The Fate Of Lee Khan (HK 1972)

Rating: **
Director: King Hu
Cast: Angela Mao, Lo Lieh, Hsu Feng, Roy Chiao

A long and boring rip-off of "Dragon Gate Inn" (1966) that fails to live up to the suspense and action of the story. A Mongol prince (Lo Lieh) and his sister (enchantingly bitchy Hsu Feng) come to an inn full of spies and rebels. The inn keeper, her allies, and her four adorable fighting waitresses spend about an hour devising plans and schemes for stealing a document from the prince, and the charade finally falls apart at the end with a free-for-all sword fight. Nearly the entire film takes place inside the inn, but nothing interesting ever happens there. The fighting is also unremarkable, with only Lo Lieh, adorable Angela Mao, and Wang Chung (?) getting in some brief, but decent chops. Considered a classic in Hong Kong cinema, this film took three years to complete, but it's hard to tell why since there's only one set. Kind of a stinker, but the girls are nice to look at.