Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Chia-Hui Liu | ... | Chao Jen-Cheh | |
Lung Wei Wang | ... | Boss Wang Kao-feng | |
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Hou Hsiao | ... | Ho Chiao |
Lun Hua | ... | Chen Hsi-sheng | |
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Yeong-Mun Kwon | ... | Yuan Li-hao (as Yung-Wen Kuan) |
Kara Wai | ... | Hsiao Hung (as Kara Hui) | |
Szu-Chia Chen | ... | Mai Yin | |
Tsui Ling Yu | ... | Hsiao Ling | |
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Wei Hao Teng | ||
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Kang Shih | ||
Tao Chiang | ... | Ma Hui | |
Yi Tao Chang | ... | Erh Kun | |
King Chu Lee | ... | Monk San Te (as Ching Chia) | |
Ching-Ching Yeung | ... | Hsiao-Ching | |
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Sae Ok Kim | ... | Laborer (as Hsi-Yu Chin) |
The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from the temple of Shaolin. The factory owner proves the actor a fraud, and punishes all those involved. The young actor feels he has let the workers down, and promises to atone. He sets out for Shaolin, determined to be accepted as a kung-fu pupil at the elite temple. Written by Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
I thought this would be a sequel to the original "36th Chamber of Shaolin" but actually it's more of a light-hearted "sister" to the original. Gordon Liu still stars as a would-be hero on a quest to learn kung fu to defeat those pesky Manchus... but this time around it's lighter and more comedic. The film centres around the local dye mill, where wages are cut due to the hiring of 10 new Manchurian bosses. Liu plays "Chao", who is able to fool the mill bosses into thinking he is a shaolin monk possessing almost magical kung fu skill. But his luck runs out, he is exposed as a fraud, and he promises the mill workers that he will go to the Shaolin monastery to learn kung fu, and return to protect them.
The comedy really begins at the monastery where Chao makes several bungling attempts to get accepted. This sets up lots of really funny moments, and lots of great fight choreography. Continuing in the "36th Chamber" tradition we see all kinds of neat and interesting (and supremely hokey) training methods at the monastery as well as creative uses of wooden benches as weapons.
Also unique and of note is the blending of kung fu and the craft of bamboo scaffold building. Chao is not accepted as a student at Shaolin but is made to build bamboo scaffolding for the "10 year restoration" of the monastery. On the DVD I bought there is a special on bamboo scaffold building and the inspiration that director Lau Kar-Leung drew from it. This is a craft many hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years old, and in Hong Kong scaffolding is still built of bamboo even on large high-rises, though the West exclusively uses steel tubes and clamps. As a result of his scaffolding work, Chao develops a special style of kung fu... when asked what kind it is, he hilariously replies "scaffolding kung fu!!" which he first tests during a dust-up with the monastery's Abbot. In the final confrontation with the Manchus, there is a dazzling array of creative uses for bamboo poles and ties.
From a comedy perspective, I think it's one of the best of the kung fu genre. As a kung fu film in general, it also stands out... I recommend it to anyone!