IMDb RATING
7.6/10
19K
YOUR RATING
A man studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple to fight back against the oppressive Manchu government.A man studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple to fight back against the oppressive Manchu government.A man studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple to fight back against the oppressive Manchu government.
- Director
- Writer
- Stars
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Yue Wong
- Miller Six
- (as Yu Wang)
Norman Chu
- Lu Ah-Tsai
- (as Shao-Chiang Hsu)
Yung Henry Yu
- Hung Hsi-Kuan
- (as Yang Yu)
John Cheung
- Lord Cheng
- (as Wu-Liang Chang)
Wilson Tong
- Tang San-Yao
- (as Tang Wei-cheng)
Hoi-Sang Lee
- Abbot of Justice Office
- (as Hai-Sheng Li)
Kwok-Choi Hon
- Lin Chen
- (as Kuo-Tsai Han)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie won the Best Martial Arts Award at 24th Asian Film Festival and was the 1978 Top 10 Box Office Hits in Hong Kong.
- Quotes
Senior monk: The wall may be low, but the Buddha is high.
- Alternate versionsWest German theatrical version was cut by ca. 30 minutes. Subsequent TV and VHS releases were cut as well. Only in 2004 the film was redubbed and released completely uncut on DVD by MiB.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Martial Arts Mayhem Vol. 2 (1998)
Featured review
"The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" - An essential martial arts movie
Anyone familiar with the hip-hop super-group the Wu-Tang Clan knows that "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" (a.k.a. "Shaolin Master Killer"), directed in 1978 by Liu Chia-Liang, is essential viewing for any martial arts movie fan. This movie started the whole "good-guy-gets-his-butt-kicked-and-undergoes-martial arts-training-to-exact-vengeance" storyline that's been used so many times in the martial arts movies since (i.e., the American "Karate Kid" movies). In it, anti-Manchu patriot San Te (Gordon Liu) is a humble country boy who is cast out of his village when Manchu soldiers (led by the villainous Lo Lieh) slaughter his parents, orphaning him. He manages to make it to the famous Shaolin Temple, where he is nursed back to health by the monks living there, and soon undergoes a rigorous and dangerous regiment of training to master the 35 "chambers" (styles) of kung-fu. In seven years, he completes his training, mastering all 35 styles, invents a brand-new weapon (the three-section staff), and suggests creating a 36th chamber - to spread kung-fu beyond the Shaolin Temple's walls and bring it to the masses. The whole story is pretty formulaic (what martial arts movie from the '70s doesn't have a formulaic plot?), but what gets this movie going is its rousing training sequences. These are not the run-of-the-mill stuff we're used to seeing in these movies. San Te's quest to become a martial arts warrior is a tortuous journey of self-actualization, a kind of virtue commonly lacking in the genre; San Te actually becomes a better person as a result of his experiences at the Shaolin Temple. Most grind-house cinema aficionados love this movie (Wu-Tang Clan co-founder the RZA in "The Wu-Tang Manual" does an entire section on the martial arts movies that influenced his development of the Wu-Tang Clan and much of their underlying philosophy). Finally, I'm glad to see an old-school martial arts movie that has its heart and brain in the right places.
10/10
10/10
- How long is The 36th Chamber of Shaolin?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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By what name was The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978) officially released in India in English?
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