The Fate of Lee Khan Flyer

Before Michelle Yeoh, before Zhang Ziyi, there was one queen of kung fu cinema: Angela Mao! Reel East are proud to celebrate the legacy of filmdom’s most lethal female with The Angela Mao Collection.

‘The Fate of Lee Khan’ saw Angela Mao’s join the cast of director King Hu’s first film for Golden Harvest. King Hu, a true maestro of Hong Kong cinema, had made his name at Shaw Bros with the ground-breaking wu xia epic ‘Come Drink With Me’. He then left Shaw Bros and relocated to Taiwan. There he made ‘A Touch of Zen’, another masterpiece that won a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

King Hu only made two films at Golden Harvest, but both are extraordinary. He seemed to be working at another level from all the other Chinese film-makers of his era. Both ‘The Fate of Lee Khan’ and ‘The Valiant Ones’ were action choreographed by Sammo Hung, who rose to the occasion working with this visionary director.

‘The Fate of Lee Khan’ sees Angela Mao Ying cast alongside her fellow Taiwanese actress Hsu Fung, star of ‘Dragon Inn’ and ‘A Touch of Zen’, as well as a line-up of Golden Harvest regulars who, under King Hu’s direction, deliver the performances of their respective careers. King Hu cast Chinese cinema doyenne Li Li-hua opposite veteran actor Roy Chiao, delivering an all-star cast for a 1973 Hong Kong release.

Like most of the King Hu films, the action of the piece takes place within the setting of an inn, built on stages at Golden Harvest studios. The films exterior shots were filmed on locations in Hong Kong.

Reel East are proud to celebrate a masterwork by a true cinematic maestro by making this glossy 12-page colour and black-and-white booklet, printed by Golden Harvest for the 1973 release of the film, available.