Jackie Chan's early, pre-1980s movies aren't really to my liking, mainly because their choreography is poor compared to later Chan outings, the film stock is typically cheap, giving the movies a grainy, amateurish look, and they also tend to be rather boring. Of course, there are exceptions; Yuen Woo-ping's work on DRUNKEN MASTER and SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW is great, but for the most part you'll watch these movies once and never again. The same is true of SNAKE & CRANE ARTS OF SHAOLIN, which is a little better than Chan's films made with director Lo Wei, but still very average and only of real appeal to the most ardent martial arts fan, I reckon.

The good thing about this flick is the fighting: Jackie is an absolute kick-ass master of martial arts here, right from beginning to end. Forget that initial period of weakness followed by tons of training that we see in his other early period flicks; he's fighting all the way through this movie, and his moves are great. Sure, there aren't any stunts here, so viewers looking for that kind of excitement should go elsewhere; instead, it's just old-school kung fu, hand to hand or with weapons, Jackie doesn't mind. The bad thing about the film is the plot, which is very threadbare, has far too many supporting characters in it, and is extraordinarily clichéd. The only bit I liked about it was the flashback scene in which the masters are poisoned.

Jackie is supported by a variety of fighters, generally older than himself and quite distinguished. Nora Miao pops up and fights as well as you'd expect, whilst comic relief goes to the stock characters like the wacky beggar and the cursing guy with the brain of a child. The bad guy is quite tough and the last, extended fight sequence is by far the best moment in the film; not only does Jackie have to battle a guy whose horse stance is impenetrable, but he also takes on three Japanese assassins armed with staffs with knives at the end! A great showdown follows, with some hilarious moments to enjoy – I especially love the bit where Jackie uses a couple of metal stress balls on the bad guy.

All in all, SNAKE & CRANE ARTS OF SHAOLIN isn't bad. It isn't that good, but it does have a lot of kung fu, even if said martial arts is kind of repetitive. Still, these guys were working with limited budgets, and it's easy to forget the hard work that went into these productions. Give this one a try if you really love Jackie or are a kung fu addict in general (I guess the two go together…).

An old-school Jackie Chan chop socky flick from prolific producer Lo Wei, Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin sees the star playing Hsu Yin-Fung, a skillful martial artist (what else?) who attracts the attention of several clans when he reveals that he is in possession of 'Art of the Snake and Crane', a rare book written by the eight Shaolin Masters.

After lots of not particularly memorable bouts of fighting between Hsu Yin-Fung and various clan leaders (JC is both athletic and acrobatic, but the choreography lacks the inventiveness and attention to detail that can be found in his later HK work),it is revealed that our hero is deliberately flaunting his book in order to try and discover the identity of a man with a scarred shoulder who was responsible for killing all but one of the eight masters.

After much mayhem, and some rubbish about a dirty faced ragamuffin who turns out to be the daughter of one of the clan leaders, the villain's identity is finally revealed, and Hsu Yin-Fung does battle against the bad guy and his hired killers—a trio of tough nuts wielding a variety of weapons. The action in these closing fight scenes is terrific, and makes ploughing through the earlier rather repetitive action and weak comedy worthwhile.

Saw this first on a VHS in mid 80s. The fighting really never stops, and we see Jackie fight groups of people numerous times. This is also one of the few Jackie movies where he fights women. In this film, Jackie has attitude and confidence and he kicks butt from scene one. This is easily one of the best old style Kung Fu movies. It has bad editing, bad cinematography and bad audio quality. Watch out Jackie showing of his skills with various weapons - absolutely amazing. There is an epic fight involving the Snake and Crane style in the end. Fans may recognize the opening credit's music as the same piece that graced the credit sequence from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.