By Will Kouf of Silver Emulsion Film Reviews === All of the Shaw Brothers films based on the classic Chinese novel Outlaws of the Marsh (AKA The Water Margin) are among my all-time favorites. The best of the bunch is probably The Water Margin, but the one that nearly surpasses it...
By Matt L. Reifschneider of Blood Brothers Film Reviews ==== My night at the local Alamo Drafthouse started with something quite surprising. As our generous host kicked off the evening by setting the stage for the classic Liu Chia Liang (also known as Lau Kar Leung) film, 8 Diagram...
By 1976, Chang Cheh had become tired of making almost nothing but back-to-back Shaolin movies since 1974's Heroes Two. Looking for something fresh to sink his teeth into, he decided on a genre you don't see a lot in Hong Kong film: the war film....
Directed by the legendary Lau Kar-leung, the 1978 film “The Shaolin Mantis” (a.k.a. The Deadly Mantis) blends elements of an espionage thriller, domestic drama and period martial-arts action film at its traditional best, deftly balancing the always-exceptional Shaw Brothers studio physicality, not skimping on weapons-play,...
Love abounds in Shaw Brothers movies. Below are a few favorites featuring sword-crossed fighters, and modern-day innocents who may or may not find their heart's desire. Have Sword Will Travel (1969) by Chang Cheh. Yun Pao Pao’s (Li Ching) devotion to fiancé Siang (Ti Lung) only...
Lau Kar-Leung's The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is one of the greatest films to come out of the Shaw Brothers studio, if not the entire genre. It also has the distinction of being the first Shaw film I saw (sometime in the mid-'90s). It left an indelible...