Arrow Video Blu-ray Synopsis (Book): The Manchu troops, tipped off by the treacherous White Browed Hermit, burn down the Shaolin Temple, which houses the patriotic Chinese. In the midst of the conflagration, the Rev. Zhishan is killed by the White-Browed Hermit in a terrible duel. The inmates of Shaolin Temple, including Hong Xiguan, Tong Qianjin, and Xiaohu, break out from the burning temple, pursued by the Qing soldiers, led by Gao Jinzhong. (100 Mins)

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Dragon Dynasty US DVD Synopsis: The film that made Liu Chia Liang famous, Executioners From Shaolin is the first to feature the infamous white-haired priest Pai Mei who would later appear in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill 2. To avenge his teacher, a student of Shaolin and then his son must use Tiger and Crane style to defeat the evil white-haired priest. Expertly directed, the is á groudnbreaking classic with excellent kung fu and choreography' (Encyclopedia of Martial Arts Movies). (101 Mins)

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Views: While many fans see this as an accompanying piece to Chang Cheh's Heroes Two, Men From The Monastery, Five Shaolin Masters, and Shaolin Temple respectively, Executioners From Shaolin is Lau Kar Leung's own take on what happened after the burning of the Shaolin Temple. Interestingly enough, the great Chen Kuan Tai does play the same character but this time, doesn't escape with Fong Sai Yuk. Fleeing with a few other friends, Hung (Chen) and company travel around China on the operatic ''red boats'' that sees them put on political plays across the land, often getting into bother with their disruptive tales. Hung soon meets performer Yong and her father, and it doesn't take too long for the pair to marry. As time passes, they lead a fairly ordinary life and gain a new son called Wending. One day, Hung decides to take revenge on the deadly White Brow eunuch, Pai Mei, who led the Qing army to destroy his temple. But during their battle, Hung underestimates the hermit and just about escapes with his life – going on to train in the Tiger style for another 10 years. At the same time, Wending has become a skilled martial artist himself, learning his mothers Crane style almost to perfection. Believing he has trained enough to beat Pai Mei, Hung returns to challenge him one more time, but after a lengthy battle between the masters, Hung loses to Pai Mei and is killed. Of course, it is now up to his son Wending to take revenge which sees him combine the Tiger and Crane style to take down the deadly eunuch in a battle to the death!

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This was the third directorial piece from Lau Kar Leung (or 4th if you count his co-directing role on Breakout From Oppression with Gordon Liu), and I have to say that I enjoyed it a bit more than Challenge Of The Masters. While it may lack the stronger morals and drama of his second title, Lau returns to a sub-genre he knows all too well having choreographed many of the aforementioned titles from Chang Cheh's Shaolin cycle of films. For me, it just proves to be a much more entertaining film overall – larger to some degree, and with many more fights on offer. To be honest, I must admit that the title of Executioners From Shaolin definitely doesn't suit the film itself, with Challenge Of The Masters being a better option given the storyline, or even its original Cantonese title of Hung Hei Goon - named after Chen Kuan Tai's heroic character (much like that of Wong Fei Hung). Prolific writer Ni Kuang, who had already written well over 100 movies for Shaw Brothers since his debut with the classic One-Armed Swordsman, pens the third film for Lau Kar Leung after his directorial debut, Spiritual Boxer and Challenge Of The Masters. Due to the success of those films and thanks to many years of dedication to the studio, Sir Run Run Shaw gave Kar Leung a little more freedom for his next project (and seemingly from there on in) which is quite evident upon viewing. Having been under the constraints of powerhouse director Chang Cheh for many years, you can almost feel the relief on-screen with what Lau delivers – getting more and more expressive with each of his self-directed pieces. It's as if Lau had been waiting for his time as a director to unleash so many big ideas and only went from strength to strength from here on in. Just a year after this, Lau knocked it up a gear with no less than 3 directed features in 1978 and a further 3 in 1979 – all of which were massive hits for him. By the mid-80s though, the love for traditional kung-fu movies was fading and after directing Jet Li in Shaolin Temple 3: Martial Arts Of Shaolin, Lau turned his talents to more modern action flicks such as Tiger On The Beat 1 & 2, and Aces Go Places 5 as well as working as the action-director on films such as The Dragon Family, The Barefooted Kid, Evil Cat, Operation Scorpio/The Scorpion King, and New Kids In Town with Moon Lee. Lau's return to kung fu would come courtesy of Jackie Chan's fantastic Drunken Master 2. But when things didn't go so well on that project – with creative differences cited as the reason for his departure – Lau set out to make his own sequel of the tale, released as Drunken Master 3 (albeit a pretty unofficial entry in regards to Jackie Chan's titles). Although it had some star power with Andy Lau, Simon Yam, Gordon Liu, Adam Cheng, and Lau himself, Drunken Master 3 was somewhat of a rushed mess – panned by critics and fans alike, and was most likely the main reason as to why Lau Kar Leung stepped down as a director for almost a decade. In 2003, Lau bounced back with the fun Drunken Monkey (the film that helped launch Wu Jing's career), before going-on to star in and work the action-choreography for Tsui Hark's underrated Seven Swords. Lau Kar Leung pretty much retired from the industry soon after and passed in 2013 due to cancer, leaving behind a solid piece of cinema history by starring in over 200 features, directing 25, and lending his martial arts talents to just as many as a choreographer...

