Return Of The 18 Bronzemen

Bronzed Expectations

Return Of The
18 Bronzemen
aka Yong zheng da
po shi ba tong ren
Taiwan/Hong Kong 1976
Directed by Joseph Kuo
Eureka Masters Of Cinema
Blu Ray Zone B

Warning: Bronze spoilers leaping at you.

Return Of The 18 Bronzemen is the eighth and final of the films presented as part of Eureka’s brilliant Cinematic Vengeance - Joseph Kuo boxed edition and, wow, what an odd little movie. Dates are sketchy indeed for the original Taiwanese release of this movie but, certainly in Hong Kong, this sequel was released in cinemas a couple of weeks before the first film. Yeah, don’t ask why because I don’t know but I’ve seen this phenomenon happen a few times, especially in countries where the movie didn’t have it’s first release yet (so, for example, Dario Argento’s Deep Red was released in Japan after the success of Suspiria and under the title Suspiria 2, if you can believe that... never mind that, as far as these unconnected films go, Suspiria is a horror movie and Deep Red is a giallo).

But yeah, despite the bizarre release dates, this film is a very strange affair. It starts off with a young prince, played by Carter Wong, who seizes the throne under a ruse and who is shown to be not a very nice guy. Then, when he hears of a revolt in the famous Shaolin Temple depicted in the first movie, he goes into an extended flashback which lasts the majority of the film, to his youth. After getting into a fight which he loses against a kung fu lady played by Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan, who played a different but major role in the first movie (reviewed here), he then comes into conflict with another young man played by Peng Tien, who played the hero of the first movie. This is literally the only scene that Tien is in for the whole film. The prince loses this fight too, which spurs him onto devising a way into the Shaolin Temple and ‘charming’ the monks to allow him to study for three years.

Okay, so most of the rest of the movie (I would guess a good hour) is just him enduring hardships and taking the 18 Bronzemen test three times (it’s interesting that he doesn’t have to pass the tests of the 36 Chambers in this film, as the hero of the last one did). And it’s quite good kung fu action which serves to show off the fighting skills of the lead actor. The Bronzemen challenges are somewhat similar but upgraded somewhat from the first movie and, all in all, the film looks better and the plot is less scrappy than the last one, it has to be said (I think I definitely preferred this one). After failing twice, he undergoes the trials for a third time but doesn’t get the double brands for moving the cauldron away from the Gate Of Heaven as, just as he’s about to pass the very last challenge, the head monk figures out he’s really a prince and expels him after his three years there because, as he says, the monks do not partake in affairs of the state.

Basically, we’re asked to watch a villain in training as the film unfolds... which is an odd one but, of course in a Western film, this would serve to build up the villain’s powers so we can see him defeated against all odds by whoever the hero turns out to be. But, yeah, this doesn’t happen... the flashback ends and, literally within the space of the last ten minutes and now back to being Emperor, he survives a kung fu assassination attempt by Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan in her second and final, short appearance in the movie and then orders his men to go and kill all the monks (as apparently happened in real life) with a new flying guillotine machine... which we don’t see in action although I believe some Shaw Brothers movie have got that one covered. Instead, he gives the order of their destruction and... that’s it. The end of the movie. The villain triumphs over the powers of good and, presumably, Buddha, in a strange twist to the way these things usually go in kung fu movies. Although, of course, this is absolutely typical for the majority of the films in this boxed set, which almost all seem to end in either a pyrrhic victory or, as here, just total failure of anyone with good character. So, yeah, this is a really curious subset of films that Eureka, Masters Of Cinema have put out, for sure.

One interesting point in the movie, when the villain first goes to the Shaolin Temple and is refused, is that he sits in the rain for a few days and waits them out until they accept him. One wonders if the writers of Marvel’s first MCU Doctor Strange movie had seen this or, if not this one (Taiwanese kung fu films seem to be treated as poor, unworthy cousins to their Hong Kong rivals, as I’m beginning to find out), then certainly some other which applies a similar cliché.

