The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

This is a classic martial arts movie from 1978, though I had never seen it. A remastered version with some good extras was just released by the Weinstein brothers’ Dragon Dynasty label and Netflix has it, though there was a long wait. Starring Gordon Liu in his prime, and opening with the ShawScope logo, you can see why Tarantino wanted to recreate some of its feel in Kill Bill.

In any case, it is very good. The plot line has a young rebel going to a Shaolin temple to learn kung fu in order to fight off the tartar hordes who have invaded China. 35 chambers teach elements of the art of kung fu, each more advanced than the one before (again, the scene in which the Bride is trained — by Godon Liu — in KB vol 2 explicitly harks back to this part of the movie). The 36th chamber involves a dispute over whether Buddhist monks should be training the masses to fight the invaders. Good, old-fashioned martial arts scenes with no wires and remarkably little cutting. Recommended.