The Film (4/5)

A young scholar named Ho (Shin Chun), has failed the entrance exams to a private College. To make ends meet, he takes on the thankless job of translator and copyist for various Buddhist texts, including some secret sutras. Ho is told to go to a remote monastery to do his task, but when he gets to the back roads of the mountain, he discovers some truly bizarre things going on. One of which is a feud between two mysterious women named Melody and Cloud (Hsu Feng and Syvia Chang).

LEGEND OF THE MOUNTAIN (1979) is another visual tour de force from director King Hu. After making a hit with the Shaw Brothers film COME DRINK WITH ME, Hu started to push his artistic impulses to the breaking point. But after the lackluster box office of A TOUCH OF ZEN, it seemed Hu's style was becoming old fashioned. As part of an international filmmaking push, Hu discovered that Korea was offering discounted rates to film there. The only hiccup was to take advance of this you had to have at least two film productions going.

The other film was RAINING IN THE MOUNTAINS, which I haven't seen as yet. But for a on the spot second feature, LEGEND is an odd duck with fusion of genres. The movie is a mesmerizing fever dream of the supernatural with a slow but engrossing pace. The only negative side to this is the director's cut massive three hour running time. Hu said that he wanted to play with the idea of duration and time, but here it works for about 80% of the runtime. To get the bad out of the way, this playing of time and length is the film's misstep.

As for the look of the movie, Hu delivers another stunning epic. Each scene is filled with sparks of creative expression and dreamlike wonder. The color scheme is especially eye catching with the most vivid oranges I've seen in a historical fantasy. Hu also uses his signature colored smoke to dizzy effect. The film's biggest gift is it's manic editing and use of framing. At times randomly cutting to a Dutch angle or sped up shot. Many of the visual trips would be put to good use in other Chinese ghost tales such as Tsui Hark's ZU WARRIORS OF MAGIC MOUNTAIN.

As a fable, the story is stripped to its basic level. Like many ghost tales, we get a wide-eyed innocent who is sucked into a world of Black Magic and double crosses. Hu adds some feminist flair but having two strong and developed female ghosts controlling the narrative. Something that could put this film alongside classics such as COME DRINK WITH ME and BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR.

Audio/Video (5/5)

Eureka! Delivers the goods with this out of this world audio and video transfer. The main audio track is a 1.0 LPCM Mandarin track. Unlike some older films of this vintage, LEGEND doesn't suffer from any muffled audio or background noise. There are no pops or hiss.

The 1080p HD transfer is just as fantastic as Eureka's fine work with King Hu's A TOUCH OF ZEN. The black levels are smooth and there is some natural film grain. There is no motion blur or digital noise.

Extras (4.5/5)

Screen Legend: The Magic of King Hu, is a visual essay by filmmaker and Critic by David Cairns. The essay is packed with trivia and readings of the visual symbolism. Cairns also mentions the reference of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" on the story structure of LEGEND. There are some major technical problems with the audio on this piece.

There is an interview with Tony Rayns on the film's production and its place in King Hu's career. Like always Rayns is down to earth and insightful on the movie's history. This extra alone is worth the price of the disc. Wrapping up the disc is a trailer and still gallery. In the Blu-ray case itself is a booklet of liner notes by Glenn Kenny.

Overall (4.5/5)

LEGEND OF THE MOUNTAIN is a little long in the tooth, but it's another fantastic King Hu film on shiny Blu-ray disc. If you’re a fan of some of King Hu's films this is an essential purchase. Highly Recommended.