The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

Director: Lau Kar-leung

1978 / 116min / DCP

A watershed film for both Lau and his star Gordon Liu, and a work whose pop cultural influence encompasses both the Wu-Tang Clan and Kung Fu Panda, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin stars Liu as a young man fired with revolutionist fervor against the repressive Manchu government who, on the lam from its agents, takes shelter in a remote Shaolin temple and embarks on a program of exhaustive training that will turn him into a one-man army. Lau’s commitment to using cinema as a pedagogical tool for transmitting knowledge of the philosophy and history of Chinese martial arts is on full display here, as is his ingenious use of the Shawscope frame and visceral grasp of action filmmaking.

Distributor: Celestial Pictures

A Celestial Pictures Limited title

Part of The Sifu: Lau Kar-leung