36th Chamber

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Audience Member I loved it. Ots a terrific Kung Fu film with an amazing star. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/13/21 Full Review s r I saw this without subtitles and it was still very entertaining! Next time, with subtitles to appreciate the whole training montage. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member SHAO LIN SAN SHI LIU FANG (Master Killer) Director: Chia-Liang Liu Writer: Kuang Ni "For one's country, one takes risk." Here in America, the people walk through their daily lives as if mandatory cogs in the wheel of social and economic progression. We take risks, if necessary, but otherwise lead completely safe lives under the wing of democracy and police surveillance. A lot is taken for granted, and not all of us ever would have stepped into the World Trade Center as it crumbled to the Earth, but the donations were all left with neat and tidy care packages as the firemen walked around in a glass haze of destruction. There is not much that America holds onto as far as risks. China, has always been a mainstay of American idolism, with the aspects of Kung-Fu, science, and Buddhism that trickle in across the oceans that separate us. Needless to say, there are many sharp contrasts between our cultures even in today's modern age. For one, the Chinese adhere to Communism, whereas our government only takes advantage of the loopholes to create an illusion of Republic. "I should have learned kung fu, instead of ethics. If I could fight, I could've stopped them!" Kung-Fu, another mainstay of cinematic culture in America had its beginnings in the ancient days of Buddhism, when teachers at select schools of thought allowed their students to take up boxing. It began as Karate, and quickly evolved to contain a more fluid motion and movement in fighting style. Buddhists were not allowed to actually hurt other people, so the reason for their training remained mysterious until the Wu-Tang or Southern revolution that caused the burning of the main temple in Shaolin. Master Killer, or "The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin", is based on the legends that stirred around after the Southern farming lands of China reclaimed their unity across China. The ideas that were based in Shaolin at the time were based on a 35 Chamber training session that culminated in a mastering of physical movement to ultimately understand all of the major forms of fighting that could be used in battle. As we see in the film, this was not at all constrained to the average stuff that is taught today at modern Kung-Fu schools in America. In fact, many of their practices would be made illegal if introduced these days in America. Gordon Liu, by far one of the most underlooked and best Kung-Fu actors in the business shines like a star in this film. From the opening credits' grunting display of superior Kung-Fu, to the humbleness of his approach to the temple, we see a young man struggling against the oppression of China's police state known as Manchu. This was the idea of the film, no doubt, to show that even a young apprentice with limited expertise could ideally become one of the grand masters in a trade. Nonetheless, the end sequence is so moving that we feel as though the American "Rocky" series owes more to it than anything ever done in American boxing. This is the greatest training film ever made, surpassing anything I've ever seen in the way of showing how a young man can be transformed over time to an archetypical master of trade. Martial arts films were at one time real, as this demonstrates for us, and not whimsical art-fests of CGI graphics. The results are stunning, amazing, awestriking, and worth the time of every view. The direction is superb, and the writing is hard-hitting to the point of sublime reaction. "After all, those who are in charge must be very humble" MASTER KILLER (1978): 10/10 Actors: Chia Hui Liu, Lieh Lo, Chia Yung Liu, Norman Chu, Yang Yu Producer: Mona Fong, Run Run Shaw, Chia-Hsi Huang Cinematographer: Huang Yeh-Tai Music: Yung-Yu Chen Editor: Hing Lung Gueng, Yen Hae Li Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Also known as "Disciples of the 36th Chamber", this movie stars Gordon Liu as the Abbott of the temple. He must take in three new students, one of them being a relative of an elder monk. Not much happens in this movie, Fong Sai Yuk is a rebellious and overzealous martial arts fighter but a poor student. He offends some Manchu and has to hide at the temple. It has lots of training fights, but no one on one fights. There is an all out brawl at the end, but a lack of martial arts fighting hurts this movie a lot.a Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member The first movie of the trilogy. A classic kung fu movie, excellent! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Long unavailable on DVD in the United States except as an import or on VHS, [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] ("Shao Lin san shi liu fang"), a classic, even seminal martial arts film produced by the Shaw Brothers in 1978 with Gordon Liu ([i]Kill Bill[/i]) in the lead role, finally gets a Region 1-DVD release, thanks the Weinstein Company’s new label dedicated to Asian action and martial arts films, Dragon Dynasty. Also released as [i]The Master Killer[/i] or [i]Shaolin Master Killer[/i], [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] was released in the United States to drive-ins and the second- or third-run movie theaters that inspired future filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez (among others). Notable more for its martial arts choreography and extended training sequence, [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] is