Shaolin Prince (1982)

The traitorous Lord 9th usurps the Emperor’s throne and the infant princes are sent into hiding. The younger grows up to be a master of the sword and the elder and rightful heir masters the infamous “Scriptures of Sinews” techniques at Shaolin Temple. Once reunited, the brothers fight to reclaim the throne.

From roughly 1965 to 1980 there were two names that defined Hong Kong martial arts action, both of whom loomed large as Shaw Brothers’ premiere team of action directors. Lau Kar-leung gained the most distinction after forging a successful directing and acting career in the late ’70s with a string of monster hits. Then there was Tong Gaai (AKA Tang Chia), his one-time partner in crime and a comparative master craftsman of screen mayhem who finally put humility aside and took his rightful seat in the director’s chair with Shaolin Prince. Tong’s ascension is our gain for this old school masterpiece is a maniacal mix of furious swordplay and explosive fists, flavored with some of the most advanced wirework and creative group choreography ever conceived of.

For his directing debut, Tong seemingly pulled together every connection and resource available to him at Shaw Brothers including a premiere action team, veteran martial arts stars Ti Lung and Jason Pai Piao, and relative newcomer Derek Yee who was riding high on hits like Heroes Shed No Tears and Buddha’s Palm. Production-wise, the film sports the best that SB could muster in terms of sets, costuming and even special effects.

For content, Tong gathers up all the popular genre trends of the day including all things Shaolin, screwball comedy, swordplay (which never really went out of fashion), ghosts, and creative kung fu inventions that have no place in history but sure look great onscreen. Filling in this movie mishmash is nearly wall-to-wall action conceived by Tang and his team to seemingly outdo everything he had ever done before… and that’s a worthy challenge likely no other would have dared to attempt.

For his first attempt at directing a story and not just action, Tong does a better job then a lot of veteran Hong Kong directors have. At its core, Shaolin Prince is a simple and common story of Dao Xing (Ti Lung) an heir to the throne growing up in hiding while an evil usurper rules the country and endlessly searches for them for fear they should return to challenge him. Trained in Shaolin kung fu, yet unaware of his royal heritage, Dao Xing unwittingly and playfully joins Wang Zitai (Derek Yee), his own blood brother, in fighting to depose the traitorous Lord 9th (Jason Pai Piao). He does so out of a sense of simple righteousness until his identity is finally revealed and thus his purpose is also. Along the way, we meet Dao Xing’s three exiled Shaolin masters who are more like the Three Stooges, yet possess kung fu far advanced to what the proper monks are learning.

Dao Xing’s rival at the temple is the furry-browed Monk Dao Kong (Lee Hoi-sang) and his fellow spies who secretly work for Lord 9th. Believing that his elder brother is dead, Wang Zitai comes to Shaolin in hopes of learning the Scriptures of Sinews techniques, the only style capable of beating Lord 9th’s steel fingers. That’s where he meets Dao Xing. Together they must first battle the monks after Dao Kong dupes them into believing that the heroes are villainous and only then can they take on Lord 9th.

Thrown in for no particular reason aside from keeping up with trends is a ghastly ghost encounter when Dao Xing is targeted by a murderous spook who has possessed an innocent girl. With no Taoist priest available to battle this supernatural foe, the situation looks grim until Wang Zitai conveniently arrives with his powerful Emperor’s sword which is capable of banishing ghosts and slaying demons.

Of course, it’s the action that truly defines this movie and that’s where Shaolin Prince becomes sublime. A real flaming sword causes fiery explosions that send its victims flying. Dueling swordsmen in dashing attire swipe and stab furiously at one another while flipping and diving through the air in a precise dance of death. Armed with wicked, twin-bladed weapons, Ti Lung clashes with co-choreographer Lee Hoi-sang. A possessed woman with nine-inch nails tears at her hapless victims and tosses a coffin around. Derek Yee tangles with monks on a steep staircase. And that’s just the first half of the movie! The rest kicks into creative overdrive with a couple of magnificent fight scenes. One sees Ti Lung and Derek Yee fighting their way out of Shaolin. Standing in their way are Twelve Guardians armed with monk’s spades and the awesome Eighteen Lohan Array where monks armed with iron hoops battle in large aerial formations. It’s truly a sight to behold. Even Tong Gaai himself gets in on the action by appearing as the Chief of Lohan who battles Yee with twin swords. He’s as adept a stunt performer as he is a stunt director and the duel becomes one of the film’s many highlights. In some of these scenes Tong effectively makes use of slow motion to enhance and show off the intricate nature of the choreography that would otherwise be missed at normal speed.

Not content with our heroes battling mobs of fighters, Tong even sets Ti Lung against a revenge-seeking Derek Yee when the former come to the defense of Lord 9th’s well-meaning nephew. The staging on this fight relies heavily on a plausible build up of aggression between these two friends and Tong nails it. The finale sees the two friends reunited and ready to take on a steel-fingered Jason Pai Piao who fights from a sedan chair that’s loaded with bladed weapons. It’s a very creative and fun way to finish off one heck of a good kung fu movie that never disappoints, even with what are often overused music samples. The ones selected are often playful (ala Drunken Master) with that slightly hip early ’80s feel that works perfectly in conjunction with what is ultimately a very boisterous movie that delivers on action, but doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Tong Gaai choreographed well over a hundred martial arts movies and a number of TV series during his career, yet only directed three films including Shaolin Prince, Shaolin Intruders (1983), and Opium and the Kung Fu Master (1984). All of these are very good and feature innovative action integrated with engaging plots and characters. It’s a shame he didn’t direct more as Lau Kar-leung had. Nevertheless, for his first directing gig, Tong gets a perfect score despite negligible flaws due in large part to the sheer brilliance of the action he produced.