It is well noted this movie is related to another 1976 movie with Carter Wong "The 18 Bronzemen" by title only. My alternative title for this movie is "19 Steamed Buns". Carter not only defeats the 18 bronze fighters, he also finishes off eighteen plus one steamed buns at the table.

In my reviews I have traced the history of the training sequence. I mentioned brief training sequences in 1972 "The Thunderbolt Fist" and 1974 "Ever Victorious Hall". 1975s "Thou Shall not Kill" had a longer sequence plus got into the mental part of the training. Starting in 1974 Chang Cheh's "Shaolin Temple" movies began to establish the training sequence as an expected part of the story. In 1976 "The Himalayan" carrying buckets of water uphill is part of the training sequence. That exercise is used dozens of more times in these movies. Personally, I have lugged water uphill and can confirm it is exhausting.

The movie is a showcase of Carter Wong's skills with a lame story behind it. Literally no one is running China while Carter, the emperor, goes off to play at Shaolin Temple. Unfortunately the movie gets to the point where all the action looks the same, powerful and precise but repetitive and ultimately leaving the viewer with not much memorable to take away.

A prince has falsified the testament of the emperor in order to become heir to the throne. However, he wants to learn the secrets of Kungfu and thus become invincible. Three years he is working hard and repeatedly tries to defeat the 18 Bronzemen. When his master realizes the prince is only interested in his personal advantage, he expels him before he had the chance to pass the final test. Now the prince wants revenge and plans to kill the Shaolin monks. Apart from a quick beginning and abrupt ending, the movie consists almost entirely of the training and the challenges it involves. The detailed view on these creative tests is very interesting, though, with a touch of old Fu Manchu serials.

In an awkward attempt to provide a healthy moral, apparently most international versions (in Germany: 84 minutes running time) end with the prince contemplating what he has learned (using a voice-over). Since also the beginning was cut when the testament is falsified, the cut version thus presents the prince as the hero (who legally becomes emperor and will probably forgive the monks), whereas the Hong Kong version (just over 90 minutes PAL) clearly described him as a villain who stole the throne and wants to kill all his enemies. The dark side of his character is hardly understandable in the cut version therefore. So better make sure you get the longer version if you are going to watch this.

More Bronze men - and better one too. Especially the challenges our main characters have to endure are way better thought of. Even the ones that may seem or feel like copies from the first movie. Which you do no have to watch to understand this by the way. And you do not have to have seen the 36 chambers movie - though it may be an indicator if you like movies like this one of course.

There is more achieve (no pun intended) and it harder to get there. Of course there are some musical cues and there is some punishment or the other if you fail. Overall really nicely done - and I would say a bit better than the other bronze men movie. Of course there are also bronze girls, which I am now curious to see ... which of course will have even less to do with these two movies Kuo made. Love Kung Fu and martial arts in general? Well then do not wait and watch this (included in a Kuo box set in the UK for example)