The Han Emperor dies and sends a message to his illegitimate son, Prince Chien Lung (Pai Ying), a Qin, regarding is right to the throne. Also in line for the throne is Chien's alleged half brother (Cliff Lok). Lok's associates attempted to assassinate Chien to ensure Lok keeps the throne in Han hands. Chien's bodyguard, a Shaolin Instructor (Carter Wong) brilliantly defeats all attempts on Chien's life. Carter has some impressive moves in his fight scenes.Since they can't kill Chien due to Carter's presence, Lok's associates decide kidnapping Chien is a better idea. Lok informs Chien of his Han bloodline and the fact they are brother's. Lok agrees to let Chien be emperor, so long as Chien permits the Han dynasty to continue. There was no doubt there would be some double dealing on this agreement. Chien was adamant about representing his Qin people on the throne. Lok wants to have the throne, however, Chien stands in his way. Lok announces he will go to the Shaolin Temple where the proof of Chien's heritage is kept. He will bring it back to show all of China that Chien is the rightful emperor. The fact Chien will no doubt be assassinated to make room for Lok is irrelevant.Now, here's where I get irritated with this movie. One, the English dubbing has the Shaolin saying "God Bless" and "Praise God". No. They would have said "Buddha be Praised/Blessed". Two, Shaolin are said to be impeccable fighters. Yet, Lok defeats them with barely a sweat. Third, when Lok finally reaches the Abbott, they have a battle of the 12 Shaolin Fighting techniques. We're supposed to buy that Lok learns every detail of each technique through 2-3 minutes of the Abbott using each style. Four, Lok has a lot of dedication to go through every level of fighting in the temple just to get a piece of paper to use to swear in a half-brother he's going to kill off anyway. He didn't seem all that goal oriented at the beginning of the movie. I guess you just have to have the proper motivation.The ending is the usual plot of too many heirs to the throne movies. Chien is being sworn in, with Lok's fiancé as his Empress, when Qin warriors arrive (Shocker). Carter and Qin Warriors battle the Han before Carter moves on to fight Lok. Now, Lok, who has had maybe ten minutes of review on ALL 12 Shaolin styles, uses these techniques to defeat Carter. Again, total BS. The final battle is between Chien and Lok. Chien perhaps being merciful, allows Lok to live. You have to watch the way Lok rows his escape boat to believe it. There is no way he would have gotten anywhere with that technique. It's a shame the Shaolin didn't give him a five minute instructional on boat rowing.

THE BEST OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU sounds like a clips compilation but in fact it's a politically-themed kung fu film starring Carter Wong. The storyline is about a prince who is travelling the countryside, searching for a secret document to reveal the truth about his heritage; to this end, his loyal bodyguard (played by Wong) fights off various opponents and enemies who stand in his way. The prince even enlists the aid of a relative to enter the Shaolin temple itself in a hunt for the missing scroll, thus undergoing a series of gruelling tests designed to push him to the limit.The prince character is somewhat amoral in this film and takes a back seat to the proceedings, allowing Carter Wong to do the hard share of the fighting. The action is entertaining enough while at the same time lacking the finesse of, say, a Shaw Brothers movie, but then of course it was made in Taiwan for a lot less money without the wealth of talent that Shaw were able to afford over in Hong Kong. Cliff Lok does well in a fairly complex role and his episode in the Shaolin temple is the most interesting part of the movie.THE BEST OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU features a cameo appearance for the popular 18 Bronze Men characters, although they only stand around and don't do any actual fighting. However, there are plenty of bouts with the monks themselves which are fun, and the use of no less than 12 different styles (including bird's foot style!) is engaging. One of my favourite moments is a fight with monk Phillip Ko on some vines hanging down a cliff face! The final fight, which is usually the highlight of a kung fu movie, is a little undistinguished, although not the worst I've seen.

There's a fascinating story, taken from Chinese history, at the heart of THE BEST OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU (1976), but it never gets explored in any meaningful detail, thanks to the abundance of fight scenes that dominate the action. Prince Chien Lung (Pai Ying), who soon became the Ching Dynasty's most famous and far-reaching emperor (reigning from 1735-1796), travels with his bodyguard (Carter Wong) to locate a secret document offering evidence of the prince's Han Chinese heritage. At one point it's implied that this is part of a presumed bid to legitimize his impending rule among the Han populace, although there is likely an ulterior motive (one fully outlined in the plot description on the video box from Lion Video which I hadn't considered when watching the film but made perfect sense afterwards). He even enlists the aid of a relative (Cliff Lok), who may be his half-brother, to enter Shaolin Temple and pass a lengthy series of grueling martial tests to get the document. I would like to have known more about Chien Lung's motives, but there simply is no attention paid to this. I wonder if some scenes were cut from the subtitled print I saw, which ran only 76 minutes, a rather short running time for a kung fu film with this star-studded cast. Curiously, Chien Lung, who was played in a heroic vein by Liu Yung in a series of Shaw Bros. films around the same time, is something of a villain in this film. He tends to confront an opponent or group of opponents only to sit back quietly with a smirk while his super-skilled bodyguard fights them off all alone, leaving a field of wounded behind him.Fans of fight scenes will, of course, be satisfied. Carter Wong takes on all manner of opponents in the first half of the film, in scenes that are usually shot outdoors on location. In a lengthy middle portion of the film, Cliff Lok takes on pretty much every fighting monk at Shaolin in a series of "tests" that all take place in one day. He even takes a crash course in the 12 Tamo Strikes with the revered Shaolin Abbot. The famous 18 Bronze Men turn up in one bit, but they don't fight at all. (Lok turns up in the next sequence none the worse for wear despite the punishment he took in those fights.) Finally, there's one more big fight pitting Cliff Lok and his anti-Ching entourage against Carter Wong and his men, culminating in a one-on-one showdown between Lok and Wong. Doris Chen (aka Lung Chung Erh) shows up in a couple of scenes, but doesn't have much to do. Kam Kong, frequently a villain in these films, plays one of Lok's allies.I was quite alarmed to note that the Shaolin fight scenes seem to have been filmed in an actual temple, and one that looks freshly painted, to boot. I'm hoping the statues and altars so close to the fighting were props. In one maneuver, Lok even spills black oil on the floor to slide along in order to make him too slippery for his opponents. I kept thinking about those poor temple caretakers and wondering if they simply banned all filmmakers from the premises thereafter.