CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000, HONG KONG)

MILLENNIUM MONTH (MM): MOVIES FROM THE YEAR 2000...

AND IN MEMORIAM

(Post 2 of 11)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

I remember during the 80's watching Kung Fu Theater, whose episodes were mostly badly dubbed Asian flicks featuring most improbable action sequences that usually defied the laws of physics. I must have missed the transition these films took to become high-brow entertainment like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Crouching Tiger is essentially an historical fable with a plot involving a mystical sword and a doomed romance or two. But the action is pure Kung Fu Theater done with special effects that were a little more sophisticated than the ones I saw back in those old flicks. The first time I saw these characters jumping over roofs and sword fighting in trees, I was a bit taken aback. But once I accepted this as part of the film's universal law, I accepted and enjoyed the whole adventure. 

2000 IN MEMORIAM

Obituary of person with 1001 movie connection: The career of Loretta Young (1913-2000)  had a most interesting symmetry to it. She began in silents as a teenager, including a nice part in Lon Chaney's Laugh, Clown, Laugh. She then became a front-line leading lady before she was twenty and continued to have prominent starring roles throughout the thirties and forties, including The Bishop's Wife and The Farmer's Daughter, for which she received an Academy Award in 1947. By the time she hit forty, she made the transition to the new medium of television and starred in the anthology series The Loretta Young Show for ten years. Then at the ripe old age of fifty, she retired and lived in retirement until her death at the age of 87.

Orson and Loretta in The Stranger

Her 1001 connection? The only 1001 listing I can find from Loretta's 100 plus movie credits is as Orson Welles's leading lady in the film noir thriller The Stranger.