I enjoy Shaw Brothers and their style of martial arts movies
my favorites being:
The Crippled Avengers
36th Chamber of Shaolin
Clans of Intrigue
8 Diagram Pole Fighter aka Invincible Pole Fighter
Five Deadly Venoms
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[quote=âme, post:2, topic:368â]When your talking about kung fu, you got to talk about Sonny Chiba
[/quote]
Chiba is trained in Japanese martial arts. Kung Fu is Chinese. Thereâs a big difference. Chiba rules, too.
[quote=âLindberg, post:14, topic:368â]Martial arts-films are fun to watch, but artistically of course you canât compare them to the best spaghettis by Leone, Corbucci, and others.
Many 70âs Hong Kong movies are very cheaply made, and they even have stolen music as scores 
Regarding Shogun Assassin, arenât thoses films a little influenced by spaghettis?
A samurai and his son drifting around in a wasteland?[/quote]
In terms of production values, many of the early Shaw productions from the 60âs and 70âs were far superior to any Italian western in terms of set design and lighting. Very reminiscent to old Hollywood productions. Many of the Shaw productions were made for more money than most SWâs, too. Not all the movies borrowed soundtrack cues. So many movies were being made at once, there wasnât time to produce original scores for everything. Even SWâs borrowed their own scores from film to film.
There were Samurai movies well before Spaghetti westerns came on the scene, but both styles traded on themes and ideas.
None now, I think. I have close to a thousand of them. Thereâs still some hidden gems out there to discover, but all the real classics are out now I would say.
[quote=âHellbender, post:41, topic:368â]I remember when I was young and kung-fu movies was one of the most interesting genres (still interesting), I saw a movie when they ripped a guys eyes out. Iâve been searching for this movie for years and still havenât found it. I donât remember the name, the only thing I remember is the scene with the eyeripping.
Anybody knows wich film I meen? I sure would like to see it again.[/quote]
The first time American audiences saw that was in FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH aka KING BOXER (1972), the first kung fu movie to start the craze in the US BEFORE Bruce Lee. Itâs on a gorgeous LEGIT dvd from Dragon Dynasty here in the US with lots of extras.
Eye gouging had been done already in earlier swordplay movies. One of the most graphic and gruesome was in Chang Chehâs classic modern day actioner, VENGEANCE! Some incredibly brutal fights in this one. John Woo was an AD and Chang Chehâs apprentice. Wooâs style is virtually identical to Chehâs.
Hereâs the first three parts to an article on my site regarding the genre with special emphasis on the Shaw Brothers and as always, thereâs plenty of picsâŚ
Part 1âŚ
Part 2âŚ
Part 3âŚ
I also have a handful of reviews, too, which can also be viewed singularly instead of togetherâŚ
Yes I think Shaw Brothers had a huge studio lot with many different sets and places to shoot their films, good production values
Maybe itâs a pity Bruce Lee never made a film for Shaw Brothers, since his films often had a cheaper look, with the exception of Enter the Dragon?
What you say about SWs re-cycling music is of course true, but the rough-looking sets in SWs hardly matter, on the contrary they add to the miserable feeling donât you think?
And the music in kung fu movies are sometimes not re-cycled, but taken from completely different sources, like James Bond movies :
Nice looking site you have btw
EDIT: You mention the Shawâs big studio in your article aswell 
@ Angel Face
Thanks for the links and the article. It was a pleasure to read.
I watched recently The Twelve golden Medallions and The Vailant Ones (not a Shaw Brothers Production!). Both are full of Action and I enjoyed them very much. Some scenes in Twelve Golden Medallions reminded me on SWs. 
[quote=âPaco Roman, post:68, topic:368â]@ Angel Face
Thanks for the links and the article. It was a pleasure to read.
I watched recently The Twelve golden Medallions and The Vailant Ones (not a Shaw Brothers Production!). Both are full of Action and I enjoyed them very much. Some scenes in Twelve Golden Medallions reminded me on SWs. :)[/quote]
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. TWELVE GOLD MEDALLIONS was a huge hit in HK. The number two grosser for 1971. When the Shawâs changed the way HK films were produced, their homegrown product began outdoing American films at their box office. Before then, American films alway did better.
