''Son of the Dragon'' is the first

Hallmark Movie Channel Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (formerly known as Hallmark Movie Channel, and also known as HMM) is an American digital cable and satellite television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings. The channel was spun off from sister network Hallmark Chann ...

original television film. It premiered on

on Wednesday, April 2, 2008, and helped launch the new channel. It was also the first movie for either of the two American cable networks to be shot and shown in

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

Plot summary

The classic

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

tale "The Thief of Bagdad" is retold and relocated to ancient China. D.B. (or "Devil Boy") (

John Reardon John Henry Reardon (born July 30, 1975) is a Canadian actor and former university football player. Prior to 2015, Reardon starred as Blake Laviolette on the CBC Television series ''Arctic Air'' and had a recurring role as Greg Cameron on the Show ...

) was abandoned at birth and rescued from the docks of

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

to grow into an impetuous thief who steals to provide food for the street children he considers his family. Now the young man and his wise partner Bird ( David Carradine), have their eyes on stealing the royal court's jewels. They devise a plan to get into the court by wooing the Governor's daughter, Princess Li Wei (Desiree Siahaan) with whom he is immediately attracted to. However, they are met with strong competition from other potential suitors, especially the Prince of the North ( Rupert Graves) who is the Governor's personal choice. The Princess, however, finds D.B. most intriguing and manages to convince her father to challenge all her suitors with rigorous trials to prove their worth. As various suitors proceed with the tests put before them, the Princess sends along her

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

, Ting Ting (

Theresa Lee Theresa Lee is a Hong Kong-born Canadian actress. Career Lee started her acting career in Hong Kong after placing second runner-up in the 1994 Miss Hong Kong Pageant. Most of her acting career has been in Greater China, but she has also appea ...

), disguised as a man to keep D.B. safe. However, the Princess doesn't know that Ting Ting already knows D.B. and has her own secret feelings for him.

Cast

as D.B. (or "Devil Boy") * David Carradine as Bird * Desiree Ann Siahaan as Princess Li Wei * Rupert Graves as The Prince of the North *

as Ting Ting * Kay Tong Lim as Governor *

Eddy Ko Eddy Ko Hung (; born Ho Yiu-sum ; 1947) is a Hong Kong television and film actor who has worked on the TV stations RTV, ATV (both now defunct), and TVB. Most recently, he has made appearances in several international films including 2015's ''T ...

as Lord Shing * Michael Chow as Bo

Filming locations

Filming took place in Hengdian TV City, China, and Yong Kang Shiguliao Film and Television Studio in

Zhejiang Province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...

, China. The location houses an exact replica of the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples includ ...

Home Media

This film was released in DVD format in October 2007, with English audio, no subtitles, and a running time of 174 min., by RHI Entertainment. In July 2015 it was released in DVD format by Mill Creek Entertainment, with English audio, no subtitles, and a running time of 178 min.

References

External links