will91XingYu
11-09-2007, 11:04 AM
Hi Will91XingYu, this is my review of Lau Kar Leung's 1978 story of the shaolin temple, this is my first review of the 36th chamber trilogy (i'll review Return to the 36th Chamber and Disciples of the 36th Chamber). The mandarin title for the film is Shao Lin San Shi Liu Fang, it was released in 1978 and was master Lau Kar Leung's 5th film as director and action coreographer for shaw brothers (the first five included the classic Heroes from the East and Shaolin Mantis). The film is described as the best kung fu film ever, sorry but for me this it is not.
I'll explain myself first, as i know that nearlly everyone one in the world loves this film, i like it but personally the other two entry's of the series are better, and in this review i'll try my best to explain why. Lau Kar Leung who studied Hung Gar from his father who was taught by Lam Sai Wing (Wing was a student of the legendary Wong Fei Hong), i could be wrong about this but Lau is definatley related kung fu wise to Wong Fei Hung and Lam Sai Wing. The film is a homage to the shaolin temple and stars Lau's adopted brother Gordon Liu as real life monk San Te, it also stars Lo Lieh as a manchu general, and Wilson Tong, Wong Yu, Norman Chiu and John Cheung.
The story for this film starts with a patriot played by Lau Kar Leung's real brother Lau Kar Wing, who is going to assasinate Lo Lieh's charecter, this dosn't quite work, Lau Kar Wing armed with an axe gets through a few guards before getting to Lo Lieh who shows whos boss with his double sword technique. The manchu's get hold of a school teacher is believed to be a rebel, they decide to kill all the students believeing they could be rebels as well, one of the students in the school is Gordon Liu. Soon San Te (i don;t think he gets that name until he goes to the temple) wants revenge as his father has been killed and most by now of his friends.
Gordon Liu enters the shaolin temple, and must complete all 35 chambers before he can leave and get his vengeance on the manchu dogs that killled everyone dearrest to him. The training scenes are cool but in my opinion drag a bit, it's only when he gets to the end of his training and must fight another monk in a series of duels to leave the temple (the other monk is played by Wing Chun and hong kong cinema bad guy Lee Hoi San- Project A, Magnificent Butcher), this is cool as San Te by accident makes the three sectioned staff by which he finally beats Lee Hoi San and can leave the temple.
Along the way he meets other people being opressed by the manchus, such as miller 6 played by Wong Yu and Norman Chiu who plays another real life martial artsist but his name i can't remember. Soon San Te goes after the men responsible for the death of his loved ones, first up Wilson Tong (Snake Deadly Act, Shaolin Mantis), Wilson was also the co action director and was from Spiritual Boxer (1976) until Shadow Boxing where he branched out on his own in independant films like the Victim with Sammo Hung, then he returned in the early 80's to Shaw Brothers and appeared in Lau Kar Leung's last few films for the studio, such as Cat vs. Rat and Treasure Hunters (directed by Lau's brother Lau Kar Wing).
The rest of the story i won' give away as it's easy to guess and it's cool to watch. Right to justify the fact i find this film a bit overated, i do like the film but it's like the begining is cool, then there's like a whole hour of him training which for me got repedative seeing him head sand bags or carry water, it is cool to see who plays the other monks, they include Hsiao Ho (Mad Monkey Kung fu, Legendary Weapons of China) he would after to this film become a perminant member of Lau's team, and would become co action director up until 1984 with Eight Diagram pole Fighter which has Gordon Liu as the man charecter. Also Austin Wai (Gang Master, Five Superfighters)he is also brother to Lau protoge Kara Hiu.
