Chan King-sam (uncredited) contributes, along with almost all art directors working in the Hong Kong film industry at the time, to create a hitherto unseen magical world composed of high-power swordsmen, imps, leprechauns, monsters and demons in this landmark martial-arts-cum-sci-fi-cum-comedy (yes, this is a comedy!) actioner imagined by the zany and ingenuous Tsui Hark. Of the many fantastic sets in the film, the most awe-inspiring is undoubtedly the mountain cave (called Fort of the Immortals in the film) in which the Countess (played by the stunning Brigitte Lin) and her many fairy maids reside, and where the walls are decorated by reliefs taken from the ancient Dunhuang frescoes. The scene in which the scholarly swordsman (Adam Cheng) and the Countess tease and chase each other while riding on floating animal sculptures, and another one in which tens of fairy maids fly around with swirling clothes in their wake remain to be the most unforgettable images ever seen in Hong Kong Cinema.

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*22/9

(Sat)

2:00pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

* Post-screening talk with Ka Ming