Il clan del Loto Bianco

Shaolin kung-fu practitioners and brothers Wu and Hung (Gordon Liu) attack and kill the merciless Pai Mei; they and other Shaolin disciples are jailed, but their release is ordered because "the people" want them to be free. However, Pai Mei's even more merciless brother White Lotus (Lo Lieh) has other ideas; he kills off many members of the Shaolin Temple, including Wu and Hung's girlfriend, leaving Wu's pregnant wife Mei-Hsiao (Kara Hui) and Hung as practically the only members of Shaolin left to avenge the deaths. But Hung can't defeat White Lotus with a combination of the tiger and crane kung-fu moves that he and his brother used to defeat Pai Mei; instead, it is up to Mei-Hsiao to teach him feminine kung-fu techniques, the styles of embroidery and acupuncture. Will those be enough to defeat the evil White Lotus, or must Hung pay the price that his brother and their people did? Kung-fu movies, particularly those of producers the Shaw Brothers, don't really require much in the way of close attention to the plot, as the plot primarily exists to move the characters from one fight sequence to another. And the sound effects accompanying those fights are just sublime! Gordon Liu and Lo Lieh were international stars of the form, prior to the advent of Bruce Lee even; and ironically, in Tarantino's "Kill Bill Vol. 2," Liu plays Pai Mei, the character his character in this film kills off at the beginning of the movie, setting the story in motion. FantAsia 2012 was lucky enough to locate the last surviving celluloid copy of this classic film, complete with garbled English subtitles and faded-to-red colour scheme (the result of the passage of years, not an intentional part of the film), and as long as you check your logical brain in at the door, it's a hoot to watch, 30-odd years on!

Lo Lieh directs himself in this serio-comic kung fu outing.The best part of the film is the way Lo Lieh and Liu Chia Hui interact and get into their larger than life roles. There's lots of mass killing and tragedy at the beginning but by the time the film ends the whole thing has become very comic. The way the evil White Lotus is defeated is one of the strangest scenes in kung fu cinema.

The pacing of the film is slower than comparable films from Liu Chia Liang, who provided the fight choreography here. While the first fight scenes are just average, the final fight scenes have his visual touch on them and it seems he may have directed them.

The whole film is very colorful in the restored Celestial Pictures DVD and I recommend finding that over the U.S. TV print that is around.

Another Gordon Liu classic, Clan of the White Lotus was directed by White Lotus Chief himself, Lo Lieh, and is old school Kung Fu fun at its finest! This one features such crazy concepts as the White Lotus Chief having the ability to suck his testicles into his stomach (as a means of defense) and some insane use of "acupuncture-fu" toward the end of the film. Liu trains in some uniquely interesting 'woman's style' Kung Fu as he battles Lieh 3 times, each fight growing in intensity. And his fights with Wang Lung-wei are absolutely fierce! These two square off in several flicks, with every encounter being great (check out "Instructors of Death" aka "Martial Club" for one of their absolute best). COTWL is hands down a MUCH better version/remake of "Executioners From Shaolin."

Gives you what you want out of this kind of straightforward martial arts movie- a simple premise that's an excuse for lots of fights to take place, and plenty of fun action.

The closest this movie comes to slowing down is when the main character needs to train at a few points in order to get stronger so he can fight better and fight more. The action is otherwise constant, and maybe even exhausting, but it's fun and never boring as a result.

There might be a slight case of quantity over quality, as there are a few times where the choreography isn't flawless and you can tell people aren't getting hit, but oh well, it's pretty forgivable.

A good time, and recommended if you're in the mood for a pure martial arts action movie.

I must have seen this Shaw Brothers movie on TV in the 1980s because it seemed very familiar as I watched the DVD. Apparently this is a sequel to Executioners from Shaolin. The movie opens with a flashback to a fight between white-haired monk Pai Mei and a two-man team featuring Gordon Liu and another fellow. The monk is extremely tough so it is necessary to double-team him with Tiger Style and Crane Style. This is the setup for the current story where Pai Mei's brother Pak Mei another white-haired monk is out for revenge. In this adventure there is no partner to use Crane style so Gordon needs special training to make up for it. It was a lot of fun watching Gordon learning woman's style kung fu to get an advantage over Pak Mei the White Lotus. Check this one out at the video store if you get the chance because Gordon Liu will be a white-haired kung fu master named Pai Mei in Kill Bill Volume 2.