in the version of return to 36 chambers i saw, it had a documentary kind of thing were thery talked about how the bamboo scaffolding is used today in china and how the techniques are used in kung fu 
That’s one of the things that freaked me out my first trip to China. I couldn’t believe they were still building scaffolding with bamboo. I have some pictures I took on the way to a Temple.
Yeah, number 2 was a good one. I have it on tape somewhere. That line is priceless. 
[QUOTE=Wil-Hung;702202]I just got turned on to this movie, I know I’m a late bloomer. Gordon Liu is now #2 on my list of fav MA’s with Jet Li and Tony Jaa, battling for 3rd. My ?: are the 2 sequels worth purchasing, or are thy just “B” movie dreck. There’s a local vid store that has just about any MA movie ever made. (he’s got Ong Bak 2- will watch this w/e) I want to know if the sequels are worth it b4 purchasing them, so any feedback would be welcome. Thanks.[/QUOTE]
Return to the 36th chamber has possibly the best final fight scene of all time. It is defintely worth checking out. Also it is genuinely funny and it is certainly one of the most enjoyable kung fu movies I have ever seen. Gordon Liu learns from San Te in this one. There are not many true ‘movies’ in the kung fu genre but this and the original master killer are 2 of them.
Disciples is a GREAT movie. Usually great movies have to break some sort of new ground for me to consider them great. This movie just manages to do everythign perfect. Don’t expect the greatest martial arts bouts of all time, btu it is a very fun movie. Ho Hsou??? (little monkey) is my favorite fong sai yuk EVER over jet, fu sheng , mang fei, and all the rest. Disciples could have cut down on the wirework a bit and had more intense battles, but it is still a great movie. Also Li-Li-Li and Master Lau are in it. That always score extra points for me.
Also check out Shaolin Wudang, though gordon does nto play San Te, it is the closest actual ‘sequel’ that you will find. Though it is a horribel movie, it does have some of the absolute most beautifully choreographed fights ever, and there is a good message at the end.
Top Student
What was the name of the “Top Student” character San Te fights at the end of his training, and what is the actors real name as well? I’ve seen him b4, I think in other movies. As bad as he is w/ those b-fly knives, I wonder what he can do with other weapons.
As a side note, who would like to posess the Qi/Chi/Hei the master had in the highest chamber? You would only engage if you wanted to.
[QUOTE=Wil-Hung;702585]What was the name of the “Top Student” character San Te fights at the end of his training, and what is the actors real name as well? I’ve seen him b4, I think in other movies. As bad as he is w/ those b-fly knives, I wonder what he can do with other weapons.
As a side note, who would like to posess the Qi/Chi/Hei the master had in the highest chamber? You would only engage if you wanted to.[/QUOTE]
His name is Hoi San Lee. He has a similiar fight with gordon in shaolin vs wudang where again he plays the senior student. He has been in literally everything over the years. The main reason for that is he had teh best ability that you could posess in fighting on screen, and never hurting the other person. Maybe it is becasue his form is so good and he is so muscualr, maybe that is why he sells it so well. But anyway, some of my favorite movies of his are his role as the White-crested crane in the Goose Boxer, the shaolin traitor in Shaolin Prince, henchman in Young Master, a great role that I can’t give away in Shaolin Intruders, and of course we all remember him as black man from Enter the Fat Dragon(or at least I remember that horrible spray paint job).
He seems to be good with all weapons from what I have seen though he is not exactyl jet li when handling them.
Yup, Master Killer still is a top pick.
Lee Hoi San (aka., Li Hai-sheng) was a practitioner of Wing Chun and I think Lama or White Crane style. I had an old issue of a kung fu magazine from Hong Kong called New Martial Hero, I think, that had an article about Lee and Ti Lung being senior students of Wing Chun and helping their sifu lead classes in Hong Kong way back in the day (the mag was from about 1974). But when he fights in the movies he looks more like White Crane or Lama(?) style, or a version of it. He’s been in movies with everyone, and though he was never one of the fastest guys, he’s always very strong, precise and rock-solid.
The biggest waste of his career was his character getting killed off by Bill “Superfoot” Wallace in an ice factory in the Asian version of Jackie Chan’s “The Protector”. (1985).
Shaolin challenges Ninja
Got another one to add to the list: “Shaolin challenges Ninja” aka “Heroes of the East” There’s actually a plot you can follow and the fight scenes feature multiple syles of empty hand and weponry. My favorite scene was between G-Liu w/ 3part staff vs. japanese guy w/ nunchaku one one hand and the “billy club w/handle” (sorry, I don’t know the name of it) Take my word for it, They was battlin’. Another cool message was the way “the Martial way” was depicted. No one was killed or maimed, but a victor was clear.
