Shaolin et les 18 hommes de bronze

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.

Walking through my local DVD shop I wasn't intending to buy anything and definitely not something I had never heard of before but I saw this for real cheap so I picked it up. I just wanted something different to watch and review for my website. I don't regret purchasing and watching this film. Besides my mate that watched it with me I can safely say that out of everybody I know I am the only person who has seen this movie. So onto reviewing The 18 Bronzemen: Part 1.

The story in itself is quite confusing and most of it does not get explained until towards the end but I'll try my best. So there is a government known as the Ching government and they decide to kill anybody that supports this guy called Ming. A baby (later called Shao Lung) is rescued and brought to the Ming friendly Shaolin Temple where he is brought up in the art of kung fu to exact revenge upon his family. At the same time another child is taken to the Temple and the two grow extremely close. After many hardships they two enter the "line of 18 bronzemen" which is the final task to graduate from the Temple. Here they fight men literally made from bronze. If they fail they die. After failing the first time and helping each other to escape they try again and succeed. Shao Lung then decides to track down the evil tyrannical ruler to avenge his family.

The movie was directed by Joseph Kuo and starred Peng Tien as Shao Lung and Carter Wong as Brother Wan (the kid that was sent at the same time as Shao Lung). The movie even has a decent twist which took me by surprise. A complete laughable part however is when a woman is apparently disguised as a man and everybody thinks she is (but it is clearly obvious it is a woman).

So despite its flaws, most likely because of being something that is completely different to me, I found this to be an enjoyable movie. This is a hard movie to recommend as it would have a fine niche market but hey, if you find yourself bored, why not? I look forward to watching part two.

originally posted on my blog www.comikkazee.com

The movie is about a young boy enters Shaolin temple to train for revenge for his father's death. This is also to overthrow the Ming and return the Ching dynasty. He has a lot on his plate for a youngster . After much training he and a friend try to pass the 18 bronze men. They fail because they need to go back and read books for three years. The next time they succeed and get their forearm scars just like Caine in the US TV series "Kung Fu". They meet Polly and as usual the girl is mistaken for a man initially. She follows them everywhere and finally the piece of jade pops out. Secrets from the past are revealed.

I first watched this movie about five years ago but didn't post my review. I simply did not like the movie because this same story has been told many times and this movie did not make anything better or different. I watched it again because I was checking if my copy was the best quality and the opening fight sequence caught my attention. Yes, that was a good sword fight at the beginning. All the fights were above average for 1976.

Carter Wong did some excellent fight sequences in this movie. When he started in 1972 "Hap Ki Do" my nickname for him was "Stone Face" because he was incapable of showing any expression except surprise. In this movie his lack of acting ability improved to the point that it was no longer a distraction.

Yi Yuan played villains in these movies since the 1960s. I never remarked on his fighting but in this movie he did a good job in the final fight especially considering it was three against one.

I still only rate the movie as average for the year and genre based on the fights making up for the worn out story.

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!

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.