And, yeah, another short review I’m afraid but that’s about all I have to say on Return Of The 18 Bronzemen other than, I found it hugely enjoyable with the almost non-stop fighting scenes... even though, it would be true to say, the audience finds themselves in the unenviable position of rooting for the villain throughout the majority of the movie. Which is strange but, hey, that’s the power of the well edited movie, I guess. Asides from the incredibly hasty and negative ending to the picture, this is a nice one to end the boxed edition with, I think.
 

18 Bronzemen

Savage Kung Fu

18 Bronzemen
aka Shao Lin Si shi ba tong ren
Taiwan/Hong Kong 1976 Directed by Joseph Kuo
Eureka Masters Of Cinema Blu Ray Zone B

Okay, so the seventh film in Eureka’s rather invaluable Cinematic Vengeance - Joseph Kuo boxed edition is 18 Bronzemen and, I have to say, I’d been looking forward to this one (although it’s certainly not the best in the box so far). I’d heard about this from a colleague at work many years ago and was interested in hearing the loud clangs as various opponents hit actors painted Bronze... although, to be fair, apart from a few bronze armoured champions, they are supposed to be humans just painted bronze and so, yeah, for the most part the loud clangs when they come into contact with fists and feet makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

This one has an elabourate plot set up which kind of finds its way into the third act of the film, although as a movie it’s a very simple through line with all the story development being shown as reveals, which takes the basic story of three ‘brothers’ training to be Shaolin Warriors somewhat tenuous in terms of understanding the glue which holds these three together. True to IMDB form, putting names to the faces is somewhat hampered in terms of the three main, male protagonists (one of whom also turns out to be a minor antagonist towards the end of the picture)... however, the accompanying booklet helps me out by telling me that two of the three are played by Tien Peng and Carter Wong. The three are training from a young age at a Shaolin temple and the main geezah, who is only the second best at king fu, it would seem, is the one we join from when he’s saved as a baby from being slaughtered along with the rest of his closest family, before his aunt hides him and, after four years, places him under the care of the Shaolin monks in the temple for kung fu training... so he can eventually (20 years later, as it turns out), avenge his parents.

So yeah, the first hour of the thing is pretty much the main protagonists enduring hardships on their training journey so they can eventually pass the tests which involve beating the 36 Chambers (amazingly foreshadowing the title of the Shaw Brothers classic The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, made two years later) and facing the challenges of the 18 Bronzemen before, in the final of some fairly gruelling challenges (which are failed the first attempt and need another two years of training to finally beat), they each move a burning cauldron out of the way of the exit, incidentally branding themselves by doing this, with the twin dragon brands on their inner arms to mark themselves as true Shaolin Warriors.

Then, in a very quick, final half hour, more jigsaw pieces fall into place as the main man accidentally finds his future wife... due to her having the other half of a jade medallion which his father left with him shortly after his birth to lead the way to said wife... and together the two of them, along with ‘3rd Brother’, foil a few assassination attempts before meting out justice and destroying the guy who killed the main man’s father. And it’s a strange tale of three fathers, as it turns out, as each of the main male characters are fulfilling secret tasks unknown only to each of them, handed down by their dads in the past. Oh, and the future wife is once again played by Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan from Dragon Inn (reviewed here) and The Shaolin Kids (reviewed here).

And it’s... certainly not as fun as some of the other films in this set but it is fairly entertaining, it has to be said. Little set pieces like bleeding from the nose and ears as part of the tests to ascertain whether you can successfully stand having your head inside a big bell while it is being chimed are somewhat interesting (and just a little bit horrifying, to be honest) but there’s just enough meat on the bone to keep the film going and enough kung fu action to keep you interested. There are the usual, shouty, ridiculous kung fu moves as various players either use them on their enemies or practice them and there’s a lot of play given to the hidden manual of the Secret Fist moves, which is apparently what eventually allows the main villain and his three look alikes (which is not as well handled in terms of continuity as you might expect, if you’re going to go down that route in the first place) to almost defeat the three surviving protagonists (the two actors and actress mentioned above) and certainly extract a cost from them (one of them dies), once again allowing Kuo to have his surviving characters pondering a somewhat hollow victory and giving the film something of a downer of an ending... which seems to be his preferred method of conclusion, certainly on most of the films included in this boxed edition.