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While I do love Executioners Of Shaolin, I have to admit that it does have a couple of moments throughout that raises an eyebrow. The film opens with a fantastic battle between Pai Mei and Shaolin master Zhi Shan that introduces the formers retracting groin skills. This is delivered similar to the 'red room' scene of many kung-fu movies from this era which is often done to highlight the actors particular skills, or specific styles, that will later appear throughout the main story. This is followed by a scene that harks back to Lau's days with Chang Cheh, as Hung and his friends escape the burning temple only to get trapped by the Qing soldiers. Suddenly, another friend appears to help – played by Gordon Liu in a cameo similar to that of his one in Chang Cheh's Five Shaolin Masters – who takes on the small army to help the other disciples escape. While Hung and his friends run off, Liu beats down as many Qing soldiers as possible while he gets shot at with arrows and eventually killed. It's a pretty bloody and serious scene to open with considering the amount of broad humour that comes into play straight after it, but I must admit it probably gives Liu a better fight scene than his grand finale in Challenge Of The Masters did. It's from here that the film continues on with a blend of kung-fu, drama, and broad comedy reminiscent of Lau's later productions like Return To The 36th Chamber for example, but at the same time it breathes a bit of fresh air into a typical Chang Cheh-style film. As the choreographer, Lau provides a wide range of fun fights from the aforementioned scenes that open the movie to Hung's epic challenges against Pai Mei, or the Peking Opera-inspired fight scene to a friendly match between Hung and his wife, and so much more which includes an exciting showdown between Wending and Pai Mei in the grand finale. It's definitely a step-up from Lau's previous film, even with the training scenes proving to be a little more exciting. These includes the use of a wonderful bronze statue that reveals iron marbles marked as Pai Mei's meridian points, with the final death blow only achievable at the right time of day!

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The wonderful Chen Kuan Tai, who had been acting since 1969, does a great job in his role as kung-fu master Hung Hei Goon/Hung Xi Guan – the creator of the Hung Family Tiger Fist. As one of the Shaw Brothers first real, true martial-arts trained actors, Chen started of as a bit-player before getting his big break with The Boxer From Shantung. Around the same time, he tried his hand as both a producer and fight choreographer on films like The Crazy Instructor, Cold Blade, The Chase, and Invincible Iron Palm. As the roles came flooding in after the success of The Boxer From Shantung, Chen soon got round to making his directorial debut with The Simple Minded Fellow – a comedy starring James Yi Lui and Dean Shek – but it would be his second film as a director that would anger the bosses back at Shaw Brothers, with Iron Monkey proving to be quite the hit. Chen's next directional effort was Invincible Monkey Fist, that saw him star alongside the brilliant Billy Chong as well as starring in Tough Guy – a loose sequel to his Iron Monkey feature also known as Iron Monkey Strikes Back. To settle things with his old bosses, Chen agreed to return to the studios for a role in Crippled Avengers and continued to jump between his independent titles and Shaw Brothers to deliver films such as the fantastic Shaolin Kingboxer (aka Iron Fists), Killer Constable, The Master, his aforementioned Big Boss From Shanghai, and many more. To date, Kuan Tai has starred in over 160 features – even appearing in modern hits such as Derek Kwok's Gallants, 14 Blades, Dragon Tiger Gate, 7 Assassins, Once Upon A Time In Shanghai, and more. The wonderful Alan Cheng Kang Yeh, who is probably more recognisable to fans of Hong Kong cinema for his roles in Jackie Chan's Young Master and Dragon Lord, once again stars as Ma's best friend and loyal man-at-arms. Cheng made his debut with Shaw Brothers in The Dancing Millionairess in1964, before going onto have a lengthy career appearing in many of their greatest titles – and quite a few that were alongside Chen Kuan Tai. The wonderful Lily Li (Lily Lee) stars as Chen's wife Yong, and gets the chance to show-off some moves which is always a treat. After making her debut in 1964, Li went onto become one of the most popular actresses of her time and starred in classics such as Come Drink With Me, The Heroic Ones, Six Assassins, Four Riders, Iron Bodyguard, Oily Maniac, Web Of Death, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, Dreadnought, Challenge Of The Masters and Jackie Chan's fantastic Young Master. Wong Yu returns to star in his third consecutive Lau Kar Leung directed piece, after playing the lead role in Spiritual Boxer and co-starring in Challenge Of The Masters. I found it odd that Lau would have him make way for the young Gordon Liu in the latter, yet oddly switch the roles back again here as he places Wong as a lead character and reduces Liu to more of an extended cameo. Wong actually made his feature film debut alongside Chen Kuan Tai in The Bloody Fists in 1972, a production directed by Ng See Yuen. For the next 5 years, until Executioners Of Shaolin, the pair would star together in a number of films including The Tea House, The Flying Guillotine, Big Brother Cheng, Spiritual Boxer, and Challenge Of The Masters. While I've never been amazed by Wong Yu, it's fair to say that he is a very talented performer and seems to be having fun in the role of Wending, the mummy's boy who takes revenge for his fathers murder. The choice to dress Wending in more feminine outfits and wear his hair in 2 buns, was somewhat of a mystery to me – or perhaps I was just missing something that was lost in translation. Dave Wong Kit stars as 10 year old Wending in what would only be his 3rd role, and would go onto star in films such as Casino Raiders 2, A War Named Desire, Heat Team, and New Police Story with Jackie Chan. The wonderful Lee Hoi Sang cameos as monk Zhi Shan who fights Pai Mei in the opening sequence, and favourite villain Chiang Tao (Kong Do) stars once again as an evil Qing general, this time with Lee Chiu as his bodyguard. And wile there are plenty of appearances from future talents such as Fung Hak On, John Cheung, Stephen Tung Wai, Wilson Tong, Hsiao Ho, Chin Yuet Sang, Peter Chan, Eric Tsang, Mang Hoi, Johnny Cheung, Lam Ching Ying, and Billy Chan, it has to be Lo Lieh that steals the show as the White Brow eunuch, Pai Mei.

