During the mid 1970s, famed Shaw Brothers director Chang Cheh and equally famed Shaw Brothers action choreographer Liu Chia-Liang had an unspecified falling out which meant they would never work together again. The good news for genre fans is that both Cheh and Liu went their own way making rival products during the latter part of that decade which turned out to be among their very best work. While Cheh concentrated on the Venoms and heroic bloodshed cinema, Liu went for more classical martial artists like Gordon Liu and delivered films all about technique.
CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS is such a film. While it's not as profound as MARTIAL CLUB, later made by the same team, it's still a solid watch and a must for fans of the star or director. What I enjoyed about this film is the plotting, which is more intricate than expected and gives the major stars different roles to the norm. The most standard of the bunch is Gordon Liu himself, who undergoes the usual gruelling training regime found in most of his films from the era, although the twist is that he's playing Wong Fei-hung himself.
Liu Chia-Liang plays in support as a bandit expert, kind of like the role he played in DRUNKEN MASTER II but with a much darker edge. His fight scenes are invariably the highlights of the picture. In a star-studded picture, we also get Wong Yue in support as well as Lily Li and even Chen Kuan Tai, playing something other than the usual stock hero or villain he essayed. Liu Chia-Liang gets to battle his own brother at one point and it's another hit. The episodic nature of the production takes in rival school material, some comedy, some lion dance episodes, and a moralistic ending that I enjoyed. Regular screen thugs Chiang Tao and Fung Hark-On have a good double act. There are even bit parts for the likes of Yuen Biao, Eric Tsang, and Lam Ching-Ying if you can spot them.
CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS is such a film. While it's not as profound as MARTIAL CLUB, later made by the same team, it's still a solid watch and a must for fans of the star or director. What I enjoyed about this film is the plotting, which is more intricate than expected and gives the major stars different roles to the norm. The most standard of the bunch is Gordon Liu himself, who undergoes the usual gruelling training regime found in most of his films from the era, although the twist is that he's playing Wong Fei-hung himself.
Liu Chia-Liang plays in support as a bandit expert, kind of like the role he played in DRUNKEN MASTER II but with a much darker edge. His fight scenes are invariably the highlights of the picture. In a star-studded picture, we also get Wong Yue in support as well as Lily Li and even Chen Kuan Tai, playing something other than the usual stock hero or villain he essayed. Liu Chia-Liang gets to battle his own brother at one point and it's another hit. The episodic nature of the production takes in rival school material, some comedy, some lion dance episodes, and a moralistic ending that I enjoyed. Regular screen thugs Chiang Tao and Fung Hark-On have a good double act. There are even bit parts for the likes of Yuen Biao, Eric Tsang, and Lam Ching-Ying if you can spot them.