Member falkor Posted January 9, 2009 Member Share Posted January 9, 2009 1) Disciples Of Shaolin How would you compare the choreography to: Challenge Of The Masters Boxer Rebellion Savage Five Heroes Two Shaolin Martial Arts ? Would you say the fight scenes in Disciples' is above any of those? 2) Delightful Forest What did you think of this film overall? 3) Magnificent Wanderes Would you say its really that bad? Did you get through it alright? How would you rate the choreography in isolation; are the fight scenes comparable to other Venoms efforts? 4) Master Of Kung Fu How would you rank this among the early 70s Shaw Brothers bashers? Would you say its a classic or damn right terrible film, or somewhere in-between? Please share your opinions on any of the above you have watched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Delightful Forest What did you think of this film overall? Didn't care for it. Magnificent Wanderes Would you say its really that bad? Did you get through it alright? I don't think it's unwatchable. Master Of Kung Fu How would you rank this among the early 70s Shaw Brothers bashers? Would you say its a classic or damn right terrible film, or somewhere in-between? Neither classic nor tragic. It's a good, solid film and Ku Feng stars as Wong Fei-Hung. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member SamuraiDana Posted January 9, 2009 Member Share Posted January 9, 2009 1) Disciples Of Shaolin 2) Delightful Forest What did you think of this film overall? DELIGHTFUL FOREST was interesting to me primarily because of its connection to the classic Chinese text, "The Water Margin." It tells the story of Wu Song, the famous "Tiger Killer" who later joins the 108 Bandits. DELIGHTFUL FOREST (1972) tells the part of the story that comes after the events told in a later Shaw film, TIGER KILLER (1982). But it precedes the events of THE WATER MARGIN (1972) and ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS (1973). Ti Lung plays Wu Song in all four of these movies. Here's an IMDB review of DELIGHTFUL FOREST: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068821/ Two other Shaw movies, both called THE AMOROUS LOTUS PAN (1964, 1992) tell part of the story as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Iron Boat Posted January 10, 2009 Member Share Posted January 10, 2009 Disciples and Delightful Forest are must have, pass on Magnificent Wanderers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Endsang Posted January 10, 2009 Member Share Posted January 10, 2009 1) Disciples Of Shaolin How would you compare the choreography to: Challenge Of The Masters Boxer Rebellion Savage Five Heroes Two Shaolin Martial Arts ? Would you say the fight scenes in Disciples' is above any of those? I'd rate Disciples quite low compared to Chang Che's other Shaolin movies, but the choreo is pretty much on the same level as the movies you listed. Not much greater or worse. 2) Delightful Forest What did you think of this film overall? Liked this one alot. Best one in that particular storyline in my opinion, and I'd say it's a must see among Ti Lung's movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted January 10, 2009 Administrator Share Posted January 10, 2009 1) Disciples Of Shaolin 2) Delightful Forest What did you think of this film overall? QUOTE] I'd have to rewatch DISCIPLES before I comment. It's been a long, long time since I saw it. But I love DELIGHTFUL FOREST. Ti Lung is fantastic in this, and I really dig the final bloody fight. I highly recommend this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member KyFi Posted January 10, 2009 Member Share Posted January 10, 2009 I first saw Magnificent Wanderers before the Celestial remasters, and at the time I thought it was laughably bad. But having seen SO many more Shaws since then, I find the remastered Magnificent Wanderers fairly entertaining. I mean, it's got the big stars, the same Shaw sets, costumes, cinematography, music, plot, etc. as all the Shaws of the era. But it does seem like the action scenes are unusually lame for a Shaw movie made at that time. Don't buy it for the fight scenes (although some of the trampoline stuff at the end is kind of neat). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member peringaten Posted January 10, 2009 Member Share Posted January 10, 2009 I honestly believe Disciples Of Shaolin is the finest all-round film Chang Cheh ever made; in turn I think it perhaps the finest kung fu film I've ever seen, one of the only to truly enamour me longstandingly. Chang Cheh's masterpiece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ironfistedmonk Posted January 10, 2009 Member Share Posted January 10, 2009 Disciples of Shaolin is a top film, choreo wise it's not as good as Challenge of the Masters, on a par with Heroes Two and Shaolin Martial Arts, better than Boxer Rebellion and Savage 5 IMO Delightful Forest was a good film IMO, lots of the usual Chang Cheh bloody action and I quite like the Water Margin stories. Magnificent Wanderers is poor, the action is really lame, the cast is wasted, nowhere near the regular Venoms movies actionwise Master of Kung Fu was OK, nothing in it to make it stand out above any other bashers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted January 30, 2014 Member Share Posted January 30, 2014 3) Magnificent Wanderes Would you say its really that bad? Did you get through it alright? How would you rate the choreography in isolation; are the fight scenes comparable to other Venoms efforts? It`s that bad really. I was able to watch though it in one session though. Comedy is crap and fight scenes lame, good guys beating clearly inferior mongolian soldiers. No fights between equals...Characters except Chiang started to get into nerves quite quickly. I didn`t think flick by