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?

Just need to point out that one of the other reviewers here has made a mistake. He's clearly thinking of "Challenge of the Ninja" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080172/ ) not "Challenge of the Masters".

"Ninja" is the one with Gordon Liu (Liu Chia- Hui) marrying the Japanese girl and having to fight her relatives to prove whether Chinese or Japanese Martial Arts are best. It's especially memorable for the superb Chinese Sword vs Katana battle, still one of the great duels of Hong Kong movies, 25 years on.

Not as polished as later films by Chia-Liang Liu, "Challenge of the Masters" is still a pretty slick accomplishment when gauged against other contemporary Hong Kong films. Though shot in 1976, the movie looks as though it were made 5-10 years later. There's no doubt that the young Chia Hui Liu (Gordon Liu) is a star in the making. As always, his physical presence is arresting, his technical skills second-to-none and, heck, he's just plain likable.

His mentor Chia-Liang Liu does a reasonable job with the direction, but it's the fight choreography that shines here. His one-on-one fight with his protégé Chia Hui Liu in the bamboo forest at the three-quarter point is just excellent, and the interesting theme of martial arts binding its exponents together in brotherhood, is a refreshing change from all the revenge dramas that were coming out of Hong Kong (mostly from Chang Cheh, it would seem) at the time.

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.

Challenge of the Masters was Liu Chia-liang only second (or third? It confuses me sometimes) directorial effort and it shows. The "real" fight scene only started to happen in half of the film's run time since Lau was apparently more concerned with the philosophical aspect and moral of the story than its action scenes (which were solid, of course, but alas were few and far between).

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.