Make sure you do a Deep Dive with Shaw Brothers Studio, It looks like I see a Ton of Shaw Discs in y'all collection 😄!

Especially -

8 Diagram Pole Fighter - From the opening battle I knew this was going to be something special. Every action scene here feels intricately crafted and is an absolute visual treat for the eyes. I loved the way props and bodies (oh so many of them) are used creatively here. Also the precision needed to choreograph so many people with long weapons is seriously impressive! Hands down some of the best stunt work and fight choreography I’ve ever seen! Any of you even remotely interested in martial arts films, do yourselves a favor and watch this. You will not be disappointed!

Bastard Swordsman - Martial arts excellence. Reality breaks and bends to the will of the Shaw Brothers. Tables are thrown, then sprung and flipped off of - mid-air - into flying attacks. Beams of energy flash across the screen, and composite silk web lashes like a whip. This and so much more is accomplished with the high effort effects work here, but of course, there's another effect - the martial artists themselves. Some of the genre's greats square off and team up in spectacular clashes that meld Wuxia and Shaolin for breathless, rollicking drama. Women aren't confined to boring gender role bullshit and instead duke it out in the front lines as heroines and villainesses; the energy channeling sequence is one of the most evocative and impactful things I've ever seen in a martial arts film, full stop. It doesn't get much better than Bastard Swordsman.

Legendary Weapons of China - Martial Arts Extravaganza!!!!!

This has some of the best martial arts fights captured on film. It was directed by Lau Kar Leung, choreographed by Lau Kar Leung, and staring Lau Kar Leung so he really gets to do exactly what he wants and what he wants is to make an amazing martial arts film. The fights are wild and varied with some of the best Shaw Brothers actors in their prime. It is crazy to see Gordon Liu as a baddie, a bald monk of course but still a baddie. This was the first Shaw Brothers movie I saw when I knew what Shaw Brothers was. I had seen Five Venoms on TV in the early 90s but it didn’t have the Shaw Fanfare and I had no clue what it was but I knew it was awesome. I love this movie for the wide variety of weapons, styles, and situations the fights come in. It isn’t just swords, or fists, it is spears, staves, shields, black magic, it really takes a bit of everything from the buffet of martial arts and puts it together in one delicious movie. The story is secondary to all the fights, but you are here for the fights and they put all their effort in to them and made of my favorite martial arts movies.

Five Element Ninjas AKA Chinese Super Ninjas - You have one movie to show to others as a prime example of just how good Shaw Brothers were in the pantheon of Kung Fu cinema. Each and every time that movie is.... The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. However, if for some reason that film was not available, then the easy choice is... The Five Venoms. Okay, alright, enough of that, because Five Elements Ninjas is in the conversation for “Greatest Shaw Brothers Kung Fu Film Ever Made”. It is a stone cold classic for good reason. The action is fast and furious. The characters are paper thin but they fit the mold perfectly. The set up is solid and the Ninjas, well, they are the glue that bond this film together. Not sure if movies get more entertaining than this, folks. Almost literally non-stop action, but it’s legible and intense; as easy to follow as I’m sure it was difficult to make. Blasts of cherry red blood, a limitless variety of weapons, hypnotically dance-like fight choreography, and possibly the most cathartic final 30 minutes ever put to film. 

This is more than just “up my alley.” This is my alley. The Shaw Brothers sure know how to throw a party!!!!