ACF 1448: Happy Birthday, King Hu

King Hu working with Cheng Pei-Pei during the filming of Come Drink with Me

King Hu (Hu Jingquan) was born in Beijing, China on April 29, 1931. However his reputation rests on films he directed in Hong Kong and Taiwan. After emigrating to Hong Kong in 1949, he entered the film industry in 1951. He worked in art departments, then began acting. After joining Shaw Brothers in 1958, he worked as an actor and writer, ultimately to begin his career as a director there.

Come Drink with Me, which he made as King Chuan for Shaw Brothers in 1966) was an innovative wuxia (martial arts) film. It made Cheng Pei-Pei, who played Golden Swallow, a star in the genre. She utilized her training as a dancer to "sell" her character's ability to be a formidable swords-woman, much as Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi would years later.

Hu wanted her to also star in his next film, Dragon Inn (a.k.a. Dragon Gate Inn, 1967). But Hu had not been happy with producer Run Run Shaw with regard to Come Drink with Me, and had relocated to Taiwan. Cheng was still under contract with the Shaws, who were unwilling to let her make Hu's film. Nonetheless, she and Hu had formed a strong friendship that lasted until his death.

Hu's A Touch of Zen (1971) is probably considered by most to be his penultimate film. It's famous fight in a bamboo forest was at least in part an inspiration for a similar encounter in Ang Lee's triumphant Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, which starred Cheng Pei-Pei, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi, as well as Chow Yun-Fat).

King Hu returned to make films in Hong Kong in the '70s, while also working in Taiwan and elsewhere. He died on january 14, 1997.

King Hu was "[t]he only director to have 2 films (Dragon Inn, 1967 and A Touch of Zen, 1971) selected among the top 10 of the Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures selected by Hong Kong Films Award in celebration of 100 years of movies." (Source: IMDB biography)

And so, ACF celebrates this renowned and revered director on the anniversary of his birth, with much gratitude for the wonderful films he gave us.