still worth checking out, regardless of whether you’re a fan of the genre, interested in film genre history, or just looking for some martial arts action on a night home. [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] set, or more likely expanded then solidified the template for martial arts films that focus primarily on the training of an impetuous, hotheaded, undisciplined character. Over the course of training to become a skilled martial arts fighter, the character will gain strength, agility, and endurance along with his martial arts skills. He’ll also learn a system of values that, at least for Western moviegoers and video watchers, will border on the simplistic, but which usually emphasizes an ethos that resorts to violence only in self-defense and only as a last resort. But the genre, not to mention, moviegoers and video watchers, demands a high action quotient and that’s something that [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] delivers, but not in the way we’ve come to expect from martial arts films. Loosely based on a historical character, San Te (Gordon Liu, billed as Chia Hui Liu), is, despite his status as the son of a relatively affluent seafood shop owner, impetuous, hotheaded, and undisciplined. As a college student, he studies ethics, but quickly discovers that his studies haven’t prepared him for the real world. San Te takes his political cues from his teacher, Mr. Ho, a political activist who openly opposes the occupation of China (specifically Canton) by the Manchu Dynasty and its collaborators. Inflamed by his teacher’s sermons, San Te volunteers to be a courier for the rebels, using his father’s business as cover. That decision, however, ends up costing him everything, his father’s business, his parents, his friends, his instructor, and his school. San Te flees and seeks sanctuary at the Shaolin Temple and the monks who study Buddhism and martial arts there. San Te, of course, is less interested in studying Buddhism than he is in learning martial arts and taking that knowledge to the outside world, where he hopes to instruct his countrymen in how to defend themselves against their Manchu oppressors. The monks, however, refuse to become involved in world affairs, but they still take San Te on as a pupil. It takes San Te a year of rigorous study of Buddhism, as well has heavy physical labor, before he’s finally allowed to become a martial arts student. Over the course of weeks, months, and years, San Te masters every torturous challenge. First, he must learn to balance on a log. Second, San Te must ring a giant bell repeatedly with a weighted gong. Third, he must learn to follow a moving flame without moving his head (easier said than done). Fourth, he must carry two buckets of water up a steep incline with his arms outstretched. Each challenge prepares him physically and mentally for the “real” training: learning to fight with his hands, feet, and various weapons, including a three-section staff. From there, [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] follows the path most traveled in the genre: a newly emboldened San Te must leave the sanctuary of the Shaolin Temple, return home, and seek retribution against the Manchu general who ordered the murder of his family and friends. None of that should be surprising to anyone with even a passing familiarity with the genre. What is surprisingly, however, is that [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] focuses primarily on San Te’s training, bookended by his youthful experiences and then, several years later, by his return home. The training scenes at the Shaolin Temple take up most of the screen time. While some moviegoers or video watchers might consider that a problem, it isn't, at least not in the context of the quality martial arts we get to see during San Te's training at the Shaolin Temple. Luckily, the training and fight scenes in [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] are as dynamic and well choreographed as you’re going to get from the late 1970s with no wirework. Liu’s adopted older brother and martial arts instructor, Lau Kar-leung (credited as Chia-Liang Liu), directed [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] with a shooting style typical of martials arts films from the 1970s, relying heavily on zoom ins and zoom outs to emphasize story points or action beats. On the plus side, Kar-leung covered all the major and minor action scenes cleanly, allowing moviegoers and video watchersthe opportunity to see as much of the action and, therefore, the skills and talents of his cast, as possible. And while casting Kar-leung's adopted brother in the lead role may have seemed like nepotism at the time, luckily Liu (who resembled late actor Yul Brynner) had the martial arts training and experience to essay the lead role. Not surprisingly, [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] went on to influence countless Hong Kong martial arts films, especially the oft-imitated training sequences that test and challenge the hero’s physical and mental toughness. It also spawned two semi-sequels, [i]Return to the 36th Chamber[/i], with Liu playing a different character and [i]Disciples of the 36th Chamber[/i], with Liu back as San Te. On its own, however, [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i] is still worth watching, both as genre history and as pure entertainment, made all the more so by the occasionally confusing subtitles or odd word choices (e.g., San Te is called San Ta here) that strongly suggests the Weinstein Company rushed the release of [i]The 36th Chamber of Shaolin[/i]. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Read all reviews

36th Chamber

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