Legend of the Mountain

Legend of the Mountain (traditional Chinese: 山中傳奇; simplified Chinese: 山中传奇; Wade–Giles: Shan-chung ch'uan-ch'i) is a 1979 Taiwanese-Hong Kong film directed by King Hu.

Legend of the Mountain
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	山中傳奇[1]
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin shān zhōng chuán qí Yue: Cantonese Jyutping saan1 zung1 cyun4 kei4
Directed by	King Hu
Written by	King Hu Ling Chung[2]
Produced by	Wong Cheuk-Hon[1] King Hu
Starring	Shih Chun Hsu Feng Sylvia Chang Tung Lin Rainbow Hsu
Cinematography	Henry Chan[2]
Edited by	King Hu Siu Nam[2]
Music by	Wu Ta-chiang[2]
Production company	Prosperity Film Company[1]
Distributed by	Winson Entertainment[1]
Release date	1979 (1979)
Countries	Taiwan Hong Kong[3]
Language	Standard Chinese[1]
Box office	HK$734,936[1]

Plot

Ho, a young scholar, is given the task for translating Buddhist sutras which are said to have power over the creatures of the afterlife. He travels to a monastery to find a peaceful place to fulfill the task. However he encounters a bizarre cast of characters: a Buddhist lama, Secretary Tsui and his menacing friend Cheng, Cloud and her flute, the mysterious Melody, and Ms. Chang, Melody's mother who soon arranges a marriage between Melody and Ho. However, as he works on the sutras, Ho slowly finds himself entangled on a mysterious plot involving witchcraft, demons, and a battle to preserve his own soul from the attacks of the supernatural underworld.

Cast

• Shih Chun as Ho
• Hsu Feng as Melody
• Sylvia Chang as Cloud
• Tung Lam as Mr. Tsui
• Tien Feng as Cheng
• Chen Hui-lou as Reverend
• Rainbow Hsu as Ms. Chang
• Wu Jiaxiang as Man carrying wood
• Ng Ming Tsui as Lama
• Sun Yueh

Release

Legend of the Mountain was released in 1979.^[4] The film was also shown at the 1979 Festival of Festivals in Toronto.^[4]

Reception

From contemporary English reviews, Richard Labonte of the Ottawa Citizen described the film as an "intellectual challenge" and as "three hours of film which never drags" and that it was "structured with a rigid formalism which allows for no spontaneity at all and is also a unique treat, for those who can adapt to a slow and mannered Eastern style rather than the fast-paced and action-packed style of most Western films."^[4]

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively gave the film an approval rating of 100% based on 7 reviews from western critics, and an average rating of 8.3/10.^[5]