The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)

A man studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple to fight back against the oppressive Manchu government.

Director:

Chia-Liang Liu

Writer:

Kuang Ni

Stars:

Chia-Hui Liu, Lieh Lo, Chia-Yung Liu

Cast

Credited cast:
Chia-Hui Liu	...	San Te
Lieh Lo	...	General Tien Ta
Chia-Yung Liu	...	General Yin
Norman Chu	...	Lu Ah-cai (as Shao-Chiang Hsu)
Yu Yang	...	Hung His-kuan (as Yang Yu)
John Cheung	...	Lord Cheng (as Chang Wu-liang)
Wilson Tong	...	Tang San-yao (as Tang Wei-cheng)
Hang-Sheng Wu	...	Tung Qian-jin
Yue Wong	...	Miller Six (as Yu Wang)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tung-Kua Ai	...	Abbot in charge of Head Chamber
Billy Chan	...	Soldier
Lung Chan	...	Abbot in charge of Staff Chamber
Shen Chan	...	Director of 'Wrists Chamber'
Szu-Chia Chen	...	Chen Yen-ping
Wah Cheung	...	Shaolin disciple

Storyline

The anti-Ching patriots, under the guidance of Ho Kuang-han, have secretly set up their base in Canton, disguised as school masters. During a brutal Manchu attack, Lui manages to escape and devotes himself to learning the martial arts in order to seek revenge. In a short period of time he masters the deadly use of his fists, feet and palms, along with such weapons as swords, sticks, and lances. With his learning complete, he takes on the Manchus.

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Plot Keywords:

buddhist monk | training | kung fu | bare chested male | arm ring | 

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Taglines:

Starring Martial Arts Master Liu Chia Hui!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite the US title for the film (The Master Killer), the idea of taking a life would be abhorrent to a real Shaolin or Bhuddist monk.

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Quotes

Senior monk: The wall may be low, but the Buddha is high.

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Alternate Versions

West German theatrical version was cut by ca. 30 minutes. Subsequent TV and VHS releases were cut as well. Only in 2004 the film was redubbed and released completely uncut on DVD by MiB.

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Connections

Featured in Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Movie (2011)

User Reviews

just see it

for some eight years, Liu Chia Liang worked as martial arts choreographer at shaw bros., especially with legendary director Chang Cheh, from whom Liu clearly learned mise-en-scene, as the french call it - a director's skill in using camera, editing and theme to move from one dramatic episode to another. in turn, Liu tried to show Chang Che the possibilities inherent in traditional kung fu, but to little avail - Chang Che really always thought himself a maker of action-adventure films, not primarily a martial arts director. so Liu began making his own films at shaw bros., and demonstrated what he learned from Chang Che, while developing his own themes concerning the the traditional arts we've come to call kung fu.

one decided difference between Liu and Chang - indeed, between Liu and most of the other shaw bros. directors of the period - is that Liu believed that if the fundamental message of kung-fu - which is really about good health and spiritual growth - is to be carried over to the audience, the arts involved would need to be presented in as realistic a fashion as possible - no wire works, no unnecessary leaping over walls, no mythical 'iron fist' technique of jamming one's hand through someone's chest. and once that decision was made, clearly it would also be necessary to develop plots and characters as equally realistic, or the effort would be for nothing.

Liu's movies are thus 'about' kung fu in the purest sense; they are not about fighting, but about discipline. they are not about revenge, they are about using one's training to get beyond revenge.

although the heavy tone of this film obscures it a little, the fact remains that the characters in this film are all very believably human in a way that Chang Che's characters never were. and they don't learn their skills all that quickly - the time frame of the shaolin episode is at least three years - but by doing the same excersizes over and over again until they are perfectly comfortable with them. at which point, of course, they can perform with almost no show of effort.

by the way, there are documentary films of real performances of real shaolin monks demonstrating real martial arts - Liu is pretty close to the real thing, here.

Liu, by the way, appears to be the son of someone who trained with lam sai wing - aka 'butcher' wing, but in no way the country bumpkin he's sometimes made out to be, as in yuen woo ping's 'magnificent butcher'. lam sai wing studied with the legendary Wong Fei Hong, who was taught not only by his classically trained father, but by a well-known former shaolin monk - in short, the Liu credentials are rock solid.

Gordon Liu, star of the film, is Chia Leung's adoptive brother. he is probably the finest performer of traditional kung fu ever filmed, bar none, and utterly fascinating to watch. he also does a solid piece of acting in this film, as well.

shaw bros. quality, Liu bros. skill - don't ask, just see it.

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shaolin Master Killer

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shaw Brothers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1