In the last century, Shaw Film Company has launched countless classic martial arts movies. And to talk about the most influential one, I believe that it is not the "Thirty-six Rooms of the Shaolin Temple". It not only created a peak in the history of Hong Kong cinema, but also became the collective memory of countless people. I believe that any audience who likes Hong Kong movies will not miss this work.
"Thirty-Six Rooms of the Shaolin Temple" is directed by Liu Jialiang and starring Liu Jiahui, Xu Shaoqiang, Wang Yu and others. The story tells that Liu Yude (played by Liu Jiahui), a shaodong of the seafood shop, was tragically robbed of his home for assisting a private school teacher in transporting anti-Qing materials. The whole family was killed by the officers and soldiers, but he was the only one who escaped from the danger and ran to the Shaolin Temple in a hurry to avoid trouble. He was allowed to become a monk in the temple and received the Dharma title of "Three Virtues". In order to avenge xue hate, he is determined to learn the best martial arts at the Shaolin Temple. At that time, the Shaolin Temple divided the different techniques into "thirty-five rooms", and he began from the most basic "canteen" and practiced all the way to improve.
In the end, he not only passed all the tests of the thirty-five rooms, but also defeated the abbot of the Discipline Academy (played by Li Haisheng) with a self-created three-section stick and became the steward of the first room. However, The Three Virtues, who still had their hearts set in mind for their homeland, proposed to the abbot that they should create the "Thirty-Six Rooms" for the Shaolin Temple to recruit lay disciples. The abbot, who understood Sande's ambitions, immediately expelled Sande from Shaolin and asked him to return after he had done anything.
Sande, who returned to his hometown, once again launched his own anti-Qing plan. He killed several Qing court officials with his strong martial arts connections, and on the way, he took in Shu Mi Liu (played by Wang Yu), Lu Acai (played by Xu Shaoqiang), Hong Xiguan (played by Yu Yang) and others as apprentices. Together, they use a trick to make the Qing soldiers mistakenly fall into the trap, and Sande also successfully blades the enemy General Tianda (played by Luo Lie), returning to the Shaolin Temple to create the Thirty-Six Rooms, and making Shaolin martial arts famous all over the world.
To be fair, in terms of story line, "Thirty-Six Rooms of Shaolin" is not new. Its innovation is outstanding in that it divides different martial arts into categories, such as boxing room, eye room, knife room, etc., and then establishes a complete promotion system, so that the audience can accurately feel the progress of the three virtues and the comprehensiveness of Shaolin martial arts. Another interesting thing is that the training equipment in each room is related to daily life. For example, the arm room requires the disciple to carry water, during which they must tie a short knife to their arm to ensure that their hands remain level. The Eye Force Room, on the other hand, asked the disciple to fix his head and look directly at the candlelight with his eyes.
Whether it is in line with reality or not, these unique training methods really add a lot of color to this film. And as the plot progresses, the director has not forgotten their laying. For example, in the fight scene, you can see the techniques of the three germans applying the techniques of each room to the enemy truthfully. Another plot focus of this film is to portray Sande as the founder of the three-section stick. As mentioned above, the abbot of the Discipline Academy, played by Li Haisheng, in order to test the martial arts level of the three virtues, used the lancet method (in fact, it is the eight chopping knives) to duel with it. At first, Sando chose to engage with a long stick, but was easily defeated by the Lancet method. Later, he tried to use the crescent shovel to take away Li Haisheng's double knife, but it also failed.
The final duel between Sande and General Tianda was carried out with three sticks, and the way the three sticks were played can be described as more delicately depicted. The innovative set design and wonderful martial arts action made the film a huge hit when it was released in 1978. In addition to becoming one of the top 10 high-grossing films in Hong Kong that year, it also won the Best Action Effects Award at the 24th Asian Film Festival, making it the highest-grossing work ever produced by Shaw. In the following decades, the film continued to be marketed overseas, and it had excellent responses in France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Colombia, etc. And Shaw Company has also launched "Shaolin Temple Tent Master", "Thunderbolt Ten Jie", etc., as a sister work of this film, its achievements are absolutely unquestionable.