[quote=âLindberg, post:67, topic:368â]Yes I think Shaw Brothers had a huge studio lot with many different sets and places to shoot their films, good production values
Maybe itâs a pity Bruce Lee never made a film for Shaw Brothers, since his films often had a cheaper look, with the exception of Enter the Dragon?
What you say about SWs re-cycling music is of course true, but the rough-looking sets in SWs hardly matter, on the contrary they add to the miserable feeling donât you think?
And the music in kung fu movies are sometimes not re-cycled, but taken from completely different sources, like James Bond movies :
Nice looking site you have btw
EDIT: You mention the Shawâs big studio in your article aswell :D[/quote]
At one time, the Shawâs had the largest privately owned studio in the world. A lot of big names have been there including John Wayne, The Beatles, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, and so on and so onâŚ
Bruce was going to do movies at Shawâs. I think I mention it in one of the articles. They were the first studio he went to. Since he had already gotten a taste of Hollywood, Shawâs still followed the old Hollywood system of keeping talent under tight contract. He rejected Shawâs standard contract and had planned to go back to America. Golden Harvest, which on the verge of bankruptcy, got ahold of Lee and gave him everything he wanted. If not for Lee, Golden Harvest would have vanished. Golden harvest was good at picking some of the best talents from Shaw Brothers by giving them extras that Shaw wouldnât give them.
The music pilfering was common practice as there were so many movies being produced it was too time consuming to do so for everything, but original scores were produced for a number of movies not counting the operas and musicals. THe Shawâs themselves were producing 40 to 50 movies a year. The studio was so big, that over 12 films could be shot simultaneously without any interruption.
The Shaw Brother films are a relatively new genre to me,the first of theirs i saw being the tremendous SHAOLIN MARTIAL ARTS after being quite dubious that iâd like anything outside of Bruce Lee.In fact itâs turned out that iâm just as keen on these films for similar reasons to spaghetti westerns.I havenât been disappointed at all from the 30 odd movies that iâve seen so far with (without checking) my particular favourites including BOXER FROM SHANGTUNG,KING BOXER,CRIPPLED AVENGERS,5 ELEMENTS NINJA and CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS.
Thereâs a few titles mentioned on this thread that i hadnât heard of like CLANS OF INTRIGUE and TWELVE GOLDEN MEDALLIONS that iâll be keeping an eye out for thanks!
The actual fighting in many of these early Shaw Brothers films is often not so good though, too theatrical and they last for ages
Bruce Lee really set a new standard for movie fights when he entered the scene
[quote=âLindberg, post:72, topic:368â]The actual fighting in many of these early Shaw Brothers films is often not so good though, too theatrical and they last for ages
Bruce Lee really set a new standard for movie fights when he entered the scene[/quote]
Which early films are you referring. The Shawâs had the best technicians and performers of any studio at the time. Thatâs why Lee went to them first. He was so determined to sign with them he even did photo shoots for upcoming films. But because they wouldnât give in to his demands he was going back to America.
Luckily for Golden Harvest, which was about to go bankrupt because they couldnât compete with Shawâs, Chow took a huge gamble and gave Lee what he wanted. However, there has been talk as well as books recently stating that Shawâs eventually decided to give Lee what he wanted and that he was in fact, jumping ship to them. This was just before he died. The notion of foul play has surfaced yet again, and the Chinese have always believed that foul play was involved in his death.
