will91XingYu
11-14-2007, 05:22 PM
Hi Will91XingYu here to give you my review of the 1985 shaw brothers classic that is Disciples of the 36th Chamber. The mandarin title for this is Pi Li Shi Jie, it was the last installment of Lau Kar Leungs 36th chamber series which started in 1978 with 36th Chamber of Shaolin, followed by in 1980 with Return to the 36th Chamber, the difference with this is that although Gordon Liu again plays San Te it is co coreographer of the film and Lau Kar Leung prodigy Hsiao Ho (Martial Club, Mad Monkey Kung fu) who is the lead starring as Fong Sai Yuk.
The film also stars Lilly Lee (Young Master, Dreadnaught), Jason Piao (Bloody Parrot, Avenging Warriors of Shaolin) other special appearences are the coreographer and director himself Lau Kar Leung also two venoms turn up (Sun Chien and Wang Li). This is my personal faviroute of the series. Mainly because i'm a huge fan of Hsiao Ho and here he is given his ultimate chance to shine under some of the best coreography of Lau Kar Leung's career.
Hsiao Ho plays Fong Sai Yuk who like San Te is a legendary figure in Chinese martial arts history. Other people who played him are Fu Sheng, Meng Fei, Jet Li and Willie Chi in Burning Paradise a film by Tsiu Hark in the 90's. Fong Sai Yuk is always portrayed as a cheeky young guy who was taught kung fu by his mother. He also is famous for his tragic death at a young age. Another metion to the Fong Sai Yuk in films there were two mainland movies made in the 80's titled Young Hero of Shaolin starring Got Siu Bo.
The films story is Fong Sai Yuk is sent to the shaolin temple after getting in trouble with local manchus, at the shaolin temple he causes trouble and sneeks out to a lantern festival. There an evil general (Jason Piao) plots to kil Fong and destroy the shaolin temple.
That is a bare bones story, don't think that because it has a simple story that it is boring or simple, this is the opposite. This film apart from awesome fights, has great acting (Hsiao Ho and Lilly Lee are excellent), the comedy is great and the whole feel of the film is great. This is more similar to Return to the 36th Chamber than the original. Hsiao Ho is a gifted acrobat and martial artist if you doubt him watch this film and you'll see why i like him so much! From the opening demos (portraying the main events of his life, like the fight on the poles), also in this scene we see Lee Hoi San (Magnificent Butcher) and Yeu Qi (Kung fu Hustle).
Throughout the film Hsiao Ho gets amny oppurtunites to show his skills, also mention goes to Mak Wai Chung who plays one of his brothers. This guy can be seen as a stuntman in all the later Lau Kar Leung films, he was also in Legend of the Wolf with Donnie Yen, he plays a monkey fighter. This film has so many syand out fights. For me the best ones are when Lau Kar Leung tries to break Lilly Lee's horsestance, the bench fight between Hsiao Ho and Gordon Liu and the 15 minute shapes brwal at the end.
Gordon Liu shows off his incredible martial arts skills, but dosn't really get to do any comedy. The training scenes are not as prodominent which boosts the film for me. Jason Piao as the bad guy is good, he shows off his eagle claw against Hsiao Ho at the end, also Lau Kar Leung arrives as a bad guy with a horse cutter. As i said venoms Sun Chien and Wang Li are in it but don't really do much, co coreographer Ching Chu has a good fight with Hsiao Ho and then fights at the end.
This is a must have for martial arts fans, and was the last film that Lau Kar Leung did for shaws, and so it was for Hsiao Ho and many others (Gordon Liu would star in Crazy Shaolin Disciples with the venoms and Wong Yu)so its also the end of an era not just for shaws but for Lau Kar Leungs classic period. For me this is the best in the series and one of my personal favs of all time. Thanks for reading my reviews for this epic series, hope you enjoyed. Thank you.
5/5
The film also stars Lilly Lee (Young Master, Dreadnaught), Jason Piao (Bloody Parrot, Avenging Warriors of Shaolin) other special appearences are the coreographer and director himself Lau Kar Leung also two venoms turn up (Sun Chien and Wang Li). This is my personal faviroute of the series. Mainly because i'm a huge fan of Hsiao Ho and here he is given his ultimate chance to shine under some of the best coreography of Lau Kar Leung's career.
Hsiao Ho plays Fong Sai Yuk who like San Te is a legendary figure in Chinese martial arts history. Other people who played him are Fu Sheng, Meng Fei, Jet Li and Willie Chi in Burning Paradise a film by Tsiu Hark in the 90's. Fong Sai Yuk is always portrayed as a cheeky young guy who was taught kung fu by his mother. He also is famous for his tragic death at a young age. Another metion to the Fong Sai Yuk in films there were two mainland movies made in the 80's titled Young Hero of Shaolin starring Got Siu Bo.
The films story is Fong Sai Yuk is sent to the shaolin temple after getting in trouble with local manchus, at the shaolin temple he causes trouble and sneeks out to a lantern festival. There an evil general (Jason Piao) plots to kil Fong and destroy the shaolin temple.
That is a bare bones story, don't think that because it has a simple story that it is boring or simple, this is the opposite. This film apart from awesome fights, has great acting (Hsiao Ho and Lilly Lee are excellent), the comedy is great and the whole feel of the film is great. This is more similar to Return to the 36th Chamber than the original. Hsiao Ho is a gifted acrobat and martial artist if you doubt him watch this film and you'll see why i like him so much! From the opening demos (portraying the main events of his life, like the fight on the poles), also in this scene we see Lee Hoi San (Magnificent Butcher) and Yeu Qi (Kung fu Hustle).
Throughout the film Hsiao Ho gets amny oppurtunites to show his skills, also mention goes to Mak Wai Chung who plays one of his brothers. This guy can be seen as a stuntman in all the later Lau Kar Leung films, he was also in Legend of the Wolf with Donnie Yen, he plays a monkey fighter. This film has so many syand out fights. For me the best ones are when Lau Kar Leung tries to break Lilly Lee's horsestance, the bench fight between Hsiao Ho and Gordon Liu and the 15 minute shapes brwal at the end.
Gordon Liu shows off his incredible martial arts skills, but dosn't really get to do any comedy. The training scenes are not as prodominent which boosts the film for me. Jason Piao as the bad guy is good, he shows off his eagle claw against Hsiao Ho at the end, also Lau Kar Leung arrives as a bad guy with a horse cutter. As i said venoms Sun Chien and Wang Li are in it but don't really do much, co coreographer Ching Chu has a good fight with Hsiao Ho and then fights at the end.
This is a must have for martial arts fans, and was the last film that Lau Kar Leung did for shaws, and so it was for Hsiao Ho and many others (Gordon Liu would star in Crazy Shaolin Disciples with the venoms and Wong Yu)so its also the end of an era not just for shaws but for Lau Kar Leungs classic period. For me this is the best in the series and one of my personal favs of all time. Thanks for reading my reviews for this epic series, hope you enjoyed. Thank you.
5/5