Challenge of the Masters (1976)

Challenge of the Masters (1976)
Chinese Title: 陸阿采與黃飛鴻
Translation: Luk Ah-Choy and Wong Fei-Hung

 

Starring: Gordon Liu, Chen Kuan-Tai, Chiang Yang, Lau Kar-Leung, Lau Kar-Wing, Wong Yu, Cheng Kang-Yeh, Lily Li Li-Li, Fung Hak-On, Chiang Tao, Ricky Hui
Director: Lau Kar-Leung
Action Director: Lau Kar-Leung

 

Challenge of the Masters was Lau Kar-Leung’s sophomore directorial effort, following The Spiritual Boxer (1975) and a handful of mercenary choreography jobs in Taiwan. Moreso than his freshman film, this movie represented what viewers were in for when it came to Lau Kar-Leung the director. Instead of the usual Chang Cheh themes of brotherhood, male bonding, and ultraviolent revenge, Challenge of the Masters focuses on an analysis of Southern Chinese martial arts and morality behind kung fu and martial arts as a whole. As a vessel for these themes, Lau uses one of the most famous exponents of hung gar of all time: Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung.

Except that Wong Fei-Hung wasn’t always a folk hero, nor was he always a great martial artist. As Challenge of the Masters opens, Wong (played by Gordon Liu, Lau Kar-Leung’s kung fu brother) is already reaching adulthood and still doesn’t know how to fight. His father, Wong Kei-Ying (Chiang Yan, of Imperial Tomb Raiders), refuses to teach Fei-Hung because of his bad temperament and headstrong personality. Kei-Ying fears that if Wong Fei-Hung learns kung fu, he’ll become a bully and a nuisance to the community. Although a number of local martial artists, including Master Lin (Wong Yu, whom Lau Kar-Leung casted in Executioners from Shaolin and Dirty Ho) and his student, Tseng Hang (Cheng Kang-Yeh, another frequent collaborator with Lau). Obviously, there is a big difference to one’s self-esteem between knowing that nobody will mess with you because you’re a kung fu master, and knowing that nobody mess with you because while you’re weak, you have a contingent of masters to protect you.

Wong Fei-Hung is desperate to prove himself, especially to his father, so he sneaks into the local “Pao” competition. In the city of Guangdong, supremacy in the martial arts world is not determined via fighting, but a competition in which the schools get in what amounts to a massive brawl in order to get a hold of a handful of batons released among the students. Once Master Lin realizes that Wong is among his teammates, he puts himself in harm’s way to protect him, and almost dies when he takes a drop kick to the sternum. Fei-Hung is disgusted with himself, and goes to his father’s master, Luk Ah-Choy (Chen Kuan-Tai, of Boxer from Shangtung), and asks to become his student. Luk accepts, and the two retire to the countryside for two years for Wong Fei-Hung to learn hung gar.

Challenge of the Masters is largely a training film, in which the prolonged second act focuses almost exclusively on the relationship between master (Luk Ah-Choy) and student (Wong Fei-Hung). In addition to learning hung gar forms, Wong Fei-Hung learns how to wield the staff. One training method is to swing the pole in a circle around a series of increasingly smaller dishes without touching (or breaking) them. But Luk Ah-Choy also remembers to teach his pupil the concept of forgiveness and how there’s more to life than simply winning. These precepts help Wong Fei-Hung overcome his anger and guide him to a path away from what might’ve made him a cocky bully. The idea of using kung fu to teach forgiveness almost flies in the face of most of Chang Cheh’s films—including the several dozen that Lau himself had choreographed—in which the unspoken rules of brotherhood demand violent revenge for wrongs committed against your friends.

People looking for a fight fest will most likely come away disappointed. There are only two real fights in this movie, both of which involve Lau Kar-Leung. One of the major subplots is how Wong Fei-Hung befriends a constable (Lau Kar-Wing, the director’s brother), who has arrived from another province in search of a robber. Said robber turns out to be Ho Fu (Lau Kar-Leung himself), who’s been hiding out at the rival school. The constable and Ho Fu have a duel in the forest, which starts out with a saber vs. spear duel, followed by open-handed combat. Despite Lau Kar-Leung being known as a hung gar master, which itself is known for its handwork, his footwork is impeccable, even if doesn’t do the sort of aerial kicks that tae kwon do stylists are known for. Later on, after Wong Fei-Hung has completed his training, he faces off with Ho Fu as well, which is a staff and spear fight followed by fisticuffs in a grove of bamboo trees. While the choreographers who were working under Chang Cheh at that time were content in rehashing much of what Lau Kar-Leung had been doing two years before, Lau was upping his game when it came to portraying hung gar on film. While not as good overall as his later work in The Martial Club and My Young Auntie, you can see the evolution from his earlier Shaolin Cycle films.

The rest of the action consists of some limited sparring and the Pao competitions, which quickly devolve into huge brawls. These scenes are generally well mounted, but they lack the “oomph” that Jackie Chan would bring to similar sequences in Dragon Lord. There is some limited kung fu in these sequences, but nothing particularly complex. The sparring mainly involves Luk Ah-Choy and Wong Fei-Hung, who duke it out with fists, poles and even a Shaolin wooden man. As Gordon Liu’s teacher, actor Chen Kuan-Tai doesn’t get much of an opportunity to show off his martial arts skills. Lau Kar-Leung would get more out of him the following year in Executioners of Shaolin.

Challenge of the Masters is solid, if unexceptional kung fu movie. It’s clear that Lau Kar-Leung was finding his voice here, and by the following year, would really hit his stride. There’s enough quality martial arts and training on display to make it worth a viewing, but don’t expect Heroes of the East or anything like that here. Also, look for Lily Li Li-Li, Wilson Tong, and comedian Ricky Hui in smaller roles, plus a dozen recognizable faces as stuntmen, including Lam Ching-Ying, Yuen Biao, Meng Hoi, Chin Yuet-Sang, Peter Chan, and Billy Chan.