Speaking of familiar faces, Billy Chan and Peter Chan appear as manchus, these two were part of Bruce Lee's stunteam and at that point working with Sammo Hung at golden harvest. Another Sammo stuntman Chin Yuet Sang turns up as well. For me the problem with this film is the pacing and choice of bad guys, i love Wilson Tong in this he is a badass and his and Gordon Liu's fight is really cool, also John Cheung (Jackie Chan stuntman-Project A, Snake in the monkey's Shadow) does really well and comes across as a badass, but Lo Lieh is wasted, i know he didn't know martial arts but he looked good on screen, the film has led up to this great end fight between him and San Te and it's a rubbish fight. I never say that about Lau Kar Leung but this fight is short and really is poor by his standards. I wouldn't have had Lo Lieh in at all if he wasn;t going to do anything.
Also another thing that annoied me is the choice of actors for when San Te meets these other legendary martial artists, they're played by the wrong people, i know at this point they don't know kung fu but please Wong Yu and Norman Chiu! I like them both but i don't know sounds wierd but it annoied me. The fights are quite good but i wish they'd been longer and the end one had been so much better, the reason i may not like this film as much is because everyone loves it so much and i just think it's good but not great, this year 1978, seasonal films brought out Drunken Master with Jckie Chan which is better than this and golden Harvest brought out Warriors Two with Casanova Wong and Sammo Hung and that is better than both!
The best thing about this film is Gordon Liu, this guy is amazing in this, but to see his best roles check out the other films he did with Lau Kar Leung, because here he looks awesome but the coreography isn't the best of Lau's career, but yeh his potrayal of San Te is awesome, San Te is famous as he made the 36th chamber for secular monks, other portrayals of him are Iron Fisted Monk where he is played by Chen Sing and Miller 6 is played by Sammo Hung (Sammo's directional debut), also by Gordon again in the superior Disciples of the the 36th Chamber (1984).
All in all this film is good but overated in my opinion, it's so infamous that you probably have to buy it and to see it becuase it is worth it, just remember this isn't the greatest martial arts film ever, because check out other Lau Kar Leung films and you'll see what i mean, and this end fight is opathetic in terms of the rest of the film, the build up to it and also other classics that Lau has directed, i know it was 1978 but look at other films from this time by Sammo Hung and Yuen Wo Ping, this dosn't quite measure up, but after this Lau would top as coreographer with films like My Young Auntie, Mad Monkey Kung fu, Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, Legendary Weapons of China and Martial Club to name a few. Thanks for reading, i'll have my rteviews for the other two films in the next few days. Thanks for reading.
3.5/5
I'll explain myself first, as i know that nearlly everyone one in the world loves this film, i like it but personally the other two entry's of the series are better, and in this review i'll try my best to explain why. Lau Kar Leung who studied Hung Gar from his father who was taught by Lam Sai Wing (Wing was a student of the legendary Wong Fei Hong), i could be wrong about this but Lau is definatley related kung fu wise to Wong Fei Hung and Lam Sai Wing. The film is a homage to the shaolin temple and stars Lau's adopted brother Gordon Liu as real life monk San Te, it also stars Lo Lieh as a manchu general, and Wilson Tong, Wong Yu, Norman Chiu and John Cheung.
The story for this film starts with a patriot played by Lau Kar Leung's real brother Lau Kar Wing, who is going to assasinate Lo Lieh's charecter, this dosn't quite work, Lau Kar Wing armed with an axe gets through a few guards before getting to Lo Lieh who shows whos boss with his double sword technique. The manchu's get hold of a school teacher is believed to be a rebel, they decide to kill all the students believeing they could be rebels as well, one of the students in the school is Gordon Liu. Soon San Te (i don;t think he gets that name until he goes to the temple) wants revenge as his father has been killed and most by now of his friends.
Gordon Liu enters the shaolin temple, and must complete all 35 chambers before he can leave and get his vengeance on the manchu dogs that killled everyone dearrest to him. The training scenes are cool but in my opinion drag a bit, it's only when he gets to the end of his training and must fight another monk in a series of duels to leave the temple (the other monk is played by Wing Chun and hong kong cinema bad guy Lee Hoi San- Project A, Magnificent Butcher), this is cool as San Te by accident makes the three sectioned staff by which he finally beats Lee Hoi San and can leave the temple.
