I am pretty new to Kung Fu movies–only really diving in after a Covid cult movie watching binge last year. Since then, I’ve watched many more “classic” kung fu films, and have really grown to appreciate the genre as more than just bad wigs and constant swishing sound effects. I quickly realized that Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio was responsible for many of the best kung fu films of the 70s, and none are more impressive than today’s film, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
While not exactly lavish blockbusters, the Shaw Brothers films were definitely not low budget. Impeccable fight choreography, excellent sets, and an immediately identifiable style of color and cinematography all draw the viewer into the films. Starting with the usual impressive abstract display of solo martial arts routines, The 36th Chamber then moves on to a bit of uninspiring historical set up and exposition. The bad guy is established, the hero San Te (Gordon Liu, a Shaw Brothers stalwart) is shown to be in dire need of kung fu training, and everything feels a bit rote.
However, the film absolutely comes to life when Liu gets to the Shaolin temple to begin his training. Driven to prove himself, he eventually is allowed to learn kung fu by progressing through the “35 Chambers” of Shaolin kung fu, each teaching a necessary skill, and each a ridiculous delight.
Most of the chambers focus on strengthening various parts of the potential kung fu master’s body through the kind of torture that would leave a normal human on the floor with a lifetime of carpal tunnel after ten minutes of ringing that bell with a comically long handled hammer. But this film is operating in the realm of archetypal training montages where only the most extreme punishments will temper a human body into Shaolin granite.
As San Te progresses through the increasingly over the top training chambers, the film smartly interweaves scenes of him attempting to best one of the higher masters in combat. This structure serves to show both his progress and how he adapts his fighting style (and choice of weapon when he fashions a crude three section staff to finally win) to prevail.
It is, of course, all stuff we’ve seen before in hundreds of other films, but there is something about this movie and the way it unfolds that really does just feel fresh and authentic. There is a magic on display as a studio operating at the peak of its powers wills a foundational genre exemplar into being from deep within the archetypal instincts of the human psyche. There is something innately human about San Te’s struggle to better himself against increasingly impossible tasks, to the point the the opening exposition, and final (almost perfunctory) showdown with the villain hardly matter. Like life itself, this film is about the journey, and watchin San Te progress taps into something special that transcends the film’s humble genre roots.
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