Shaolin et les 18 hommes de bronze

THE 18 BRONZEMEN is a celebrated 1976 kung fu film from the prolific hand of producer/director Joseph Kuo who operated in Taiwan in the 1970s. It stars Carter Wong, Tien Peng, and Polly Shang Kwan in a tale of Shaolin training, lifelong friendship, and a mission of revenge during the early days of the Qing Dynasty. The uneven plot structure suffers from the lack of a suitable payoff at the end after the powerful setup of the film's stunning first half. Also, the presence of three strong heroes is not matched by any villain formidable enough to provide a satisfying final battle.

The first section follows two dedicated Shaolin students through rigorous training, leading up to a sequence of challenges posed by the Bronze Men of the title whose function is to test the combat skills of the students in order to graduate them from Shaolin. This sequence is a fanciful addition to Shaolin cinematic lore and would be repeated in different variations in Kuo's later Shaolin films. (The Bronze Men include men in head-to-toe robotic outfits, more gold than bronze, and men whose skin is painted gold who fight with swords, sticks and kung fu.)

During their travels, the two friends, Carter Wong and Tien Peng, are joined by a female fighter who was betrothed to Tien Peng as a child and is played by Polly Shang Kwan. The scenes which introduce her are clever and funny and feature her dressed as a man who deliberately pesters Tien until the opportune time to reveal her identity. Eventually, after various attempts on Tien's life and the revelation of his family background, the stage is set for a final confrontation with Hei Chu Ying, the traitor who had Tien's father killed.

The fight choreography is less robust than it should be and, of the three leads, only Carter comes off as a powerful fighter. Polly is energetic and offers a strong, engaging presence, but her kung fu relies as much on superhuman (trampoline-assisted) leaps as it does on kicks. Tien Peng is a polished male lead and a good actor but he's not the fighter Carter is. The actor who plays the chief villain is never seen in combat until the very end, so is never presented as much of a fighting threat to the heroes.

The photography and production design are visually impressive and well above average for this kind of film. There is an original Chinese music score, even in the U.S. English-dubbed version.

I watched both the English dub and the Hong Kong import DVD for this review. The HK version is completely reedited and includes footage from EIGHT MASTERS (aka 18 BRONZEMEN 3) and another, unrelated Kuo film, UNBEATEN 28. It also shortens scenes showcasing Polly Shang Kwan and Tien Peng and plays up Carter Wong's role. I actually found the English dub, despite being available only on full-frame VHS, the more effective version.

This film was followed by various follow-ups that were not exactly sequels, but more like variations on a theme. These included RETURN OF THE EIGHTEEN BRONZEMEN (aka 18 BRONZEMEN 2), BLAZING TEMPLE, and, arguably the best of the group, EIGHT MASTERS, all of which are also reviewed on this site.

With the help of a good friend, an orphan becomes a Shaolin master after many years of training. He wants to find the murderer of his parents some day and have his revenge. The most interesting bit is the training, though, when he needs to stand against 18 bronze men! The movie is known for making Carter Wong a star, but it was an influential movie beyond that. The villain needs to be mentioned; he has several bodyguards dressing just like him to confuse his enemies.

The difference in running time between the German version (77 minutes) and the Hong Kong version (93 minutes) is mostly due to a different beginning of the movie. The rather cruel early years of the boy's training were added to the Hong Kong version, although that footage was shot for "The 8 Masters" by the same director.

After having made kung-fu films for nearly a decade, Joseph Kuo at last received international attention with the release of The Mystery of chess Boxing (made famous by the Wu Tang Clan, one of whom adopted the name of the film's villain, Ghost Face Killer). I've always thought this unfortunate, first because Chess Boxing is clearly derivative of the Jackiee Chan film Snake in Eagle's Shadow (which is much better paced), and secondly because Kuo was close to the closure of his Chop-socky period and only had one more great film in him, Shaolin Temple (AKA Shaolin Temple Strikes Back).

At any rate, 18 bronzemen is without question Kuo's real masterpiece. Well-produced, lovingly photographed in a manner to pay homage to the golden era of Shaw bros. studios of the 1960s; the MeiAh DVD appears to be a mint condition restoration of the original film - it is really beautiful to look at.

This is, indeed, one of those films that demands the audience think hard before dismissing any genre movie, just because it is a genre movie. (Another example from a different genre is John Ford's Stagecoach.) Yes, the story is of your "typical" historically-oriented kung-fu flick of the 1970s. But everyone connected to the film has dedicated enormous amounts of effort to bring together a vision of this martial-arts universe that makes it not only believable, but sensually pleasing and intellectually stimulating as well. Of course we're not talking about grand drama - but film is an art of motion, and a visually beautiful film doesn't necessarily need grand drama.

