Hell, it’s not hard to confuse the roles as he basically looks the same anyways. Lo also played Pai Mei in the horrible ABBOT OF SHAOLIN (1979) starring David Chiang as Priest Chi San detailing his training at the temple. He also played another white haired bad guy in THE CAVALIER aka THE SMART CAVALIER. I have the Chinese version but haven’t watched it yet. I have only seen the English version years ago but don’t remember if he plays Pai Mei or not. I do remember him biting a guys finger off then spitting it at him and the digit pierces the guys throat.
SOLD!
Next installment of my Shaw Brothers education was viewed today. 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Master Killer)
Chia Hui Liu (Gordon Liu) stars again and I must say I like his style. But this one is a very different film to my previous experience. A lot less chop sockey throughout as Liu spends most of the film getting through his Shaolin training. I actually enjoyed this slower pace but felt the film lacked a decent bad guy to make the eventual showdown as interesting. Good fun though. Shaolin Challenges Ninja will most probably be my next one to try.
[quote=“Phil H, post:343, topic:368”]Next installment of my Shaw Brothers education was viewed today. 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Master Killer)
Chia Hui Liu (Gordon Liu) stars again and I must say I like his style. But this one is a very different film to my previous experience. A lot less chop sockey throughout as Liu spends most of the film getting through his Shaolin training. I actually enjoyed this slower pace but felt the film lacked a decent bad guy to make the eventual showdown as interesting. Good fun though. Shaolin Challenges Ninja will most probably be my next one to try.[/quote]
Good point. Although it is really the Manchu’s in general that he is going against & Lo Leih’s character (who you may recognize as the White Lotus Chief from your last viewing) is just one of a few bad Manchu’s (who I agree is not prominent enough). The glory of this film (and a reoccurring theme in upcoming Shaw’s) is the training sequences along with the beautiful sets.
[quote=“Phil H, post:343, topic:368”]Next installment of my Shaw Brothers education was viewed today. 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Master Killer)
Chia Hui Liu (Gordon Liu) stars again and I must say I like his style. But this one is a very different film to my previous experience. A lot less chop sockey throughout as Liu spends most of the film getting through his Shaolin training. I actually enjoyed this slower pace but felt the film lacked a decent bad guy to make the eventual showdown as interesting. Good fun though. Shaolin Challenges Ninja will most probably be my next one to try.[/quote]
Funny enough thats how my Shaw journey began…Saw Fist of the White Lotus, then went to Master Killer and then was blown away by Heroes of the East…my all-time favorite but I still got a long way…
At some point check out Liu Chia Hui’s (Lau Kar Fei) first movie, SHAOLIN MARTIAL ARTS (1974). It’s, IMO, Chang Cheh’s best Shaolin cycle film. Liu isn’t the main character, but one of several. It’s a Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan Chun movie. Very good characterizations here, the heroes get girlfriends and two other soon to be famous stars make their first appearances as well Wang Lung Wei and Liang Chia Jen (Leung Kar Yan) aka ‘Beardy’. Both these guys play nearly invulnerable villains with greater skills than those attributed to Pai Mei. Simon Yuen plays one of several eccentric teachers on hand.
John Avildsen surely must have seen this movie at some point before shooting THE KARATE KID. This is probably the only occasion you see intestines ripped out in close up in a kung fu flick (although a brief shot of offal is seen rolling out in the venom flick, REBEL INTRUDERS). SHAOLIN MARTIAL ARTS looks ahead and foreshadows the teacher/student dynamic that became commonplace after SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW (1978) so it’s something of a trailblazer. Some intricate training sequences and an awesome score compliment the film. This was also Cheh’s favorite of his Shaolin movies.
The temple is never seen, there are none of the familiar heroes present, the film takes place sometime after the temple is destroyed and the famed heroes have all been killed. A truce is called upon between the secular Shaolin followers and the Manchus but a gang fight breaks out during a God of War ceremony resulting in the Qing’s secretly ordering the remaining Shaolin to be wiped out before another uprising occurs. Two seemingly invincible fighters are brought down from the mountains and the good guys go on the run…
review of MASKED AVENGERS (1981)…
Shaolin Challenges Ninja has been viewed. Interesting mix of RomCom and Kung Fu which I enjoyed but I have to admit, for a Spaghetti fan, the ‘everyone is friends, they all live happily ever after’ type ending was a bit of a disappointment. It fitted the film of course but a bit too twee for my taste. Entertaining though and beautifully shot.
Twee? Can’t disagree when I don’t even know what the word means. One of my favorites. Loved the domestic squabbles & insight into the differences between the 2 styles of martial arts. I love the characters & those (reoccurring theme here) big bad Japanese. What did they ever do to the Chinese to have that sort of animosity boil over into their movies? 
Phil, you are on a most enjoyable Shaw ride.
Today’s Shaw Bros flick was Avenging Eagle and was by far my favourite to this point.
I’ve enjoyed all of the films I’ve seen so far but, as a spaghetti fan, this one is much more my style. In fact, dressed up differently this could be a spaghetti. From the opening scene where we have a lone rider making his way across the wilderness, collapsing off his horse in the baking sun, dying of thirst it all looks very familiar. Then as the story unfolds it turns out to be a tale of converging vengeance involving an anguished reformed killer, a man seeking his wife’s murderers and an evil bandit leader. All leading up to a 3 way face off and a downbeat tragic ending.
Ti Lung was an impressive lead in all this and Alexander Fu Sheng made a good job of switching between a heavier and more light hearted style. Well directed by Sun Chung too. This was definitely the best I’ve seen so far.
