Hong Wending san po bai lian jiao

Lo Lieh directs himself in this serio-comic kung fu outing.The best part of the film is the way Lo Lieh and Liu Chia Hui interact and get into their larger than life roles. There's lots of mass killing and tragedy at the beginning but by the time the film ends the whole thing has become very comic. The way the evil White Lotus is defeated is one of the strangest scenes in kung fu cinema.

The pacing of the film is slower than comparable films from Liu Chia Liang, who provided the fight choreography here. While the first fight scenes are just average, the final fight scenes have his visual touch on them and it seems he may have directed them.

The whole film is very colorful in the restored Celestial Pictures DVD and I recommend finding that over the U.S. TV print that is around.

I must have seen this Shaw Brothers movie on TV in the 1980s because it seemed very familiar as I watched the DVD. Apparently this is a sequel to Executioners from Shaolin. The movie opens with a flashback to a fight between white-haired monk Pai Mei and a two-man team featuring Gordon Liu and another fellow. The monk is extremely tough so it is necessary to double-team him with Tiger Style and Crane Style. This is the setup for the current story where Pai Mei's brother Pak Mei another white-haired monk is out for revenge. In this adventure there is no partner to use Crane style so Gordon needs special training to make up for it. It was a lot of fun watching Gordon learning woman's style kung fu to get an advantage over Pak Mei the White Lotus. Check this one out at the video store if you get the chance because Gordon Liu will be a white-haired kung fu master named Pai Mei in Kill Bill Volume 2.

Another churned out Hong Kong production by the Shaw brothers in what can be seen as a Kung Fu cult classic starring the likes of Gordon Liu and Leih Lo as the priest white lotus in colourful performances. The story follows that Shaolin students being released from prison, to only be hunted down by members of the white lotus clan. Survivor Hong Wen-Ting seeks revenge against the priest white lotus for killing his best friend and his fiancé

For me there's something nostalgic about the sub-genre, which always brings a smile. Fun, brash and exciting all rolled into one. "Clan of the White Lotus" spends a lot of time either on the masterfully shot and heart racing choreographed martial arts involving the many attempts to take the priest white lotus' life and that of Hong Wen-Ting constantly training to change and strengthen his fighting style to do so. While frequently violent and bloody, it stays rather comical. These tend to be around the training and the constantly amusing charades involving the White Lotus and Hong Wen-Ting. Lieh Lo also directs; crafting out eccentric set-pieces with precision and impressionable images clocking in with creative slow-motion and detailed backdrops. The only thing is that a uniformity pattern starts to work its way in.

Gives you what you want out of this kind of straightforward martial arts movie- a simple premise that's an excuse for lots of fights to take place, and plenty of fun action.

The closest this movie comes to slowing down is when the main character needs to train at a few points in order to get stronger so he can fight better and fight more. The action is otherwise constant, and maybe even exhausting, but it's fun and never boring as a result.

There might be a slight case of quantity over quality, as there are a few times where the choreography isn't flawless and you can tell people aren't getting hit, but oh well, it's pretty forgivable.

A good time, and recommended if you're in the mood for a pure martial arts action movie.

Another Gordon Liu classic, Clan of the White Lotus was directed by White Lotus Chief himself, Lo Lieh, and is old school Kung Fu fun at its finest! This one features such crazy concepts as the White Lotus Chief having the ability to suck his testicles into his stomach (as a means of defense) and some insane use of "acupuncture-fu" toward the end of the film. Liu trains in some uniquely interesting 'woman's style' Kung Fu as he battles Lieh 3 times, each fight growing in intensity. And his fights with Wang Lung-wei are absolutely fierce! These two square off in several flicks, with every encounter being great (check out "Instructors of Death" aka "Martial Club" for one of their absolute best). COTWL is hands down a MUCH better version/remake of "Executioners From Shaolin."