin was extremely conceited about his martial arts, and he ordered his men to chase after Yu Qian's family, while he stayed behind to duel with Xiao Shaowei and four other people. In the course of the fight, Cao Shaoqin showed extraordinary strength, although he was not afraid of one enemy against four, Xiao Shaopeng and four other people were instead restrained everywhere and were beaten all over the body.
However, Cao Shaoqin was old after all, and it was difficult to endure a long war, so he could not take down Xiao Shaoqin and others, and his strength gradually disappeared.
Xiao Shaoquan's four men saw the opportunity and gradually grasped the initiative, and finally killed Cao Shaoqin. However, Xiao Shaoqin's side also paid the price, and both the brothers Duo La and Duo Sa were stabbed to death by Cao Shaoqin.
Xiao Shaodian finally defeated Fanzi of Dongchang and saved the lives of Yu Mian, Yu Guang, and Yu Xin' brothers and sisters. The three brothers and sisters finally stayed at the Longmen Inn, while Xiao Shaowei left the Dragon Gate with Zhu Ji and Zhu Hui and began a new journey.
Two
Now fans like to list Hu Jinquan as one of Shaw's directors, and even call him one of the "Four Directors of Shaw". But in fact, although Hu Jinquan stayed in Shaw for 8 years, he only directed 3 films alone, and only one martial arts film "Drunken Man". Hu Jinquan's work at Shaw's work is mostly an actor and screenwriter.
Hu Jinquan, who specialized in Chinese painting since childhood and is proficient in ancient Chinese culture, worked as an assistant accountant, artist, broadcaster and other occupations before becoming a director.
When he joined Shaw in 1958 on the recommendation of Li Hanxiang, he signed for the positions of actor, screenwriter and assistant director. He appeared in more than 20 films and wrote screenplays before directing his first film, Yutang Chun, in 1964.
However, the following year, he directed "Children of the Earth" but was blamed by Run Run Shaw for exceeding the budget, and then transferred to direct the martial arts film "Drunken Man".
This movie became popular with Zheng Peipei and opened the road of Shaw's martial arts films, but Hu Jinquan himself still could not be reused, and he jumped to the Federal Pictures in a huff, and "Dragon Gate Inn" was his first work in the new company.
The more relaxed creative atmosphere of Federal Pictures than Shaw's allows Hu Jinquan's talent to be fully displayed, and he no longer shrinks his hands and feet like "The Drunkard".
We see that the "festive" soundtrack and Huang Mei singing sections belonging to Shaw in "The Drunken Man" are gone, replaced by more serious themes and elaborate sets that restore the historical appearance to the extreme.
Hu Jinquan spent a lot of time studying Ming Dynasty clothing and accessories, and also invited Wang Yuqing, an authority on ancient costumes, as a guide, and every piece of clothing and props strived to be highly restored.
The Dragon Gate Inn is an important scene of the movie, and it is also carefully designed and built, which not only restores the architectural style of the Ming Dynasty, but also takes into account the science and rationality.
There is a shadow wall in front of the main entrance of the Dragon Gate Inn, which is a feature of frontier architecture, and these shadow walls are used to protect against wind. On the walls of the inn are painted many large white circles, which are used to prevent wolves. Legend has it that wolves in the wild are afraid when they see the circle, and they dare not go near the place where the circle is.
The action scenes of the film still take the realistic route, every move and every style is simple and direct, without those flowery and superfluous actions, it seems to be strong and powerful and extremely fierce.
His martial arts instruction was from Shaw, and Han Yingjie, who had worked with Hu Jinquan on "The Drunkard", also played Mao Zongxian in the movie.
Han Yingjie is the son-in-law of Yu Zhanyuan, a famous Peking opera teacher, and has also been the leader of Hong Jinbao, Jackie Chan, Yuan Biao and other members of the "Seven Little Fortunes" entering the film circle.
He joined Shaw in the early 1960s and worked on film productions, mostly as a stunt stand-in.
When he participated in the design of the action of "The Drunken Man", Hu Jinquan gave Han Yingjie a position of "martial arts instructor", and he became the first martial arts instructor in the history of Chinese cinema.
