Hou Hsiao
Legendary Weapons of China
"Legendary Weapons of China" is a classic martial arts film filled with epic battles and humorous moments, showcasing unique fighting styles.
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Return to the 36th Chamber
This follow-up to the classic "The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin" shows kung-fu’s the illustrious Liu brothers at their lethal best. Director Liu Chia-liang has more than a few new kung-fu tricks up his monk’s sleeve as he transports brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui back to the Ching Dynasty and the Shaolin Monastery. And not just any part of the monastery, but the clandestine 36th chamber, where the most advanced methods of kung-fu are taught to the deserving few. Alas, Gordon is not one of the anointed elite and must find a way to covertly observe the secret training in order to obtain the skills necessary to battle the hated Manchus. Though the movie’s conclusion is never in much doubt, the Liu Brothers have a lot of fun getting from points A to Z with plenty of murder and mayhem in between.
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My Young Auntie
With his fight choreography, Liu Chia-liang was a central figure in Hong Kong martial arts film, first establishing a new-style of Mandarin kung-fu hero film in the 1960's. Then as a successful director, his films usually had a strong traditional sense and emphasis on martial virtue and the importance of family. This is no more evident than in the kung-fu comedy My Young Auntie, the film that rocketed actress Hui Ying-hung to the top. Hui plays a young heiress to an esteemed kung-fu family embroiled in internal strife. Her gutsy and dauntless performance opposite Liu's starring role as her calm to psychotic elderly nephew-by-marriage, earned Hui the Best Actress Award at the 1981 HK Film Awards. The film's final 20 minutes is ultra-guaranteed to blow your mind away.
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Dirty Ho
Master martial arts moviemaker Liu Chia-liang wanted to make a movie about Chinese royalty’s relation to the common people. He accomplished it with one of the greatest kung-fu adventures ever made, incorporating at least three of the most brilliantly conceived and executed fight sequences ever caught on film. Wang Yu is the streetwise title character while the director’s adopted brother, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, plays an incognito prince who uses Ho as a dupe to try avoiding court intrigue. But any description of the plot cannot communicate the beauty and ingeniousness of Liu’s invention and vision. Combining laughs and thrills, the monumental director adds to his legend with a film that only gets more impressive with each successive viewing.
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The Lady is the Boss
The pre-eminent martial arts moviemaker Liu Chia-liang came up with the novel idea for this exciting and hilarious kung-fu clash between an old-fashioned kung-fu master and a hip and beautiful marketing wiz.
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Disciples of the 36th Chamber
Whenever acclaimed martial arts film director Liu Chia-liang directs his half-brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui as a Shaolin monk hero, it's guaranteed that the film will not only become a classic but that it will rock the very foundation of martial arts cinematic culture. "Disciples Of The 36th Chamber" is no exception to the rule. Gordon Liu Chia-hui reprises his famed role as Shaolin Monk San Te, the real life Shaolin hero that created the "36th Chamber of Shaolin". In this film, San Te protects other real life Shaolin hero Fang Shih-yu (Hsiao Hou), who seems to enjoy stepping on the wrong Manchu foot at the right time. As always with director Liu Chia-liang, the final fight scene leaves you gawking in wild-eyed wonderment.
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Martial Club
Arguably, the greatest kung-fu film director of all time is Liu Chia-Liang. Unarguably the greatest kung-fu film character of all time is Huang Fei-Hung. So what do you think would happen when you put these two titanic talents together? You get one of the finest “pure” kung-fu films ever made, with nary a character getting killed, but the thrills coming a mile a minute as two pugilism schools tests each other for a full hundred minutes. Lau returns his dynamic adoptive brother, Gordon Liu, to the leading role, then gives the king of screen villains, Wang Lung-Wei, one of his few anti-heroic roles... just in time for a stunning climax unparalleled in its adeptness and invention.
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Cat vs Rat
One of Liu Chia-liang’s classics, 'Cat vs Rat' is almost a full-scale slapstick comedy, as well as a tailor-made showcase for the "odd couple" of Alexander Fu Sheng and Cheng Shao-chiu. Their wushu squabbling for supremacy ultimately imperils an incognito emperor, resulting in a sparkling and unexpected family affair, from the king of kung-fu filmmaking.
