Review: ‘The Best of Shaolin Kung Fu’ (1976)

THE BEST OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU sounds like a documentary, but it’s more like a highlight reel of Joseph Kuo films right down to the use of Carter Wong as a villain, the appearance of Shaolin bronze men and an epic series of challenges within Shaolin for the star Cliff Lok to overcome. Lok has always seemed like one of those reliable, yet unremarkable kung fu stars who, like Jimmy Wang Yu, peaked in the early ’70s and was ultimately overshadowed by bigger and better talent. But within this film, it becomes clear that all he needed was the proper choreography to shine as bright as any kung fu star. And appropriately enough, the man to do it was his mentor, director and choreographer Chan Siu-pang (SHAOLIN KUNG FU MYSTAGOGUE).

This is definitely one of those stereotypical kung fu movies where a tiny bit of plot is thinly wrapped around extended martial arts battles. But what may be bad news for casual viewers is great news for diehard fu enthusiasts.

The legendary tales of Emperor Chien Lung, usually the only Qing Emperor to be treated as a hero in film, has been covered in greater detail and with more narrative skill elsewhere, particularly in a series of films put out by Shaw Brothers, with THE EMPEROR AND HIS BROTHER (1981) probably being the most action-packed. According to legend, he’s the only Qing Emperor to have actually had Han bloodlines after being switched at birth. He supposedly journeyed among the populace incognito in search of learning and adventure. THE BEST OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU concerns itself with his brother, as played by Cliff Lok, who tries to convince him that he is Han and to help him fight the Manchu and restore the Ming Dynasty.

The first thirty minutes of the film gets bogged down in this confusingly-laid out plot as Lok gets bested by the Emperor’s chief guard, as played by Carter Wong. But things pick up substantially once Lok arrives at Shaolin Temple to receive instruction in order to help him beat Wong.

Up until the Shaolin Temple scene, I was ready to write this film off as another mediocre independent. Then Lok is immediately met and challenged by over a dozen Shaolin monks at the onset of what turns out to be a phenomenal fight scene. The number of dynamic moves Lok performs in each shot in staggering. Throws, kicks, flips, punches, and more are launched as each monk relentlessly closes in. Then, when the monks begin to gain the advantage, he fires his rope dart at an unlit oil lamp overhead which causes the oil to pour out. He rolls about in it and leaps back into the fray with greater success as the monks are unable to grasp him. It’s a wonderfully choreographed fight, only hindered by a scene where a stuntman glaringly fails to follow through with a flip after Lok throws him over his shoulder.

The rest of the film stays in high gear as Lok takes on more monkish challengers including four stick fighters he matches with what looks like large wooden clappers and two sword fighters dangling from vines. Look for the dangling vines that mysteriously follow each fighter’s gravity-defying movements as if they were attached to their waists! Finally, Lok takes on the abbot himself and a host of wooden men.

Wooden fighters appeared as early as 1973 in a rare cut of HEROES OF SUNG, but genre fans most likely remember Jackie Chan taking them on in SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN (1976). The very idea of Shaolin Temple having these ridiculous mechanical fighting dummies is complete fantasy, but fun nonetheless. Unfortunately, Chan Siu-pang goes cheap and simply lacquers up his stuntmen with brown paint, similar to the bronzemen, who incidentally are only in attendance for show. It’s hilarious to see that Lok’s character goes through all of these challenges in a single day and emerges as a master of the abbot’s twelve kung fu techniques. He wastes no time in getting to the Emperor and taking on Carter Wong in an epic duel that spans no less than three distinctly different locales. Yes, through the magic of editing, the pair leap into whole new environments with a single bound, the last being a dried up lake bed. It’s great to see them spar with a rope dart and a three-section-staff, two of the more difficult kung fu weapons to use.

THE BEST OF SHOALIN KUNG FU starts out slow, recovers with a knockout battle midway through and then settles into a steady stream of solid kung fu action with Cliff Lok and Carter Wong both in great form. Since the story is poorly constructed and inconsequential, viewers will be best served by jumping right into the action.