THE KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR is a Shaw Brothers martial arts film directed by the underrated Sun Chung, who always manages to create films with plenty of artistic value. As a film, it's a kind of mix-up between old and new; old in the form of veteran kung fu master Ti Lung playing a master of the wooden staff, and new in the form of Wong Yue doing his best impetuous-youth-in-the-style-of-Jackie-Chan impression.The derivative narrative structure is probably the worst part of this film. Heavily indebted to YOJIMBO, it sees Lung coming to a town divided between two gangs, one good and one evil. There's little more depth than that, and other than a few twists here and there, things play out exactly as you'd expect. The film is a little odd in that certain characters come and go with no explanation; I loved Wang Lung Wei and Yuen Wah as a couple of villains but after a smackdown they simply disappear, never to be seen again.Lung is reliable value and looks wicked in his ensemble of black goatee and black studded leather waist and wrist bands. Yue remains a likable presence and the experienced Shaw supporting actor Ku Feng makes his mark as the master villain. Ai Fei and Dick Wei play in support. The action is mostly made up of training sequences, some of them great fun and greatly amusing, and the climatic two-on-one showdown is solid stuff even though Feng is constantly doubled. THE KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR sees the Shaw Brothers at their most solid, if not spectacular.

Ti Lung is THE KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR and we see him as the movie opens practicing with his staff. It's an impressive display, to be sure, as he clearly has a firm grasp of his technique(s). He ventures into the local village, which is quite literally divided into two halves: on one side, the righteous Zhious and on the other, the ne'er-do-well Mungs. The Mungs take the matter of the dividing line literally, chopping the legs off of anyone who crosses it. The leader of the Mungs, played by perennial troublemaker Ku Feng, sets up Wang, THE KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR: he has one of his underlings accuse Wang of rape and in the subsequent resultant streetfight, the underling is apparently killed. Framed, Wang takes "refuge" with the Mung, agreeing to teach them Kung Fu. (Wang Lung Wei is on hand at one point as one of the villainous Mung(s?), but disappears and is never seen again.) Wong Yu surfaces as a Zhiou-side resident who sneaks over to watch Wang train the opposition. Before you can say, "Let me see your staff," he's discovered. Another superbly-produced Shaw Brothers production, directed by one of my all-time favorite directors.

Another solid offering from underrated and unseen director Sun Chueng. Possibly the most refined director of the Shaw stable, Sun Chueng always shows a fluency and command of cinematic techniques. Sun Chueng's film frequently feature a couple of very strong central characters forced to fight against overwhelming odds. This film is no exception but it's also very much in line with other Shaw kung fu films of the time. A town is split in two, literally since there's a line going down the center, by two warring clans. One is "good", the other very bad. The town split in two idea was later used by Liu Chia Liang in "Cat Vs. Rat". The bad clan decides to rid themselves of the good clan once and for all by forcing the Kung Fu Instructor to teach them the "Shaolin Rod". Wang Yu plays the righteous kung fu instructor while sporting a spiffy goatee. I didn't know that was ever a fashion in China. Anyway, the bad clan tries to pretend that they are worthy students but their evil nature keeps coming thru. The martial arts as choreographed by Tang Chia are very well done. While in other Shaw films the fights are as well done if not often better, Sun Chueng almost always picks the right camera angles to compliment the techniques. The action is always right on. The story is a little convoluted but never so you can't follow the action. For some people, the film might drag in parts as it turns into a staff training lesson. A welcome addition to my Shaw library.