The Shaolin Temple (1976)

Shaolin Temple (1976)
Aka: Death Chambers
Chinese Title: 少林寺
Translation: Shaolin Temple

 

Starring: Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan-Chun, Ti Lung, David Chiang, Yueh Hua, Kuo Chi, Wai Wang, Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, Wang Chung, Lau Wing, Bruce Tong, Li Yi-Min, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Shih Szu, Ku Wen-Chung, Shan Mao, Wong Ching, Tsai Hung
Director:  Chang Cheh
Action Director: Hsieh Hsing, Chen Hsin-I

 

Shaolin Temple is one of the great Shaw Brothers epics. A summit of talent, it brought together faces from Chang Cheh’s “Iron Triangle” days of the late 60s and early 70s (Ti Lung, David Chiang, Yueh Hua); the vast bulk of his contemporary “Shaolin Cycle” stars and supporting cast (Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan-Chun, Bruce Tong, Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, Wong Ching, Tsai Hung); and future talent that would headline his Venom Mob cycle (Kuo Chi, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng). It would also be the first and only time that the “Purge” of the Shaolin Temple by the Manchurians would be depicted in detail during the “Shaolin Cycle;” up until then, the destruction of the temple had been depicted as an offscreen event, or simply mentioned in passing.

The movie begins several years before the aforementioned attack on the temple. The Shaolin Abbot (Ku Wen-Chung, of Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan) views conflict with the Qing Government as an inevitable tragedy, and thus opens the doors of the temple to laymen students. The first to be received are Fang Shiyu (Alexander Fu Sheng), Hu Huiqian (Chi Kuan-Chun) and Hong Xiguan (Wai Wang, in a role usually reserved for Chen Kuan-Tai). Shortly afterward, six Ming Patriots (including Ti Lung and David Chiang in the same roles they played in Five Shaolin Masters) gain access to the temple and start their training. A few years later, three more lay disciples are allowed to enter: Huang Songhan (Li Yi-Min, of The Seven Grandmasters), Lin Guangyao (Phillip Kwok), and Zhu Dao (Bruce Tong).

While each of these students are enduring their long and torturous training, trouble is brewing in background. One of the higher-ranking monks is actually a spy working for the Qing Government, represented by King Man Gui (Ku Feng) and his generals (including Wong Ching and Lu Feng). Moreover, the traitor monk has convinced one of the Ming Patriots, Ma Fuyi (Johnny Wang Lung-Wei), to join his cause. When Fang Shiyu and Hu Huiqian try to escape through the Wooden Man Alley in order to leave the temple, Ma Fuyi and his men try to ambush them in the alley and kill them. Meanwhile, two of the patriots (Ti Lung and David Chiang) suspect that one of the monks is up to no good and start keeping an eye on Abbot Hui Xian (Mao Shan). It all comes to a head when the traitor poisons all the senior monks and lets the Qing forces storm the temple, leading to a 25-minute battle royale between the layman disciples and the numerous Manchu fighters.

In broad strokes, Shaolin Temple is both a prequel to Five Shaolin Masters (1974) and a companion piece to Shaolin Avengers (1976). With regards to the former, we pointed out that both David Chiang and Ti Lung reprise the roles they played in that film, as does Johnny Wang Lung-Wei as the traitorous Ma Fuyi. David Chiang even fights with the chain whip like he does in that film. At the same time, watching Shaolin Avengers before you watch this would give a bit more depth into the characters of Fang Shiyu and Hu Huiqian, as their motivations for entering Shaolin are never explored in this movie, nor does the film explain what they’re up to after they leave the temple. Both of those questions are explored in detail in Shaolin Avengers, however.

Obviously, the continuity between these three films is not 100 percent, as it was most likely not Chang Cheh’s intention to make these films as a single story arc. For example, Ma Fuyi is portrayed as a villain in both Five Shaolin Masters and Shaolin Temple. However, as he gets killed in the latter, there would be no way for him to be in the former, which is set after the burning of Shaolin. Shaolin Temple also has both Fang Shiyu and Hu Huiqian entering the temple together, as opposed to Shaolin Avengers, where it’s implied that Fang Shiyu had already mastered the Wooden Man Hall and left the temple prior to meeting Hu Huiqian. And here would be interesting to point out that Hong Xiguan, an important folk hero in his own right and the legendary founder of Hung Gar, has his role in the story reduced to a footnote: we see him enter the Temple, nothing of his training, he fights briefly at the climax, and we see him escape at the end.

The film is by and large a training film, with most of the real action being left for the final half hour. Ti Lung learns Wing Chun from the Abbess Ng Mui by using a tree as a wooden dummy. Alexander Fu Sheng learns the Tiger-Crane style from a mysterious monk and practices his technique by breaking firewood with his fingers. Li Yi-Min becomes proficient with the staff by stirring huge pots of rice, and later has his technique refined under the tutelage of future Venom Mob member Chiang Sheng, who plays a junior monk. Philip Kwok learns light skills by jumping continuously while metal weights are tied to his ankles. Bruce Tong has to walk on pointed stakes and control his weight distribution. These training routines are certainly more creative—if a little fantastical—than the abbreviated sequences in The Men from the Monastery and Shaolin Avengers, or the simplified training sequence of New Shaolin Boxers.

There is some fighting during the first ninety minutes, mainly revolving around an open rivalry between Fang Shiyu and Ma Fuyi. The latter enters the temple already trained in the martial arts—albeit not Shaolin kung fu—and quickly starts bullying around the mischievous Fang Shiyu. It is at this point that Fang doubles down on training and starts taking his household chores seriously. This comes to a head with a hung gar duel between the two men in which Fu Sheng finally comes out on top.

The big climax jumps back and forth between the different protagonists taking on multiple opponents (i.e. “mini-bosses”) or a single “big boss” opponent. Lu Feng wields the shuangdao and faces off with fellow Peking Opera School member Philip Kwok, who uses his light skills to avoid his opponent’s deadly blades. Bruce Tong faces off with Wong Ching. Li Yi-Min matches his staff skills against Shan Mao’s yueya chan, or crescent spade. Ti Lung has an extended duel of fisticuffs with Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, while David Chiang kills dozens of guards with his chain whip outside. The climax represents one of the longest martial arts fight sequences of all times, taking up about 25 minutes of screen time. It ranks up there with the finales to Bruce Leung Siu-Lung’s Ten Tigers of Shaolin and the indie film Kung Fu Means Fists, Strikes and Swords.

As a movie, Shaolin Temple has a number of artistic flaws, generally related to assuming that the viewer has watched the director’s other films, or is familiar with the tales and legends of the Shaolin heroes. However, as a conference of martial arts talent at the Shaw Brothers, Shaolin Temple is shown up only by Chang Cheh’s later Shanghai 13 (1984). As the centerpiece in the Shaolin Cycle, the film does not disappoint and action fans will no doubt be pleased with all of the martial arts on display.