The Fate of Lee Khan

After the financial failure of A Touch of Zen (1971), an epic mix of martial-arts action and philosophical drama now considered to be the director's masterpiece, filmmaker King Hu’s 1973 action drama The Fate of Lee Khan returns to the mode of his earlier hit Dragon Gate Inn (1967), with government officials, soldiers, spies, and members of the resistance converging on a remote inn and gambling house in the desert. Tien Feng stars as Lee Khan, the Mongol warlord who arrives at the inn to receive a stolen battle map, and martial-arts movie icon Angela Mao plays one of the savvy serving girls recruited by resistance leader Wan Jen-mi (Chinese film superstar Li Li-Hua). Plenty of action and comedy ensue as one stranger after another enters the inn's dining hall, and the women—who all have criminal pasts—artfully fend off inappropriate advances as they try to sort out the players. Most of the film is set in the vast dining room and Hu keeps it moving forward with clever choreography and dynamic cutting, until the story spills out into the desert plains for the final battle between Khan's forces and the resistance. This is not Hu's greatest film but it is masterfully directed and great fun, with clever action scenes (characters are constantly flying through the air thanks to hidden trampolines and careful editing) and colorful characters whose hidden talents are revealed as they collide. Newly restored, extras include a discussion of the film, and an essay by film scholar Stephen Teo. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)