However, those dramatically inclined should be aware that the actors in this film are really giving us their best - This is certainly Carter Wong's finest performance, and it may be Tien Peng's as well. The reason for such commitment is clear - the film's story carries a theme of loyalty and courage which the Chinese value very highly.

The long training sequences at the beginning of the film (which are among the best on film) are actually reflective of this theme - Shaolin Temple has a very demanding martial arts program, demanding full commitment. Dedication to training is a loyalty as well, and the film is quite clear on that point.

I suppose those unwilling to give any genre film (or at least any kung-fu film) a viewing with an open mind should be warned away. Otherwisedon't hesitate to view this film given the opportunity. And if you do find the dubbed American release out on VHS during the 1980s, be aware that the Amereican dub version is badly panned-and-scanned, using a an old runny-color print for transfer, and that a good 10 minutes of the film were hacked off (to no purpose that I can tell), leaving the plotting difficult to follow at times. But even that version can leave a positive impression of the main line of the story, the acting, and the performance of the martial-arts.

One last word: The film utilizes two child-actors at the beginning of the film; these are among the very few child-actors that I can watch without disappointment or disgust. (My sense is that this is actually due to Kuo's direction.) Bottomline: Classic of its genre - and maybe a little more.

Not your patience, there are other movies out there that actually do that. One of which I will review a bit later. But the characters in this movie. We have more tests in this than other movies. Though I do not remember how many there were in the 36 chambers of Shaolin. Before you say duh, 36 obviously ... nope, apparently they did not do the whole chambers. Hey you have to give the guys (and viewers) a few breaks of course.

18 Bronzemen - I did not count how many in people we saw in this - covered in Gold or painted Gold rather than Bronze, but as you may have figured out yourself, Goldmen does not have the same ring to it. The movie itself has quite the strange story to it. It did not make it to the US cinemas - the sequel did. Being called part 1 when it did at first.

History of that aside, this also had different versions flying around. No pun intended. The two main ones (Japanese was the one that went international) are on a recent UK release. The real cut is being cut together from many sources so may not have the highest standards.

The Japanese cut is quite strange, integrating stuff from other movies from Kuo. If you are into the Kung Fu stuff, you could do far worse than this. Of course you could also do better. Still more than fine movie, even if you only watch the bit uncomprehensible international cut - with added/other kid actors at the beginning and other editing choices that may seem curious.

The ever reliable Joseph Kuo gives us one of the most iconic and trend setting kung fu films in the shape of The 18 Bronzemen, the film that thrust star Carter Wong into leading man status and sits comfortably along side the likes of the 36th Chamber series as a Shaolin themed classic!

18 Bronzemen is one film I would love to see cleaned up and 4K restored in widescreen. I'm a huge fan of director Joseph Kuo. His film career spanned almost 60 films as a director, most of which where very well received and most of which were highly entertaining. 18 Bronzemen is definitely one of his best, and of course most famous - but its not just because of the shiny men in gold. The film is actually very well made.

From the acting to the cinematography, the sets to the nicely choreographed fight scenes, this little gem is a kung fu classic in every sense. In the same year Lo Wei had released 4 Jackie Chan movies, even competing against the Bronzemen with his own version - Shaolin Wooden Men. The mighty Shaw Studios were also dishing out hit after hit of course, so any film from a smaller more independent studio releasing films at this period, certainly had their work cut out for them!

While the awesome 36th Chamber trilogy carried a lot of comedy throughout, the Bronzemen trilogy is a must more serious matter. Running with a similar storyline of Manchurian villains and revenge, there is a fair amount of drama driving the film forward - along with great training and fight scenes of course. But it isn't done in a cheesy way unlike many other kung fu films from that era, it is in fact, very well acted.

Even the original English dub respects it enough not to throw in some stupid sounding voice-actors!

By the halfway point you feel you have already sat through a full film (in a positive way) having had so much happen, but it is at this mark our heroes ( Wong and Tien) get to leave Shaolin and their intensive training to continue their story. Around the hour mark, we get introduced to the fantastic Polly Shang Kwan who helps bring a little more energy to the last 30-40 minutes and at the same time adding to the story.

The film ends in a great climatic battle as Wong, Tien and Kwan put a stop to the bad guys and the film comes to an end with a montage of the friends time together. Classic cliché...

Overall: Well produced, full of emotion, kung fu and great cinematography, this is one of Kuo's finest moments!