Return to the 36th Chamber

Infobox Film
name = Return to the 36th Chamber


caption = The Hong Kong movie poster.
director = Lau Kar-leung
producer = Mona Fong
Run Run Shaw
writer = Ni Kuang
narrator =
starring = Gordon Liu
music = Eddie Wang
cinematography = Peter Ngor
editing =
distributor = Shaw Brothers Studio
released =
runtime = 99 min.
country = Hong Kong
language = Cantonese/Mandarin
budget =
preceded_by = "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin"
followed_by = "Disciples of the 36th Chamber"
website =
amg_id = 1:269919
imdb_id = 0081494

"Return to the 36th Chamber" (少林搭棚大師, "Shao Lin ta peng hsiao tzu", "Return of the Master Killer" or "Master Killer II") is a 1980 Shaw Brothers Studio Hong Kong martial arts comedy film starring Gordon Liu. It is directed by Lau Kar-leung and written by Kuang Ni. The film is the second in a loosely connected trilogy, following "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" (1978) and preceding "Disciples of the 36th Chamber" (1985). In the first and third films in the series, Liu portrayed the Shaolin monk San Te, but in "Return", he portrays an imposter monk.

Plot

The story opens at a dye factory. The quality of the dyes has noticeably worsened, and the factory owner and his subordinate chief, Boss Wang, have decided to hire some Manchu overseers to improve the work. However, the owner has decided to cut the workers' salary to pay the mercenaries, and when the workers protest they are viciously thrashed.

When sitting in a tea house discussing their problems, the workers are joined by Chu Jen-chieh, a good-hearted small-time con man posing as a monk. He offers to help, but since he cannot actually do kung fu, he and the foreman's assistant, Ah Chao, devise a plan to trick the Manchu into reinstating the full salary pay, with Jen-chieh posing as the Shaolin's head abbot, San Te Hoo.

At first the scheme works, but the factory owner quickly works out that this man is an impostor, and has him driven away and his Manchu hirelings retaliate against the workers. Feeling guilty about what has happened, Jen-chieh leaves and heads for the Shaolin temple. His first attempts to enter by stealth are thwarted by the vigilant monks and his own bumbling, but eventually he manages to sneak his way in, just to run into the Abbot San Te himself. He, too, realizes that Jen-chieh is not what he claims to be, but he announces that he wants to give him a chance: Jen-chieh is to build a set of gantries all around the outer temple wall and to paint it along its entire length.

Somewhat reluctantly, Jen-chieh goes to work, but he is constantly distracted by the monks practicing martial arts in the training courtyard, which he can look into from his high vantage point. Eventually, he begins to train in kung fu by himself, using the conditions of his assignment to improvise training facilities. However, this causes him to lag behind in his work, and it takes him three years to finish the gantry. As soon as Jen-chieh announces that he is finished, the abbot wants him to dismantle the structure and leave the monastery. Rebelling against this decision, Jen-chieh lands in the training courtyard and while trying to evade the abbot chasing him, he inadvertently manages to pass all hazards set in the yard with ease. The abbot finally corners him and forces him to leave, but with a strange smile playing around his lips.

Jen-chieh returns to town to find that the conditions of the workers have worsened. Their salary has been cut by half, and any who have protested had been laid off immediately. When some of the frustrated workers attack him, Jen-chieh manages to fight them off with his newly acquired kung fu skills. The next morning, Jen-chieh appears at the dye factory and thrashes the overseers, using bamboo fibers (like he used when building the gantry) to tie them up and incapacitate them and introducing his style as "rooftop kung fu".

Quickly, the factory owner and his bodyguards appear at the scene. Jen-chieh lures them out of the city to a mansion under construction, where he uses the building equipment and the tight quarters to his advantage. Finally overpowering the big boss, he forces him to re-hire the dismissed workers and to pay them their full wages again, in addition to back wages at the full rate. Reluctantly the boss admits defeat, and Jen-chieh continues his training on the half-finished grounds.

Cast

* Gordon Liu as Chu Jen-chieh
* Kara Hui as Hsiao Hung
* Hsiao Ho as Ah Chao
* Wong Ching-ho as Uncle Li
* Wa Lun as Chou Sheng
* Lee King-chue as Monk San Te
* Chan Si-gaai as Ah Fen
* Kwan Yung-moon as Chuan Min
* Yeung Jing-jing as Hsiao Ting
* Johnny Wang Lung-wei as Huang Kao-feng
* Kong Do as Chief Ma
* Chang Yi-tao as Yuen Li-hou

External links

*imdb title|id=0081494|title=Return to the 36th Chamber
*amg movie|id=1:269919|title=Return of the Master Killer
* [http://www.kungfucinema.com/reviews/returntothethirtysixthchamber.htm Review at Kung Fu Cinema]