The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Shao Lin san shi liu fang, 1978)

Thank you, Dragon Dynasty! Finally movies that deserve quality releases are getting them. And The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is one of the most deserving seeing as how it is widely regarded as the best Kung Fu film ever. I haven’t seen every Kung Fu film ever made, so I will hold off calling it that. It is certainly is a fine film, though. It opens somewhat slowly. The ancient Chinese politics make it a bit hard to follow at first, but then it gets going. The film mainly concerns itself with the training of our hero. And what incredible training it is. The whole sequence, which eats up most of the film’s running time, is truly excellent. I actually found myself wishing it was longer. Forget the plot give me more of that training. Had I seen it as a kid I would have taken up martial arts for sure.