THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN
Gordon Liu in “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” (1978).
A frequent candidate for the finest martial arts movie ever made, “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” has at last been rescued from the video bargain bins (where it has long languished under the title “Shaolin Master Killer”) and given a first-class release by the Weinstein Company’s new Asian action label, Dragon Dynasty.
Produced by the storied Shaw Brothers studio, “36th Chamber” (1978) belongs to the second wave of the golden age of Hong Kong action filmmaking. It was released when the ground rules laid down in the mid-1960s by the genre’s pioneers, King Hu and Chang Cheh, were giving way to the harsher vision of a younger generation of directors, much as the epic westerns of John Ford and Howard Hawks led to the tighter, nervier work of Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher.
But the western analogy goes only so far: structurally, the Hollywood genre the martial arts films most resemble is the musical. The trick in both genres is to find a plausible, unobtrusive and emotionally satisfying way to arrange a series of disconnected performance pieces, and “36th Chamber,” written by the prolific Ni Kuang and directed by Liu Chia-liang, finds an elegant solution.
Loosely based on the traditional story of San Te, the Shaolin monk who introduced the secrets of kung fu to the Chinese masses oppressed by Manchurian rule, “36th Chamber” follows San Te’s training at the legendary Shaolin temple, as he progresses from a spoiled merchant’s son to a grand master. His training takes him through a series of chambers in which he confronts different tactical and physical challenges, ranging from balancing on floating logs to head-butting his way through a corridor blocked by low-hanging sandbags.
This is, of course, the structure of practically every video game ever designed, but it makes for a beautifully paced and consistently surprising movie. Mr. Liu, directing his brother Gordon Liu as San Te, brings different styles and rhythms to each chamber, ranging from horror-movie intensity to slapstick comic relief.
Mr. Liu, who also directs and does action choreography (most recently for Tsui Hark’s ill-fated “Seven Swords”) under the Cantonese transcription of his name, Lau Kar-leung, possesses an impeccable sense of how action is amplified and energized by editing, and there are passages here that approach the purity of dance. (Gordon Liu, with his unsmiling, classical poise and clarity of line, would not seem out of place in a ballet company.)The Dragon Dynasty transfer actually improves on the Hong Kong DVD release, with a brighter, sharper image and a heap of supplementary material. The extras include an interview with Gordon Liu (recently seen in two roles in the “Kill Bill” films) and a commentary track by the musician RZA of Wu-Tang Clan (a Shaolin scholar of some standing) and the Los Angeles film critic Andy Klein. (The Weinstein Company, $19.95, R)
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