The Story of Hong Gil-Dong, on OVID.tv

He is known as Korea’s Robin Hood, but for years, he was hiding in Japan. He appeared in the nation’s first animated feature, which was sufficiently popular to earn a sequel. Yet this 1967 film was long considered lost, until a print was recently discovered in a Japanese archive. Fully restored with the original Korean audio track and reconstructed Korean credits, Shin Dong-heon’s The Story of Hong Gil-Dong, premieres Thursday on OVID.tv.

Like most heroes Hong had greatest thrust upon him when his father, a wealthy official, heaved him out of his house. Unfortunately, Hong was not, strictly speaking, legitimate, since his mother was a maid. Despite his father’s affection, the lady of the house conspired against him. Then she ordered his murder, but her would-be assassin is no match for his strength and skills.

Next, Hong successfully frees an innocent man for a corrupt Magistrate’s army. However, by convincing the local peasantry to reclaim their unjustly appropriated property, he makes their lives even worse after he moves on. Of course, the villain immediately reverts to his evil ways. Alas, our hero is still a bit naïve and rather distracted when returning the tortured peasant to his pretty daughter, Gopdan.

Hong also picks up a sidekick, Chadol Bawi, a Dickensian orphan whose father was executed by the Magistrate. Despite his tragic circumstances, the young boy serves as the film’s comic relief. Nevertheless, they both seek the secrets of Master Baekwun, a reclusive mystical swordsman, anticipating their final showdown with the Magistrate.

In terms of themes and style, Hong Gil-Dong is not so very different from Isao Takahata’s Horus, Prince of the Sun, which rather makes sense, since they were produced in the same year. Visually, the Korean film is not quite as vividly rendered, but it is also very definitely a young hero’s journey. The Korean film might even be richer archetypally, incorporating a witch-fox spirit, a band of merry outlaws, and a tiger who repays a debt to Hong, after he rescues her cub. Eventually, Hong even rides into battle on a cloud, like Aladdin on his carpet.

It is all a great deal of fun, especially for fans of Asian animation. Shin regularly blends big action set pieces and slapstick sight gags. He also freely blends elements fantastical wuxia with swashbuckling historical romance. The film is not quite 70 minutes, but he manages to throw in a whole bunch of stuff, just short of the kitchen sink.

Again, fun is the thing to emphasize with this film. It is just a rock’em-sock’em folk tale, in which virtue is rewarded and the truth will out. Considering the subsequent explosion of Korean animation, Hong Gil-Dong is a historically significant film, but it also holds up as a brisk, retro animated adventure. Recommended for fans of old school animation, The Story of Hong Gil-Dong starts streaming Thursday (9/5) on OVID.tv.