Liu A-Cai yu Huang Fei-Hong

This movie was pretty darn good. One reason was that it showed lots of different techniques of kung fu. This chinese guy marries a japanese girl. They have an argument and through a misunderstanding these japanese fighters come to challenge him and he has to fight them all. It has sword, staff, hand-to-hand, and more types of fighting. Plus Lau Kar Fai actually has all his hair. So watch it okay?

No pun intended - I really like the shaw brothers and their movies - I watched quite a lot of them when I was younger. I might have seen this one - but being so many decades ago, I don't remember. I do remember the next one I watched - at least some of the scenes, but more on that later.

We have things that have not aged well - I have mentioned this before, but weapons look obviously fake (or rather plastic - because ... well they are, so that's that). Then you also have one of the main characters and his wig (white hair) - you can clearly see where it begins. You see the make up or mask or whatever you want to call it.

If those things sound like nitpicking, feel free to ignore them. And enjoy the mayhem and movie (fights) you get to see. This really is enjoyable, even if it seems that all conflict is being solved by fighting ... right up to the end ... and beyond I suppose. But it's a movie, so it's ok.

Although his father is a master, Wong Fei-Hong does not know any martial arts as he has been forbidden from learning even though he wants to. In his town an opposing school from his father's school is involved in shady activities and will happily cheat to win the annual pao contest. By coincidence one of the other school is a robber (Ho Fu) and is being pursued by Officer Yuan Ching. With the evils of the other school becoming more deadly, Wong Fei-Hung goes away to make the most of the potential seen by Yuan and spend years training under the tutelage of his father's teacher, Master Luk Ah Choy.

I delayed watching this film because many comments and details on IMDb suggested it would be slow. The text here says it is slow pace and commenter's talk about how the makers wanted to get away from constant action and make a film more about the spirit of martial arts rather than constant killing. In a way this is correct but this is not to suggest that the film is dull or that it focuses on training more than other films with a similar plot structure. Although the narrative doesn't quite hang together, we do get two schools against each other with lots of characters in support. There is a lot of action in the first half of the film, although mostly it is plot driven or takes place in the chaos of the pao contest. There is a good fight between Ho Fu and Yuan and after this the training begins – which is also engaging. The final fight sequences are good and the ending is a nicely positive one.

Gordon Liu leads the cast well; he is a good presence and leading man. He works very well with Chen Kuan-Tai as his teacher. Lau Kar-leung plays the villain well because he doesn't push into cartoony which would be against the grain for the film, but instead is just a criminal. The rest of the cast generally get this as well and this allows the conclusion to work well. Challenges of the Masters is not a brilliant film but it is not slow-moving or dull either, it is just not OTT and flamboyant as some films in the genre can be. The approach to the training is nothing new but it works well and engages thanks in part to the good cast and solid consistent delivery, making for an enjoyable film that pretty much does what you want.

I consider Liu Chia Liang (Lau Kar-Leung) the most important person in the history of martial arts movies. I call him the Grandmaster. No man can better tell any story about Wong Fei-Hung. Liu Chia-Liang learned martial arts from his father, a student of Lam Sai-Wing, who was a student of Wong Fei-Hung himself. Liu Chia-Liang honed his skills as stunt man and then action choreographer beginning in 1953 with the Wong Fei-Hung series of movies starring Kwan Tak-Hing.

His personal golden age of directing martial arts movies began in 1975 with "The Spiritual Boxer." His other movies "Challenge of the Masters", "Executioners from Shaolin", "Heroes of the East", "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin", "Dirty Ho", "My Young Auntie", and "Legendary Weapons of China" are among the top ten martial arts movies of all time.

I am often asked "What was the best martial arts movie ever?" and my subjective answer has been "Legendary Weapons of China". I am also often asked "What was the best fight scene ever?" Like the other question this is really impossible to answer. It is totally subjective and how does one even define the qualities that make the best fight scene ever? Yet, I can tell you this with no doubt, on May 7, 1976 (the release date of "Challenge of the Masters") the best fight scene ever filmed as of that day was the fight scene in that movie with Liu Chia-Liang against his brother Lau Kar-Wing. The runner –up would be his fight against Gordon Liu in the same movie.

This is the "other" Wong Fei Hung coming-of-age film that 'fu film fans rave about whenever the subject of Jackie Chan's far more famous "Drunken Master" comes up. And there's good reason for the raving. Director Liu set out to make a film about the discipline of kung fu, not a "fight film." There's action aplenty here, don't worry about that; but it is significant that there is only one death in the whole film, and this brought about by a gimmick rather than skill. Liu successfully makes the case that kung fu is a matter of self-discipline, requiring prolonged and constant study, and not a weapon for beating people up (although of course it can do that too).

The acting is excellent, the production values high, the script solid. Finally, it must be remarked that this film is considerably more true to the memory of the real Wong Fei Hung than Jackie Chan's. Definitely a classic of its genre.