chang cheh with fu sheng, david chiang, lee yi min and chi kuan chun could sink this deep... "The "godfather of the kung-fu film," Chang Cheh helmed this sweeping, all-action adventure of undercover, traveling patriots battling corrupt Mongol chieftains and their bloodthirsty henchmen. He guides a spectacular all-star kung-fu cast so there's hardly a moment to spare. Stolen gold, hostage villagers, raging soldiers, corrupt courts, and an ammo dump fill the plot until both exceptional martial arts and explosions share the screen. (IVL)" No way, jose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cold Bishop Posted January 31, 2014 Member Share Posted January 31, 2014 Disciples is one of Chang's masterpieces. If you go in wanting fight after fight, you're going to be disappointed, but Chang's sense of melodrama has never been more poignant and mature. The movie also has a surprising class consciousness going on. And what few fights there are, in my opinion, are top notch, if not exactly shapes galore. Delightful Forest is pretty good. Pao Hsueh-Li was probably the real director, so the film looks great and things are a little livelier than some of the other Chang films of the period. The best fights are the bookend: it opens with Ti Lung squaring off with Lau Kar-Wing, and the finale is a classic Chang-style bloodbath. Gets a little goofy and frivolous though: you could have a drinking game for every time Ti Lung mentions that damn tiger. Also, while its mostly a Basher, I do think it points the way towards Shapes, but other might disagree. Magnificent Wanderers is pretty bad. It was the last film of Chang's Film Company, so I've always wondered if there was some behind the scene turmoil going on because... really... I'll stick up for Master of Kung Fu as a solid Basher that sometimes has traces of greatness peaking out. Without having seen the original Huang Fei-Hung films its hard to say, but it almost seems that Ho Meng-Hua and crew were trying to make a sort of "revisionist" genre film. It opens with Huang breaking up a violent street brawl, almost as if the film is saying that we need noble figures like Huang in the times of screen violence. And the whole film revolves around the pacifist Huang debating about whether he should use his fatal "invisible kick" or not, even after he's put pretty violently through the wringer. It gets a little more routine as it goes on, however, and probably peaks somewhere in the middle. Still, the real highlight here is seeing villain-extraordinaire Ku Feng as a kung-fu hero, which I've always half-suspected was a reward for bringing down the house in Black Tavern (pure speculation). He was always more of a wuxia guy, but he's really graceful and convincing here, especially when he brings out the three-sectioned staff; I understand he was pretty skilled at the weapon in real life, and it shows, even more so than New One-Armed Swordsman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member reason108 Posted February 6, 2014 Member Share Posted February 6, 2014 I am only going by memory here. I hope that I don't get these confused with other movies. Disciples of Shaolin - Really good film with some pretty good fight scenes. Isn't this the original Chinatown Kid movie where Fu Sheng falls in love with a watch? A gold watch? And shoes. Shoes and a gold watch? I remember that it turned out better than I thought it was going to. Delightful Forest - I have this but still have not got around to watching it yet. I guess that this means that I have way too many Shaws for my own good. I think there are like 10 that I own but have not gotten around to seeing yet. So, I am of no help. But, perhaps this is just a cry for help. Yes, I have a Shaw Brothers addiction problem and I need help. Magnificent Wanderers - I don't think that this movie is as bad as what some say it is. I did like it. It had its moments. But, I feel that there was something about it that kept it from being something better. It didn't jell the way it should have. I think I started to lose some interest when they got to the camp at the end. Or, perhaps that is when I became interested in the movie. Cant remember. Master of Kung Fu - This is my least favorite on the list**. It was ok but not to recommend. It was rather plain. Nothing sticks out in my brain pertaining to this film. Oh wait, I think that I learnt a lesson from watching this movie. If not a lesson from this film then it was from one of the many other Shaw films that I have seen. And, that lesson is: If you are are kung fu teacher and one of your trusted students that you know well tells you that they did not start a fight with a known bad guy then at least believe them. If you do that then a lot of people do not have to die. Just talk to one another. Don't believe the bad guy over your student. Bad guys are bad for a reason. They are not your friend. And, while you are giving them face, they are planning how to murder and rape you and your whole family. Or, something like that. (**ok, technically, I can't say that this is my least favorite on the list since I have yet to see Delightful Forest. but, at this point in time, I can say that.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cloud Hands Posted February 6, 2014 Member Share Posted February 6, 2014 Delightful Forest is a great film - an excellent performance from Ti Lung. I'm a fan of the Water Margin/Wu Sung storyline, and this might be my favourite in the series. In my opinion Disciples & Delightful Forest are both essential Shaws. Magnificent Wanderers I haven't seen for a long time but I seem to remember it feeling disjointed, but I've kept hold of it as it has venoms in it. I haven't ever seen Master of Kung Fu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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