Apple TVLegendary Weapons of China
On a continent which reveres its martial arts, the director’s nickname is “Kung-fu Liang” – holder of a filmography unprecedented in its innovation of theme, ingeniousness of plot, and imagination of its astonishingly designed kung-fu. This production is clearly the culmination of his initial Shaw Brothers work – the film which he used as a showcase for his and his brothers’ – Chia-yung and Gordon Lui – skills. In the premiere, groundbreaking book on the genre, Martial Arts Movies, author Ric Meyers called it “the quintessential martial arts movie” and perhaps the greatest kung-fu movie ever made. Showing prescience customary with this visionary, the plot revolved around early 20th century pugilists vainly attempting to find a kung-fu which could defeat the bullet … years before the same theme would be used in Once Upon A Time In China. It also features the rarely dramatized magician-spies of China, who would ultimately inspire the Japanese ninja. But most importantly, it is a beautifully made action comedy featuring international fan favorite Alexander Fu Sheng and supremely brilliant kung-fu.
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Mad Monkey Kung Fu
Besides his pioneering films based on authentic martial artistry and kung-fu comedies during the 1970's, acclaimed director Liu Chia-liang also embraced the master/pupil relationship to form the cornerstone of many of his other works where his characters exhibited physical and moral failure as a means to either "make them or break them". Besides directing "Mad Monkey Kung Fu", it's also Liu's debut as a lead actor playing down and out, monkey kung-fu master Chen, crippled by the ruthless villain Tuen (Shaw's penultimate bad guy Lo Lieh). Street boy Hsiao Hou (which means "little monkey" and played by popular martial arts aerialist Hsiao Hao) convinces Chen to teach him monkey kung-fu to avenge Chen's shame. The wacky training sequences and outlandish finale fight leave you stupefied.
Apple TVApple iTunesReturn to the 36th Chamber
This follow-up to the classic "The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin" shows kung-fu’s the illustrious Liu brothers at their lethal best. Director Liu Chia-liang has more than a few new kung-fu tricks up his monk’s sleeve as he transports brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui back to the Ching Dynasty and the Shaolin Monastery. And not just any part of the monastery, but the clandestine 36th chamber, where the most advanced methods of kung-fu are taught to the deserving few. Alas, Gordon is not one of the anointed elite and must find a way to covertly observe the secret training in order to obtain the skills necessary to battle the hated Manchus. Though the movie’s conclusion is never in much doubt, the Liu Brothers have a lot of fun getting from points A to Z with plenty of murder and mayhem in between.
Apple TV
Clan of the White Lotus
Lo Lieh was famous as Shaw Studio’s first international kung-fu film star. He was famous throughout Asia for dozens of superlative performances in everything from horror to modern thrillers to martial arts. But it was the rare saga Lo also directed, and this was one of those special events. Following his huge success starring as the infamous Shaolin Temple traitor in preeminent kung-fu filmmaker Liu Chia-liang’s Executioners From Shaolin, he returned to the role in this, a combination sequel and remake.
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Disciples of the 36th Chamber
Whenever acclaimed martial arts film director Liu Chia-liang directs his half-brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui as a Shaolin monk hero, it's guaranteed that the film will not only become a classic but that it will rock the very foundation of martial arts cinematic culture. "Disciples Of The 36th Chamber" is no exception to the rule. Gordon Liu Chia-hui reprises his famed role as Shaolin Monk San Te, the real life Shaolin hero that created the "36th Chamber of Shaolin". In this film, San Te protects other real life Shaolin hero Fang Shih-yu (Hsiao Hou), who seems to enjoy stepping on the wrong Manchu foot at the right time. As always with director Liu Chia-liang, the final fight scene leaves you gawking in wild-eyed wonderment.
Apple TVApple iTunesCat vs Rat
One of Liu Chia-liang’s classics, 'Cat vs Rat' is almost a full-scale slapstick comedy, as well as a tailor-made showcase for the "odd couple" of Alexander Fu Sheng and Cheng Shao-chiu. Their wushu squabbling for supremacy ultimately imperils an incognito emperor, resulting in a sparkling and unexpected family affair, from the king of kung-fu filmmaking.
Apple TVApple iTunes