Le combat des maîtres

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).