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Born in Indonesia to Cantonese parents, the great Lo Lieh started life in the film industry when he joined the Shaw Brothers studio in 1964. After a bit part in The Dancing Millionairess, Lo quickly climbed the ladder as an actor appearing in films such as Temple Of The Red Lotus, The Twin Swords, The Sword & The Lute, Tiger Boy, Magnificent Trio, and Golden Swallow – all alongside Jimmy Wang Yu – as well as roles in King Cat, The Thundering Sword, Dragon Swamp, and Brothers Five for director Lo Wei (which also featured choreography by Sammo Hung). More prominent roles in the aforementioned Valley Of The Fangs and The Chinese Boxer (again with Wang Yu) took him through to a busy year in 1971 where he would star in no less than 10 feature films, right through to the production of the hugely popular King Boxer in '72. From there, Lo Lieh went on to star (and appear) in hundreds of fantastic titles right through to the turn-of-the-century, just before his death at the end of 2002. Respectively, Lo made his own directional debut in 1973 with Devil & Angel – a martial arts crime-thriller also starring Wu Ma and Chan Wai Man, produced by his own film company, Lo's Film. Lieh went onto direct a further 8 films including Black Magic With Buddha, Zen Master 6, and the highly regarded Clan Of The White Lotus – a remake of Executioners Of Shaolin that would see him return to the role of Pai Mei, only this time with Gordon Liu in the leading role. It was rare enough that Shaw Brothers would ever remake one of their titles, but to do so after just 3 years was just unheard of. Regardless, the film was a great success and actually saw original director Lau Kar Leung step in as the fight choreographer to lend his support. Of course, the character of Pai Mei would inspire a host of other films over the years, but it would be Tarintino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 that would bring him into the modern world with Gordon Liu now portraying the character due to Lo Lieh's untimely death. Of course, I mustn't forget about director Lau Kar Leung's very own cameo when he appears as one of Pai Mei's guards on the temple steps. Although brief, Lau gets to challenge Hung while using a three-section-staff and could easily be missed as he blends in with a hundred other fighters...

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But still, Executioners Of Shaolin is a fantastic kung-fu flick and a great progression for Lau as a director. Backed by a strong cast and some memorable fight scenes, this is one title that deserves to be in every fans collection. It's Blu-ray release in the UK,as part of the box set known as Shaw Scope Vol.1 from Arrow Video, is one of its finest releases to date and makes the film even more exciting to watch. Lau Kar Leung re-invents the unarmed combat and traditional kung-fu flick, and at the same time was possibly showing Chang Cheh what 'could-have-been' had he given Lau a bit more freedom!

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Overall: A kung-fu classic with plenty to love, Executioners From Shaolin is Lau Kar Leung's answer to many Chang Cheh epics, but with better kung-fu!

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Arrow Video Blu-ray Extras: Appreciation Film by Tony Rayns, Interviews with Gordon Liu and Chen Kuan Tai, Alternate English Credits, Trailers, Image Gallery

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DVD Extras: Trailers

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Watch my unboxing video of this Arrow Video release HERE