So yeah, 18 Bronzemen is certainly not his worst film and I quite enjoyed it. If I’ve heard of this one then I guess it must have been one of his more famous films and so I’m sure many people rate it a lot higher than I do. It was certainly popular enough that he soon made Return Of The 18 Bronzemen, a sequel (of sorts... I’m hearing there’s a complication to that assumption) and that is the final of his films included in this edition. So I’ll try to catch up to that one sometime very soon.

The Shaolin Kids

Wuxia New Pussycat

The Shaolin Kids
aka Shao Lin xiao zi
Taiwan 1975 Directed by Joseph Kuo
Eureka Masters Of Cinema Blu Ray Zone B

So here I am up to the sixth of the eight films in Eureka’s Cinematic Vengeance - Joseph Kuo Blu Ray boxed edition. It’s one of the earlier ones represented here (made only a year after Shaolin Kung Fu - reviewed here) but, it’s easily my favourite movie so far in this set because it manages to balance both the spectacular physical action (including those amazing high jumps, often performed backwards and reversed) and a half decent story.

Now, I’ve no idea what Shao Lin xiao zi means (google translate really is no help at all with this stuff) but I have to question the validity of the truly terrible English title big time. I mean, for some reason this is called The Shaolin Kids but, well, there’s not much shaolin kung fu action, more the weapon held action of the standard wuxia film. I mean, there’s a kung fu school of adult students in the opening credit montage who disappear and then form a good guy army to help out in the last 20 minutes or so of the movie, as an instructor demonstrates his appreciation of their prowess by thoughtfully stroking his beard in an approving manner... but I don’t think this really qualifies as a major component of the film, to be honest. I’d let that slide but, yeah, there are also no kids in the movie. So, to title the film up with words that are completely absent from the contents of this movie seems a bit absurd.

But apart from that, it’s all good. Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan from the Shaw Brothers classic Dragon Inn (reviewed here) plays Liu. She sees her father poisoned by a vengeful prime minister and then discovers the evil doer is plotting to gather armies to overthrow the Emperor and take the kingdom for his own nefarious purposes. However, she and her allies have the secret golden letter, which acts pretty much as a confession to the chief villain’s intentions. The rest of the movie is a cat and mouse between the various factions as the Prime Ministers two villanous henchmen use their ‘Heaven and Earth’ killing moves to pursue the good guys who intend to intercept the Emperor and warn him of the plan. Lightning fast jumpy, energetic wuxia fighting ensues and it’s a really fun watch, it has to be said.

In addition, the director and cinematographer, despite the low budget associated with Kuo’s films, go all out. The shots are colourful and full of period costumes and the photography is crisp and with an interesting return to symmetry for the look of a lot of the scenes. The interiors especially are filled with shots (augmented by cut aways to various people, of course) where the main architectural focus is front and centre with the characters bleeding off to either side of the main focus... such as when two characters are seen playing a game of Go near the start of the picture.

And, of course, the action is spectacular, especially from Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan herself, who does some neat stuff by throwing ropes around her, which helps defeat the deadly ‘Heaven and Earth’ move when the time comes. I imagine the various actors and actresses who used to take part in these spectacular fights must have come away with a lot of bruises and fractured bones during their shoots. 

The sound effects on this one are crazy. The clothes of wildly flailing, lethal limbs make loud ruffly sounds and the wonderful moments where a good or bad guy lands about ten punches on an opponent in the space of two seconds are orchestrated almost like a piece of music, with different tones of hits creating different kind of breaks in the rhythm. They reminded me of souped up versions of the sound design that Woody Allen used in his hilarious ‘hitting Diane Keaton with a bottle’ scene in Love And Death. Or maybe something that MGM might have used to add interest, to add a touch of audio diversity to the tap dancing scenes in their wonderful musicals.

All in all, The Shaolin Kids, Shaolin-less and kid-less as it is, was a huge hit with this audience member. A beautiful example of kinetic action and story beats, not always as formulaic as you might at first expect, coming together to deliver a slice of action spectacle which isn’t as one note as some of Kuo’s other movies, for sure. I’m really looking forward to seeing the last two films in this set now, involving the 18 Bronze men. I’ll get onto those soonest.