Gordon Liu (also known as Lau Kar Fai) stars as a young man who’s friends and family have been killed by the recent government. He wakes up at the Shaolin Temple, a position he has only heard about a couple of times. When he realizes he is at the best space possible to learn kung fu, he begs and begs to learn so that he can revenge his family. He does finally acquire taught, but has to open with the basics. Every section of his body must become stronger before he can learn how to fight. After he finishes the first stages of training in characterize time, he is now highly respected and moves onto learning steady fighting styles. He breezes through this and becomes a spacious fighter in only 5 years or so. This is not one of those movies that has 1 or 2 training sequences. Gordon is shown in at least 13 of the chambers and half of the movie is spent at Shaolin. So after he has become a master fighter, he is given a high honor and told that he can become second in charge of any of the 35 chambers. A senior monk played by the mammoth Lee Hoi San objects to this and says that he can’t have this honor unless Gordon defeats him in a weapons duel. Lee Hoi San does not play a villain, but he does not believe that Gordon is a honorable enough fighter to receive so distinguished praise. His idea works better than he could have ever imagined. He ends up helping Gordon improve as a fighter and as a person. Gordon is told he can leave Shaolin now, and he goes to win revenge on the snide General who killed his family.
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One thing that sets this movie apart is that it tries to be a valid movie, and it succeeds. Watching Gordon grow up into a man is much to ogle. The commentators didn’t glance, but a lot of the stuff in this movie is very steady. When Gordon has to utilize the pole with the wieght on the extinguish to hit the bell over and over again, that is a right weight on the raze of the pole! Gordon talks in the interview (included on this disc) about how the sabres that Lo Lieh uses in the final fight are accurate, and it unbiased makes the movie that distinguished better. Dont quiz your average story of revenge. I was touched deeply when I first saw this and there are not many kung fu movies that have as worthy meaning and feeling.
Rating- 5/5
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Picture quality is remastered very well. It does net a bit darker and lighter in some scenes, but other than limited print injure once or twice, the relate quality is perfect. The Mandarin, Cantonese and English tracks all sound valid. In fact, I have never heard the English dub sound this beneficial. The subtitles should have been written better, and the English dub is actually a better translation. They are not horribly written, but could have been a lot better. I am not complaining though since this is the only fault on the DVD.
Special features include a immense commentary from The RZA and this Andy Klein guy who does not know very mighty about the genre. Luckily RZA is there to encourage him point out actors like Lau Kar Glide, Wilson Tong and Hsiao Hou. I found the commmentary appetizing. RZA talks about his experiences with this movie, and he is definitely a 36th Chamber expert. And I found it lovely comic that he seems to consider Gordon Liu is a monk in proper life.
The 17 small interview with Gordon Liu is very keen. He talks about many things such as training day and night and how stout of an honor it was to work with a megastar like Lo Lieh. Gordon skips over the years like people should know what he is talking about, but unbiased in case you don’t, I will maintain you in. In 1974 Lau Kar Leung was Chang Cheh’s top action director and Gordon Liu was cast as a villain alongside Johnny Wang Lung Wei and Leung Kar Yan in movies like ’7 Man Army’. When Lau Kar Leung split up with Chang Cheh he started directing his enjoy movies for the Shaw Brothers, starting with ‘Spiritual Boxer’. In his next movie ‘Challenge of the Masters’, Lau Kar Leung cast his younger adopted brother Gordon Liu as the lead. This is what led to Gordon becoming the star of ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin’, the greatest Shaolin Temple movie ever made.
There is a 17 slight documentary on Shaolin that is basically another 17 minutes of awesome info from Gordon Liu.
The 8 small interview with film critic/scholars Andy Klein and David Shute is a very suitable description of how vast of a movie this is.
The RZA gets a 10 diminutive interview where he talks about where he first started watching these movies and also gives his thoughts on the Shaw Brothers and explains why the Master Killer in his rap group took that name.
The trailers are the best special feature. The trailer for ‘Shaolin Mantis’ is very unusual. Instead of showing clips from the movie, the actors introduce what kind of kung fu styles are going to be former (be obvious to leer for Lily Li!) . Lau Kar Leung is the director of ‘Shaolin Mantis’ and doesn’t even have a role in the movie, but he gets to indicate off his ultra awesome kung fu skills quite a bit in the trailer. I assume I have watched this trailer about 50 times, and I will eventually master that Shadow style!
Also included are New trailers for ‘The 36th Chamber’, ‘Return to the 36th Chamber’, ‘Disciples of the 36th Chamber’, ’8 Arrangement Pole Fighter’, ‘My Young Auntie’, ‘One Armed Swordsman’, ‘Infernal Affairs 3′ and the modern Master Killer US TV commercial.
The last special feature is a gallery of new movie posters and movie stills.
This 1970s classic is a must-have for action/martial-arts movie lovers. The memoir centers around a young scholar (Gordon Liu) who enlists as an underground rebel seeking to overthrow the Manchu rulers that have taken over China. The scandalous local Manchu warlord, played by Lo Lieh (the Shaw Brothers’ approved villain!), discovers the spot and slaughters Liu’s family. Liu flees to the Shaolin Temple, where he becomes a monk, adopts the name “San Te”, and learns the secrets of Shaolin kung-fu (because the dubbing is stale, the character’s pre-Shaolin name is difficult to build out) . This is when the movie shines! The training sequences, though dramatized at times, are the most fabulous ever caught on film and highlight the excruciating wound the monks endure. Seven years later, San Te leaves the Temple and returns to his traditional village to catch revenge on the Manchus.
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Unlike many HK martial arts films, this one does not have “wire-fu” and ridiculous side antics and comedy that distract from the state. The fighting sequences are hasty, hard, and clean- pure archaic school heaven! The anecdote and dialogue are simple; the dubbing could exhaust improvement, but one should understand most of the words. Pay halt attention to the skills San Te learns at Shaolin, and then seeing them applied when San Te battles the Manchus! When you se this, you really enjoy the attention to detail that the makers of the film establish forth.
Overall, a gem of a movie. They don’t compose them like this anymore!!
Master Cleanse
