(Chinese film) Come Drink with Me (Da Zui Xia)

Come Drink with Me (Da Zui Xia)

(Mandarin with Chinese and English subtitles)

Directors: King Hu
Starring: Zheng Peipei, Yue Hua, Chen Honglie
Hong Kong 1966, color, 94 min.

FILM DESCRIPTION:

A young magistrate escorting prisoners is kidnapped by Jade-Faced Tiger (Chen), whose gang of unsavory thugs is holed up in a temple, under the protection of a mysterious abbot.

A handsome warrior, Golden Swallow (Zheng), effortlessly wards off an attack by the gangsters at a country inn, after which a drunken beggar (Hua) stumbles into the scene, asking for a drink.

Thus the stage is set for a typically dazzling and elegant film by master director King Hu in which nothing is what it seems.

For starters, Golden Swallow is the governor's daughter, on a mission to rescue her kidnapped brother. She is played by Zheng Peipei, one of the most distinguished martial arts actresses of her time.

Critic Stephen Teo has convincingly argued that Come Drink with Me is a pivotal transitional film from the fantasy-driven martial arts films common in the 1960s towards the more realistic, harder-edged films to come.

WHEN:       June 6, 2008, Friday, 9 pm

WHERE:     Harvard Film Archive

Carpenter Center

24 Quincy St.

Cambridge, Mass. 02138

INFO:        hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2008mayjune/shaw.html#five

617-495-4700

SEE COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF CHINESE FILMS IN THIS SERIES, MAY 30 - JUNE 7:

hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2008mayjune/shaw.html#five