Along the way he meets other people being opressed by the manchus, such as miller 6 played by Wong Yu and Norman Chiu who plays another real life martial artsist but his name i can't remember. Soon San Te goes after the men responsible for the death of his loved ones, first up Wilson Tong (Snake Deadly Act, Shaolin Mantis), Wilson was also the co action director and was from Spiritual Boxer (1976) until Shadow Boxing where he branched out on his own in independant films like the Victim with Sammo Hung, then he returned in the early 80's to Shaw Brothers and appeared in Lau Kar Leung's last few films for the studio, such as Cat vs. Rat and Treasure Hunters (directed by Lau's brother Lau Kar Wing).
The rest of the story i won' give away as it's easy to guess and it's cool to watch. Right to justify the fact i find this film a bit overated, i do like the film but it's like the begining is cool, then there's like a whole hour of him training which for me got repedative seeing him head sand bags or carry water, it is cool to see who plays the other monks, they include Hsiao Ho (Mad Monkey Kung fu, Legendary Weapons of China) he would after to this film become a perminant member of Lau's team, and would become co action director up until 1984 with Eight Diagram pole Fighter which has Gordon Liu as the man charecter. Also Austin Wai (Gang Master, Five Superfighters)he is also brother to Lau protoge Kara Hiu.
Speaking of familiar faces, Billy Chan and Peter Chan appear as manchus, these two were part of Bruce Lee's stunteam and at that point working with Sammo Hung at golden harvest. Another Sammo stuntman Chin Yuet Sang turns up as well. For me the problem with this film is the pacing and choice of bad guys, i love Wilson Tong in this he is a badass and his and Gordon Liu's fight is really cool, also John Cheung (Jackie Chan stuntman-Project A, Snake in the monkey's Shadow) does really well and comes across as a badass, but Lo Lieh is wasted, i know he didn't know martial arts but he looked good on screen, the film has led up to this great end fight between him and San Te and it's a rubbish fight. I never say that about Lau Kar Leung but this fight is short and really is poor by his standards. I wouldn't have had Lo Lieh in at all if he wasn;t going to do anything.
Also another thing that annoied me is the choice of actors for when San Te meets these other legendary martial artists, they're played by the wrong people, i know at this point they don't know kung fu but please Wong Yu and Norman Chiu! I like them both but i don't know sounds wierd but it annoied me. The fights are quite good but i wish they'd been longer and the end one had been so much better, the reason i may not like this film as much is because everyone loves it so much and i just think it's good but not great, this year 1978, seasonal films brought out Drunken Master with Jckie Chan which is better than this and golden Harvest brought out Warriors Two with Casanova Wong and Sammo Hung and that is better than both!
The best thing about this film is Gordon Liu, this guy is amazing in this, but to see his best roles check out the other films he did with Lau Kar Leung, because here he looks awesome but the coreography isn't the best of Lau's career, but yeh his potrayal of San Te is awesome, San Te is famous as he made the 36th chamber for secular monks, other portrayals of him are Iron Fisted Monk where he is played by Chen Sing and Miller 6 is played by Sammo Hung (Sammo's directional debut), also by Gordon again in the superior Disciples of the the 36th Chamber (1984).
All in all this film is good but overated in my opinion, it's so infamous that you probably have to buy it and to see it becuase it is worth it, just remember this isn't the greatest martial arts film ever, because check out other Lau Kar Leung films and you'll see what i mean, and this end fight is opathetic in terms of the rest of the film, the build up to it and also other classics that Lau has directed, i know it was 1978 but look at other films from this time by Sammo Hung and Yuen Wo Ping, this dosn't quite measure up, but after this Lau would top as coreographer with films like My Young Auntie, Mad Monkey Kung fu, Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, Legendary Weapons of China and Martial Club to name a few. Thanks for reading, i'll have my rteviews for the other two films in the next few days. Thanks for reading.
3.5/5