REVIEW: ‘The 18 Bronzemen’ (1976)

After a Ming general is killed, his trusted bodyguard sends his son (Yee Yuen) to the Shaolin Temple. After many years of hard training, the young man leaves to seek out his father’s murderer with the aid of a Shaolin brother (Carter Wong) and the woman (Polly Kuan) he is destined to marry.

The 18 Bronzemen was one of the earlier classic kung fu movies to vividly portray the trials of Shaolin pupils in what would become a staple of the genre that reached it’s zenith with Lau Kar Leung’s magnificent 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978). This film also marked an important point in the career of director Joseph Kuo by firmly establishing him as one of the premiere independent martial arts filmmakers of the ’70’s.

Having gotten his start by co-starring in several films alongside Polly Kuan, Ting Peng stepped into the leading role of Shao Lung. As a child of a Ming official killed by a Ching General, Shao Lung becomes a fugitive. After four years of harsh, internal training meant to prepare him for the rigors of learning kung fu, the boy is sent to Shaolin Temple where, unbeknownst to him, a protector is assigned to guard his life and help him eventually get revenge on the general. Years go by as he struggles to meet the extraordinary demands put upon him by the temple trainers. All of this is preparation for the ultimate test, which is to face a series of deadly challenges that must be overcome for Shao Lung to be allowed to leave the temple. Despite early setbacks, Shao Lung and his martial brother Wan (Carter Wong) pass through booby-trapped hallways and overcome the brutal 18 bronzemen through combat and tests of endurance in order to emerge victorious. The narrative then speeds up as Shao Lung leaves Shaolin with Wan, learns the full truth of his past, and prepares to face the general. Along the way, he hooks up with Miss Lu (Polly Kuan) who just happens to be the girl he was arranged to marry as a child. Together, the three face the general.

Ting Peng plays a relatively weak martial artist and is easily upstaged by the strong presence of Carter Wong (Big Trouble in Little China). It doesn’t help that Peng, who is more at home in swordplay films is not a particularly charismatic actor. Kuo smartly features Wong who is in his prime here and proves to be the film’s focal point for raw, martial arts prowess. Backing him up is the highly competent Polly Kuan in one of her lesser roles. She only turns up in the latter half of the film and her kung fu skills are displayed sparingly. Chang Yi, a brilliant character actor and kung fu villain is pretty much wasted as the general who only appears briefly.

Joseph Kuo is a name that should be burned into the skull of any kung fu fan, but not necessarily for this film. His films are almost always superior efforts among his peers. Although his best work in films like The 7 Grandmasters (1978) and Dragon’s Claws (1979) was yet to come, he provides plenty of quality kung fu filmmaking here. While most directors did little more than flip on the camera and tell their stars to have at it, Kuo went the extra mile despite limited resources. A detailed model of Shaolin temple (that was later destroyed for The Blazing Temple) is obviously just that, but is well made and effectively conveys a broad scope for the film. The story is an ambitious one in that years go by with an attempt to chronicle the life of one man as he becomes a martial arts hero. We get to see so much in one film including elaborate combat with painted warriors and animated bronze dummies, massive spiked walls that threaten to crush Carter Wong, and the obligatory teahouse brawl. The camera work is especially well done. Kuo get so much right that it’s all the more disappointing when he fumbles. Unfortunately it happens more than once. The first half of the film is concerned with the Shaolin training and is the best portion. It could have easily been expanded to fill the entire running time. But, our heroes eventually leave and this is where things get sloppy. I love Polly Kuan, but her role appears to have been unnecessarily written in as she adds no significance to the plot. The scenes themselves seem hastily edited together to speed things along. By the end, our heroes face the general and a group of look-alikes. The setting changes from a village street to a hilltop and the general’s clones simply vanish in what is one of the worst and most dumbfounding bits of editing you’ll ever see in this genre, and that’s saying a lot.

The 18 Bronzemen is a mixed bag with a strong beginning and weak finish. Check it out if you enjoy the fanciful depictions of Shaolin temple training or Carter Wong’s trademark grimace. But most significantly, this film begins a collaboration between Kuo and his stars Polly Kuan and Carter Wong that leads to improved efforts like The Blazing Temple (1976), The Shaolin Kids (1978), and even the sequel to this film, Return of the 18 Bronzemen (1976).

Related Topics: Genre: Kung Fu, Joseph Kuo, Polly Shang-kwan, The 18 Bronzemen (1976)