Any thoughts on this one?
hi,
the guy from disciples is Siu Hou…
Heors of the east is one of the nicest ma flicks ever displaying chinese and japanese ma competing..and theres not much hatred shown against the japanese which was for that time very rare..
Shaolin Challenges Ninja has got to be on of my 5 favorite Lau films. It’s weird how we don’t get like a white backround action sequence for the credits but they go right into the story. I still don’t know whether I like the first half(story) or the second half(fights) more. The fights were obviously great but the whole Ninja game played by Kurata and Liu was my favorite. I always like films a lot more when they rely on honor in a story.
And how about stumbling on the knowledge (after the fact) that your wife is this fearsome warrior that is trained in stealth techniques, and by the way knows several time honored ways to kill you. I’m thinking arguments are minimal and I’ll just become an insomniac.
made the NYT
[URL=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/movies/homevideo/19dvd.html?_r=2&8dpc&oref=slogin&oref=slogin”]THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN
Gordon Liu in “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” (1978).
A frequent candidate for the finest martial arts movie ever made, “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” has at last been rescued from the video bargain bins (where it has long languished under the title “Shaolin Master Killer”) and given a first-class release by the Weinstein Company’s new Asian action label, Dragon Dynasty.
Produced by the storied Shaw Brothers studio, “36th Chamber” (1978) belongs to the second wave of the golden age of Hong Kong action filmmaking. It was released when the ground rules laid down in the mid-1960s by the genre’s pioneers, King Hu and Chang Cheh, were giving way to the harsher vision of a younger generation of directors, much as the epic westerns of John Ford and Howard Hawks led to the tighter, nervier work of Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher.
But the western analogy goes only so far: structurally, the Hollywood genre the martial arts films most resemble is the musical. The trick in both genres is to find a plausible, unobtrusive and emotionally satisfying way to arrange a series of disconnected performance pieces, and “36th Chamber,” written by the prolific Ni Kuang and directed by Liu Chia-liang, finds an elegant solution.
Loosely based on the traditional story of San Te, the Shaolin monk who introduced the secrets of kung fu to the Chinese masses oppressed by Manchurian rule, “36th Chamber” follows San Te’s training at the legendary Shaolin temple, as he progresses from a spoiled merchant’s son to a grand master. His training takes him through a series of chambers in which he confronts different tactical and physical challenges, ranging from balancing on floating logs to head-butting his way through a corridor blocked by low-hanging sandbags.
This is, of course, the structure of practically every video game ever designed, but it makes for a beautifully paced and consistently surprising movie. Mr. Liu, directing his brother Gordon Liu as San Te, brings different styles and rhythms to each chamber, ranging from horror-movie intensity to slapstick comic relief.
Mr. Liu, who also directs and does action choreography (most recently for Tsui Hark’s ill-fated “Seven Swords”) under the Cantonese transcription of his name, Lau Kar-leung, possesses an impeccable sense of how action is amplified and energized by editing, and there are passages here that approach the purity of dance. (Gordon Liu, with his unsmiling, classical poise and clarity of line, would not seem out of place in a ballet company.)The Dragon Dynasty transfer actually improves on the Hong Kong DVD release, with a brighter, sharper image and a heap of supplementary material. The extras include an interview with Gordon Liu (recently seen in two roles in the “Kill Bill” films) and a commentary track by the musician RZA of Wu-Tang Clan (a Shaolin scholar of some standing) and the Los Angeles film critic Andy Klein. (The Weinstein Company, $19.95, R)
“a Shaolin scholar of some standing”? Good ol’ RZA…
I’m looking forward to buying the new remastered 36th Chamber of Shaolin and My Young Auntie. I went to Target to see if they were available there and the only one of the 4 the had was The One-Armed Swordsman (the 4th being Lo Lieh’ King Boxer).
One of the things about Lau Kar-Leung’s (Liu Chia-liang) self-directed movies is his infectious enthusiasm for kung fu. It’s very obvious that Lau actually loves kung fu in real life; completely unlike the impression I get from, say, Jackie Chan, for example. Yes, Lau exaggerates and “movie-izes” the kung fu, but his movies and the Chang Cheh Shaolin series choreographed by him are the finest examples of movie KF, period. And when you see him personally performing in films such as:
Challenge of the Masters
Mad Monkey Kung Fu
My Young Auntie
Legendary Weapons of China
The Lady is the Boss
8-Diagram Pole Fighter
New Kids in Town
Drunken Master II
Seven Swords
etc., etc. – it’s great to see his physical precision, hand speed, and performance technique. Lau was the one who pioneered the complex use of traditional KF styles in a movie setting, as well as clear shots of very close-knit short-hand movements and ‘horse positioning’ cinematically.
