RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER sees Gordon Liu returning to the film series that he's most famous for, playing a different role in a very different story which nonetheless features the Shaolin Temple. This one's a very good Shaw film, directed with his exemplary professionalism by the esteemed Lau Kar-Leung who injects finesse and quality into the film's many fight and training sequences.

Some viewers may be put off by the way that RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER is more of an out-and-out comedy than the original film but I enjoyed the change of pace and style. Everything is done a bit differently here so nothing is repetitive. Liu plays a small-time actor who gets beaten up at the hands of Manchu thugs (including my top guys Johnny Wang Lung Wei and Chiang Tao),so he decides to break into the Shaolin Temple and spy on the monks training. It's pretty funny stuff, with Liu on top physical form and convincing both as the novice weakling and as the kung fu expert.

The Shaolin Temple scenes are fun and entertaining with all of the bizarre training we enjoy watching. I loved the way that Liu learns amid scaffolding here which gives him an addiction to bamboo which plays a big part in the fights at the film's climax, which are lighter than usual but no less gruesome. As with almost all Shaw Brothers movies, this is well shot, well paced, and looks absolutely brilliant in high definition; a great mix of comedy, drama, and action.

The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from the temple of Shaolin.

Director Lau Kar-leung excels in this action-comedy. When I think Shaw Brothers kung fu, I think of Chang Cheh, which may be very narrow of me (I am still learning). But Lau is every bit as great, and in some ways maybe even greater, because although much of this looks like a Shaw action film, the comedy is excellent, clearly drawing on old-school American slapstick.

Shimmy shimmy ya, indeed. If there's one thing Hong Kong movies have in store, it's always plenty of sequels. And yet, we welcome those here with open arms.

Directed by Lau Kar-leung, this is the spiritual second film in a trilogy. Unlike the first and last movie in said triad, Gordon Liu does not play San Te, but instead an imposter monk Chu Jen-chieh, who just so happens to look like the master of the 36th chamber.

After using his likeness to the famed warrior to help his friends - a scheme that doesn't last all that long - Jen-chieh runs to the temple, where he's soon kicked out. Only when he meets San Te is he given the opportunity to build scaffolds all around the temple and renovate the entire complex.

From high above the school, Jen-Chieh is able to watch all of the forms of the monks. Finally, when asked to dismantle his work, he rebels and runs through the chambers with ease. That's because he changed his work to practice each of the forms, which was exactly the plan of the smiling San Te.

In spite of himself, our hero has become an expert at kung fu. Another lesson from San Te. Jen-Chieh saves his village and continues his training.