With Hu Jinquan leaving Shaw, Han Yingjie also left, and after this film, he joined Jiahe in the 70s, and later met Bruce Lee because of the villain Xiao Mi who starred in "Big Brother Tangshan".
Three
The role of the heroine Zhu Hui in the film has a lot of ink, which is suitable for playing a heroic female role, which was originally tailored for the "Golden Swallow" Zheng Peipei.
However, after "The Drunken Man", Shao took Zheng Peipei as a key training object and refused to release people, and Hu Jinquan had to find another suitable actress to replace Zheng Peipei.
In the end, Hu Jinquan found Shangguan Lingfeng (formerly known as Xu Yimei), who was only 20 years old at the time, whose beauty and aura were even worse than Zheng Peipei's.
Because Shangguan Lingfeng is shorter than Zheng Peipei, the costume that Hu Jinquan made for Zheng Peipei looks very broad on Shangguan Lingfeng, which makes the character's childishness more prominent.
After this film, Shangguan Lingfeng also quickly became popular in the Chinese film circle, and later she also joined Jiahe, and once cooperated with Xu Guanjie in the classic action film "Little Hero on the Road", which was active in the film circle until 2002. And with Shangguan Lingfeng also got the opportunity to develop, there are also Shi Jun and Xu Feng.
Shi Jun, whose original name was Zhang Shihua, worked as a plumber, chemical inspector and research assistant before entering the film industry.
In 1965, he just entered the Federal Film Industry and got the opportunity to star in "Dragon Gate Inn", and since then he has begun to cooperate with Hu Jinquan for 16 years, participating in classic movies such as "Heroine", "Empty Mountain Spirit Rain", "Legend in the Mountain", and "Great Reincarnation".
In this film, Xiao Shaowei, played by him, is a warrior who wanders the rivers and lakes, likes to be "nosy", and fights with Dongchang Fanzi for his life after protecting Zhongliang.
But Xiao Shaowei's body carries a graceful demeanor, just like the umbrella sword in his hand, the appearance is an umbrella, but the umbrella handle hides the long sword, which is soft on the outside and rigid on the inside, which is also unified with Shi Jun's own temperament.
Xu Feng played Yu Qian's daughter Yu Xin in the film, with only a few shots, no dialogue, and the whole process was gray-headed, and the audience could not find her without paying attention.
Xu Feng was only 16 years old at the time and had no acting experience, but she was subsequently selected by Hu Jinquan as the heroine of "Heroine Girl" and became the second beaten girl next to Hu Jinquan.
Later, Hu Jinquan's "The Storm of Yingchun Pavilion", "ZhonglieTu", "Empty Mountain Spirit Rain" and "Legend in the Mountain" all starred Xu Feng.
She has appeared in more than 40 films, and later married Tang Junnian in May 1980 and founded Tomson Film Business Co., Ltd., chen Kaige's "Farewell to the King" is a film produced by this company.
Four
Released in Hong Kong on 21 October 1967, Dragon Gate Inn grossed HK$2.19 million, beating Shaw's One-Armed Knife and setting a new box office record.
From the beginning of this film, Hu Jinquan's martial arts film style gradually took shape, and the later "Chivalrous Woman", "Empty Mountain Spirit Rain" and "Legend in the Mountain" are his masterpieces.
And Hong Kong people also have a special love for "Dragon Gate Inn", which is why Xu Ke will insist on getting the copyright from Hu Jinquan and remake this classic. Judging from the later films, Xu Ke and Hu Jinquan took a completely different path. Xu Ke pays attention to the impact of perspective, highlighting the imagination of the imagination and the romantic feelings of children's love.
Hu Jinquan pays attention to the performance of Confucian temperament and the pursuit of Zen artistic conception, the two films take a completely different drama path, but "New Dragon Gate Inn" and "Dragon Gate Inn" are equally excellent, these two parts represent different martial arts styles of movies, are monuments in the history of film.
(Rotten Tomatoes Movie Editorial Department: Blood Dan Heart)