Producer: Run Run Shaw

Despite the fact that ‘Challenge Of The Masters’ hasn’t aged as well as some of Liu Chia-Liang’s other notable works, there’s undoubtedly much on offer for genre fans and the casual cinema-goer.

‘Clan Of Amazons’ is an elegant swordplay film that shows how entertaining the genre can be when the various components are properly blended.

Another awesome Shaw Brothers film with an insane concept and some heavenly fight action choreographed by the one and only Liu Chia-Liang.

‘Come Drink With Me’ has convinced me of King Hu’s mastery of film-making and I would certainly consider his work here to be almost equal to the best of Chang Cheh and Liu Chia-Liang.

This splendid period kung-fu film once again gives evidence of the immense quality that rolled out of the Shaw Brothers studios during the 70’s.

The film has stood the test of time in terms of fight action, performances and direction, all of which are exceptional.

With ‘Five Shaolin Masters’, there is a definite impression that the great director’s inspirational ideas of brotherhood and honour are somehow diluted.

The generally undemanding nature of the film make this a definite thumbs up for genre-lovers.

‘Heaven and Hell’ is actually a whole lot more interesting, and engaging, than one would outwardly expect from its (largely) negative reputation.

The director has taken complicated source material and distilled it into something arresting before, but here he finds too many sub-plots to balance and too many characters to accommodate.

‘Heroes Of The East’ starts relatively slowly, but when the storyline develops beyond the basic exposition, this is another kung fu treat from ‘The Pops’.

‘Heroes Shed No Tears’ is the kind of complex swordplay film that was attempted after the demise of the Shaw Brothers movie making empire, but often lacked the skilled control that Chor Yuen offered.