The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)

[Drunk Monk]

Flying Five Finger One Armed Eight Pole Shaolin Exploding Death Touch Thursday on EL REY!

When Kung Fu fans talk about classic Shaw Brothers films, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is always on the top of that list. I remember seeing it in Chinatown as a kid and being blown away. Seeing it again was a delight, although it was fascinating to see scenes that I remember completely differently, as it's been several years since I saw this. At just shy of 2 hours, the film has three major acts: Act 1 where San Te (the first iconic Shaolin monk Gordon Liu) is a Confucian scholar with no Kung Fu, Act 2 where San Te trains at Shaolin, arguably the best part of the film, and Act 3 where San Te forms the five elders and fights against the Qing. Act 1 is a little slow. It's really all about Act 2. The Kung Fu flick cliche training sequences are taken to a whole new groundbreaking level (and that Iron Head training sequence still makes me chuckle). The 36 chambers - that has been a major personal life metaphor for me long before it became rap slang. By the end of Act 2 as San Te tries to fight his way out of the temple and into Act 3, the fight scenes really take off. Lots of sword fights, but the centerpiece is that three-section vs. butterfly knives duel.

"How many times have you read the sutras?!"

Man, I luv this film.

[Drunk Monk]

Hulu+ has this so I watched it again. It's still AWESOME. 

Kara Hui is not in this. She's in Return to the 36 Chamber, which is not as awesome. But I'm watching that again so I figured I'd watch the original first, even though it has very little to do with Return except having much of the same cast.

This is really all just my way of warming up for our tournament in two weeks. The prudent thing to do would be to brush up on my mandarin, but this is more to my liking. That's my justification for this Shaw Brothers binge. It's for work. As if I need justification...

[Drunk Monk]

I could have sworn that I reviewed this film here before...

Return to the 36 Chamber is the oddest concept for a sequel. Gordon plays a swindler impersonating the hero he played in the first film, San Te. His clan are cloth dyers, which makes for colorful pools for villains to plunge. Gordon first tries to fake out the Manchu gang by impersonating a monk, then winds up sneaking into Shaolin, only to be deceptively trained by the real San Te, then returns for vengeance.  The final fight payout is spectacular. Gordon's rooftop Kung fu is brilliant and his battle with Wang Lung-Wei's bench-fighter gang is just magnificent.

Kara's role is minor. She's the cute dyer that tries to lure the gang into a trap early in the film and does no Kung fu. She has a great line though - Gordon tries to play off his lack of Kung fu by claiming it's only for 'universal peace', not revenge. She quips back "Huh! That's a stupid Kung fu!"