Huo shao shao lin si

BLAZING TEMPLE (1976) is another film in producer/director Joseph Kuo's series of Shaolin Temple-themed films, starting with EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN (1976), which showcase the 18 Bronze Men who offer kung fu challenges to graduating Shaolin monks. Carter Wong stars in each film, but plays a different character each time. Here he is one of a group of about 20 Shaolin student-monks who escape after the temple is burned to the ground following an assault by the forces of Emperor Yungzheng in the early stages of the Manchurian-backed Qing Dynasty. Some of the students try to escape by fighting their way through the Bronze Men, who, instead of escaping themselves, presumably burn up in the fire. Before the temple's Abbot dies, he bestows on Carter the honor of safekeeping the sacred scroll containing the 18 Lessons of Buddha and being the only one to learn the lessons. While on the run, Carter and his brother monks make it their goal to attempt the assassination of the Emperor, all while trying to find suitable hiding places from the ever-vigilant pursuing Qing troops. At the same time, a beautiful female fighter named Outlaw Lui (played by Chia Ling/aka Judy Lee) has her own plans to assassinate the emperor. It all culminates in a massive raid by the Shaolin men on the Emperor's lakeside vacation pavilion.

The film is beautifully photographed, with lavish sets and stunning costumes. This is one of the few Shaolin Temple films to stage the burning of the temple on elaborate miniature sets. The fights, though few in number, are well-staged, with Carter and some of the other performers given an opportunity to show their swordplay techniques rather than their kung fu. The action consists mostly of running, hiding, and running again.

The chief problem is an awkward plot structure made worse by disjointed editing that never quite shows everything that needs to be seen. Judy Lee's character, Outlaw Lui, dominates the action at the very beginning and then disappears for most of the film, which subsequently has little, if any, connection to her plot thread. And since Judy is such a dynamic, striking performer, her absence is sorely missed. Carter Wong is very good, as usual, except that he's not really the main character among the Shaolin men, who function as a group with no one character dominating the action. As a result, Carter doesn't get the screen time he gets in the other Kuo/Shaolin films. Also, even though he's charged with learning the 18 Lessons, we never actually see him in his secret training, so when he finally unleashes his newly acquired power, it comes as a big surprise to us. One of the inviolable rules of the kung fu genre is to always show us the training.

None of the films in this Shaolin/Bronzemen series are exactly related, plotwise, although a case can be made that BLAZING TEMPLE is, in fact, a direct sequel to RETURN OF THE EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN (aka 18 BRONZEMEN 2), which had ended with the corrupt Qing Emperor (played in that film by Carter Wong) ordering the burning of Shaolin. The films mainly serve as an opportunity to revisit the same material and come up with variations on a theme. The other films in the series include THE 18 BRONZEMEN (listed on IMDB as EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN) and EIGHT MASTERS (aka 18 BRONZEMEN 3).

Storywise, THE BLAZING TEMPLE works as a direct follow-up to RETURN OF THE 18 BRONZEMEN, except that the actors who appear in both are not necessarily in the same roles. For instance, in RETURN Carter Wong played an Emperor who went undercover to train at Shaolin, while in BLAZING, he plays Siu, one of a small group of exemplary Shaolin students (YI Yuan takes over the role of the Shaolin-trained Emperor).

More of an action and swordfighting film, than a boxing film (until the final showdown), the said action in BLAZING is both impressive and nearly non-stop. The center piece (using miniatures) is the Qing attack on, and the burning of, the Shaolin Temple. This rather sobering section includes shots of several monks self-immolating as the temple crumbles and burns around them.

BLAZING is also more of an ensemble piece than a showcase for any individual actor. In addition to Carter, CHANG Yi and WEI Tzu-tung have featured roles as two of his fellow exemplary students.

As for notable women, CHIA Ling (aka Judy Lee) bookends the film, serving up a welcome display of kicks, punches, leaps and sword-swingin'. Additionally, there's the wonderful Grace Chen Shu-fang as the Emperor's feisty #1 concubine.

Finally, I should note that I watched this film via the subtitled Mei-Ah dvd and I heartily recommend this version. Should a dubbed version exist, it might not be nearly as satisfying.

The Shaolin Temple has burned to the ground in many movies but never in such a boring way. This version had all the star power and even a bit extra. Typically an all male cast, this version found room for Chia Ling but then didn't use her for any notable action sequences. The photography and costumes were at the highest level and that would be Shaw Brothers level. I'll never know for sure but I suspect it might have been filmed on Shaw sets and in Shaw costumes rented out daily. The evil emperor even has kung fu skills and a sword proof armor under his gowns. Then they forgot to film any real action. In the moment of heat, as the temple burns down, the head abbot holds a door open for about five minutes. He stands there holding the door open. Just stands there. Yawn. If you are a fan of kung fu movies of the golden age 1967- 1984 then you must watch this movie. Do your duty and be done with it. I can only rate it a 5/10 and I'm being generous.

The story is a variation on the old reliable Shaolin vs. An evil ruler or general premise. The script is long on chaotic action - especially the eponymous sequence - but short on logic or character development. Those who watch because they're fans of Judy Lee or Carter Wong will be greatly disappointed by the amount of screen time their faves are allotted.

A very valiant attempt to equal a Shaw Bros. production. Opulent sets, costumes and a lots of extras. The production company even claimed to have it's own version of ShawScope called "HouwaScope"! There's actually some reasonably good miniature special effects for an HK production.

The Manchus/Chings led by their ruthless emperor are on the offensive against all possible resistance. If that mean killing his sister's family, the Emperor is ready to do it. Well, sister isn't happy and she attempts to kill the Emperor but of course he's one of the baddest kung fu fighter in the land and wearing sword invincible armor. She escapes by jumping away swearing the she'll kill her older brother. Switch to Shaolin Temple as the monks try to formulate a plan against the imminent Ching army attack. The attack comes before they are ready and chaos ensues. A band of monks escape while other monks are killed by cannon fire or set themselves ablaze. The monk Siu (played by Carter Wong), is secretly given a set of scrolls, the 18 Buddha Movements, by the chief abbot, and told to memorize the scrolls then destroy them. Hunted after escaping the destruction of Shaolin Temple, the surviving monks decide to kill the Emperor. The rest of the film is their attempts to kill him.

The decent budget and large scale vision of the film is lost in a script that is about as unfocused as can be. The interesting thing is that the characters are all so well played by the actors, the lack of even one main character isn't as big a problem as it should have been. You are unfortunately left wanting to see more of the various characters. Nobody gets enough screen time. There are, however, some decently written scenes, the monks asking each other for the first time about the circumstances of their entrance into Shaolin for example, but the film keeps reeling from one situation to another. The burning of the temple is well done and has several striking images. I would guess that the filming was so rushed that even the writing couldn't go thru much revision. Once you see the finale you'll know what I'm talking about. The martial arts are decent but not amazing.

OK for light viewing, not good not bad.