Twee = a bit too sentimental, sweet, corny. Something like that anyway.
Wrong! Twee is two in Dutch
To go into details about what they did would take too long. Seek out the movie MEN BEHIND THE SUN and BLACK SUN: THE NANKING MASSACRE both directed by Shaw veteran Mou Tin Fe. Both films are extremely graphic and disturbing and two of the most gruesome movies you will ever see. Both films are dead on accurate as to what the Japanese did, but the most shocking aspect is that the films barely scratch the surface at the even more horrifying things they perpetrated on the Chinese. Also, check out the NY Times Bestseller, THE RAPE OF NANKING: THE FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST OF WW2. The Japanese did things so horrendous, even Hitler was appalled.
The misunderstanding between Chinese and Japanese and the upbeat ending was an idea of Liu’s for this film. He plays the drunken man in the picture. Considering the hundreds of movies showcasing Japanese as bad guys, it was damn admirable that Liu Chia Liang would go against type for this marvelous movie. Phil, you won’t like too many of Liu’s movies, then. However, his 8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER you should enjoy as it is his most violent and downbeat movie. SHAOLIN MANTIS you should enjoy as well. The villain is the hero in that one.
[quote=“Phil H, post:350, topic:368”]Today’s Shaw Bros flick was Avenging Eagle and was by far my favourite to this point.
I’ve enjoyed all of the films I’ve seen so far but, as a spaghetti fan, this one is much more my style. In fact, dressed up differently this could be a spaghetti. From the opening scene where we have a lone rider making his way across the wilderness, collapsing off his horse in the baking sun, dying of thirst it all looks very familiar. Then as the story unfolds it turns out to be a tale of converging vengeance involving an anguished reformed killer, a man seeking his wife’s murderers and an evil bandit leader. All leading up to a 3 way face off and a downbeat tragic ending.
Ti Lung was an impressive lead in all this and Alexander Fu Sheng made a good job of switching between a heavier and more light hearted style. Well directed by Sun Chung too. This was definitely the best I’ve seen so far.[/quote]
Sun Chung is one of my favorite directors alongside Chang Cheh and Cheng Kang from Shaw Brothers. AVENGING EAGLE is a true classic and was remade in 1994 as 13 COLD BLOODED EAGLES. The HK DVD is missing around 60 seconds from the final fight. If you’ve never seen the film, you’d never notice it was gone. A lot of fans were in an uproar over it, but it may not have been in the original HK cut to begin with. Either way, the DVD has additional footage not found in the US release.
I’ve got several Southern Screen magazines where they show the making of the film. Fu Sheng plays a serious role in LIFE GAMBLE (1977), RETURN OF THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN (1980) and HEROES SHED NO TEARS (1980).
I saw this today and thought this was probably the most appropriate thread to post it on.
It’s wank mag stuff for a film geek.
Good article even after getting past the bashing of Five Element Ninjas
[quote=“Phil H, post:350, topic:368”]Today’s Shaw Bros flick was Avenging Eagle and was by far my favourite to this point.
I’ve enjoyed all of the films I’ve seen so far but, as a spaghetti fan, this one is much more my style. In fact, dressed up differently this could be a spaghetti. From the opening scene where we have a lone rider making his way across the wilderness, collapsing off his horse in the baking sun, dying of thirst it all looks very familiar. Then as the story unfolds it turns out to be a tale of converging vengeance involving an anguished reformed killer, a man seeking his wife’s murderers and an evil bandit leader. All leading up to a 3 way face off and a downbeat tragic ending.
Ti Lung was an impressive lead in all this and Alexander Fu Sheng made a good job of switching between a heavier and more light hearted style. Well directed by Sun Chung too. This was definitely the best I’ve seen so far.[/quote]
One of my first posts ever her if you remember Phil was my stating the similarities in SW’s to other genre’s, in particular Shaw’s & Classic Horror. I met with some folks disagreeing with my views (I know, here…no!). Seeing is believing. Duel’s (fighting. swords, pistols, all the same), downbeat endings & comedic moments are all seen in both genre’s. I still feel And God Said… is more Horror than Western. AE is one of my all time favorites. Love the uniforms.
@ Angel Face. I was being sarcastic about the Japanese/Chinese thing 
hence the 
My computer is screwed up at the moment. I couldn’t see the smiley on your post regarding the Chinese/Japanese statement. I should have it fixed by tomorrow.
BEACH OF THE WAR GODS (1973, Wang Yu)
Had a sleepless night (not due to The Shining I hope), so I killed some time with a recording someone made for me a week or so ago from French commercial television. Completely new experience to hear Chinese and Japanese warriors shout at each other in French
Pretty large scale movie about a Japanese invasion of China, and Wang Yu hacking them to pieces
He wrote and directed this film himself, and did a good job, it’s worthwhile, if a bit uneven, with drama next to some typical Shaw movie humor, a bit out of place in this historical, more serious context. I also found the gravity defying jumps (althought there aren’t too many here) a bit disconcerting in this context
Funny thing, with all these anti-Japanese feelings in Chinese films (this one’s no exception) is that Wang Yu seems to know his Kurosawa very well. There also was some influence of the spaghetti western.
IMDB list this movie as 100 mns, my version had a running time of approx (there were commercial breaks so it’s hard to be precise) 85 mns. It felt chopped up with an axe, so maybe it was Jack after all.
I agree and I know others do as well. The biggest similarity between Asian cinema and Spaghetti western is the samurai movie. Watching the duels unfold in the Lone Wolf and Cub movies is like watching any of the Leone movies. Lighting quick battles that are over before they begin…
which reminds me I have to watch that series again.