Another thing about Lau Kar-Leung, he’s directed a few films in which nobody dies; My Young Auntie, Heroes of the East, Martial Club, Lady is the Boss are good examples. Challenge of the Masters has one death, approx. half-way through the movie.
Back in '81, when I first saw Heroes of the East (Shaolin Challenges Ninja) at one of the old grindhouses, it’s the first movie I sat in where the audience actually stood up and applauded at the end, and I’m talking about the rough type of audience that went to those theaters. That didn’t even happen when I earlier saw the Bruce Lee films, which got loud cheers but not the standing ovation at the end. When I later saw it again in an original-language Vietnamese/Chinese theater, the same thing happened at the end of the film. So there’s something to be said about a message of mutual respect and worth between individuals/cultures.
DOn’t forget about Operation Scorpio. I don’t know how much he choreographed, but he is brilliant in that movie. Also Master of disaster he has a great fight. And i remember him using a baseball bat in a great scene in some gangster movie. I remember it was the only fight of the movie. Lau Kar Leung is tops.
And I just watched My Young Auntie. He has an awesome short fight with Lung Wei at the end. I got a couple shivers watching that.
[QUOTE=Jimbo;771539]I’m looking forward to buying the new remastered 36th Chamber of Shaolin and My Young Auntie. I went to Target to see if they were available there and the only one of the 4 the had was The One-Armed Swordsman (the 4th being Lo Lieh’ King Boxer).
One of the things about Lau Kar-Leung’s (Liu Chia-liang) self-directed movies is his infectious enthusiasm for kung fu. It’s very obvious that Lau actually loves kung fu in real life; completely unlike the impression I get from, say, Jackie Chan, for example. Yes, Lau exaggerates and “movie-izes” the kung fu, but his movies and the Chang Cheh Shaolin series choreographed by him are the finest examples of movie KF, period. And when you see him personally performing in films such as:
Challenge of the Masters
Mad Monkey Kung Fu
My Young Auntie
Legendary Weapons of China
The Lady is the Boss
8-Diagram Pole Fighter
New Kids in Town
Drunken Master II
Seven Swords
etc., etc. – it’s great to see his physical precision, hand speed, and performance technique. Lau was the one who pioneered the complex use of traditional KF styles in a movie setting, as well as clear shots of very close-knit short-hand movements and ‘horse positioning’ cinematically.
Another thing about Lau Kar-Leung, he’s directed a few films in which nobody dies; My Young Auntie, Heroes of the East, Martial Club, Lady is the Boss are good examples. Challenge of the Masters has one death, approx. half-way through the movie.
Back in '81, when I first saw Heroes of the East (Shaolin Challenges Ninja) at one of the old grindhouses, it’s the first movie I sat in where the audience actually stood up and applauded at the end, and I’m talking about the rough type of audience that went to those theaters. That didn’t even happen when I earlier saw the Bruce Lee films, which got loud cheers but not the standing ovation at the end. When I later saw it again in an original-language Vietnamese/Chinese theater, the same thing happened at the end of the film. So there’s something to be said about a message of mutual respect and worth between individuals/cultures.[/QUOTE]
well said !
everytime I see him its like seeing kung fu pure..even when sitting in a restaurant with him he cant stop doing some movements..its really true,in the restaurant if you go to the restroom u had to open a double swing door.. he didnt just push them open ..nah he used butterfly palms… (no joke)
“That’s a stupid kung fu!”
Enter to win RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER on DVD. Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 05/13/2010. Good luck everyone!
Congrats to last weeks winners!
See our Return to the 36th Chamber DVD winners thread.
Shaolin Chamber 36 is Back!
I just wanted to let everyone know who may be interested, that my website dedicated to classic Kung Fu films is back up after being down for a few months for renovations.
Shaolin Chamber 36 - Asian Cinematic Treasures Revisited
If you check it out, please let me know what you think.
Buddha Bless You.
movie trivia question
the movie,( master killer 36th chamber of shaolin) came out in 1978 or 1979? i know there are two movies with the same actor,both where he plays a monk in the Shaolin temple. the one i’m looking for is the one where he jump over the floating logs to get into the dinning hall,as the first step of his training.
that would be 36th chamber…