This is common knowledge, Bruce Lee had a genuine skill that was rare in Hong Kong movies in those days
Wang Yu for example, is not comparable with Lee in any way
They also used trampolines and stuff for jumps and so on, very theatrical
Lee wanted his fights to look spectacular of course, yet they should be plausible
But itâs probably a matter of taste what kind of action you like in these movies
[quote=âLindberg, post:74, topic:368â]This is common knowledge, Bruce Lee had a genuine skill that was rare in Hong Kong movies in those days
Wang Yu for example, is not comparable with Lee in any way
They also used trampolines and stuff for jumps and so on, very theatrical
Lee wanted his fights to look spectacular of course, yet they should be plausible
But itâs probably a matter of taste what kind of action you like in these movies[/quote]
Whatâs common knowledge? That the Shawâs had the best people in the business? That is true. That Lee had true skill? Thatâs true, too. Wang Yu was not a real martial artist, but he was an arrogant man who constantly got into fights, just like Bruce Lee. And I never made a comparison to any actor or martial artist to Bruce Lee, just that the Shawâs had the best technicians and performers, and they did. THAT IS COMMON KNOWLEDGE.
You never said which âearlyâ movies you spoke of. Not to mention that swordplay (which was the dominant style of action film in HK pre-70âs) is not kung fu. Totally different. Wuxia movies utilized trampolines and flying around and the Shawâs changed all this grounding those films more in reality, but retained some of the fantasy elements. The first martial arts film to be about the training and empty handed styles was CHINESE BOXER in 1969. The first modern style action film was the award winning VENGEANCE! (shot in '69 but released in 1970). The first to feature actual kung fu styles onscreen was HEROES TWO from 1973.
You wonât find trampoline work in many of Chang Chehâs non swordplay movies including those before Bruce Leeâs movies. However, the later kung fu movies sometimes featured large leaps and such, but featured enough grounded action. And a lot of these were Wuxia/kung fu hybrids. At any rate, if it wasnât for KING BOXER, a Shaw Brothers movie, then itâs doubtful if Bruce Leeâs movies would have been released here when they were.
And a lot of Leeâs fights were not plausible (maybe more so than some others). A seemingly invincible man that takes on dozens of attackers that never, or seldom touch him. His fights resembled the American style, and his charisma helped a lot. I like Lee the man, but I donât care much about his movies. Now that is down to personal taste.
Yes like you say Wang Yu was not a real martial artist, Bruce Lee was, thatâs my point
And I was refering to Chinese Boxer for example, you wonât find the true skills of Lee in that movie, thatâs for sure
Lee also changed the attitudes to martial arts training, and developed his own way of fighting, thatâs what I meant by common knowledge
Iâm not saying Shaw Brothers films are bad and I havenât seen all hundreds of them, sword films and all, Iâm just saying thereâs a difference between the fights in early Shaw movies and the fights in Bruce Leeâs movies
[quote=âLindberg, post:76, topic:368â]Yes like you say Wang Yu was not a real martial artist, Bruce Lee was, thatâs my point
And I was refering to Chinese Boxer for example, you wonât find the true skills of Lee in that movie, thatâs for sure
Lee also changed the attitudes to martial arts training, and developed his own way of fighting, thatâs what I meant by common knowledge
Iâm not saying Shaw Brothers films are bad and I havenât seen all hundreds of them, sword films and all, Iâm just saying thereâs a difference between the fights in early Shaw movies and the fights in Bruce Leeâs movies[/quote]
Right, I agree with you, as Lee followed a more American approach to his action sequences, but he always admired the Shawâs style of action and treatment of the heroes in the films. Itâs just a shame they couldnât have come to an agreement the first time around. I can only imagine what a Chang Cheh blood and thunder actioner would have been like with Lee starring in it. ;D
I love Shaolin styled kung fu movies - Gordon Liu is one of my favorites in the genre (probably one of the best imo).
He has great presence and can play the role straight or with some hints of humor. A class act all the wayâŚ
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[quote=âFrank Talby, post:78, topic:368â]I love Shaolin styled kung fu movies - Gordon Liu is one of my favorites in the genre (probably one of the best imo).
He has great presence and can play the role straight or with some hints of humor. A class act all the wayâŚ[/quote]
Youâre right Talby. He does pretty good in movies when he has a head full of hair, too! You should see HEROES OF THE EAST (1978). Itâs out over here on special edition dvd from the Weinsteins.
I have the Celestial picture release under the title Shaolin Challenges Ninja. A solid movie with very few (possibly zero) deaths.