Lau Kar-leung: Career, Essential Films, and Selected Filmography

Also credited as Liu Chia-liang, Lau was a martial arts choreographer, director, and actor. He is a different person from Gordon Liu, the actor who became one of his most recognizable collaborators. This guide follows the filmmaker through eight starting points and a selected filmography. For the actor's career, see CKF's Gordon Liu guide.

For a first viewing, try this three-film route:

• The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978): learning provides the film's dramatic structure.
• Heroes of the East (1978): a marital disagreement opens into a comparison of fighting traditions and weapons.
• Dirty Ho (1979): concealed identities and carefully maintained appearances turn combat into comedy.

These are viewing recommendations, not a ranking. The wider selection includes important films whether or not CKF currently offers an edition.

From designing fights to directing films

Lau trained in Hung Fist under his father, Lau Cham, and entered filmmaking through small roles and martial arts work. The Hong Kong Film Archive identifies his collaboration with Tong Kai as an important early partnership. During the 1960s they designed action for films including Temple of the Red Lotus (1965), The Jade Bow (1966), and Chang Cheh's One-Armed Swordsman (1967). These credits belong to his choreography career; he did not direct those films. HKFA biography.

An action choreographer develops the physical encounters: movement, timing, weapons, and the coordination of performers. A director shapes the film as a whole. Lau's later work joined those responsibilities, but the distinction matters when tracing his early credits. It also helps explain why following a choreographer can reveal connections that a list of directors alone would miss.

Film scholar David Bordwell describes how Lau and Tong's different backgrounds complemented each other, with Lau's family martial arts training and Tong's Cantonese opera experience informing their collaboration. Bordwell also emphasizes that Lau's achievement involved filmmaking, not simply displaying technique: the arrangement of bodies, the clarity of movement, and the rhythm of cuts made the action expressive. Bordwell's study of Lau.

Lau's directing debut was The Spiritual Boxer in 1975. The following years brought Challenge of the Masters, Executioners from Shaolin, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and Heroes of the East. His background remained visible, but he found different kinds of stories for it. A student learning restraint, a family transmitting skills, and a couple arguing about martial traditions need different dramatic solutions. HKFA biography.

Gordon Liu was a central collaborator, alongside performers such as Kara Wai and Hsiao Hou. MoMA's ten-film Shaw Brothers retrospective offers a useful picture of that recurring creative company. Familiar performers return in different roles, so the pleasure extends beyond recognizing a star: watch how a different character changes the purpose of a familiar performer's skills. MoMA series.

Eight films that show his range

1. The Spiritual Boxer (1975)

Start here for: comedy at the beginning of Lau's directing career.

Lau's debut builds comedy around a performer's claims to supernatural fighting powers. The premise makes a useful introduction to a recurring question in his work: what separates the appearance of mastery from the ability to do something when it matters? The BFI discusses it as a comedy about performance, while HKFA records its place as his first directed feature. BFI's Shaw Brothers guide.

It is worth watching before the more imposing training films because it opens a different door into Lau's interests. Approach the comic performance on its own terms rather than expecting every film in the selection to offer the same balance of solemnity and spectacle.

2. Challenge of the Masters (1976)

Start here for: a martial arts hero before he becomes a master.

Gordon Liu plays a young Wong Fei-hung, with Chen Kuan-tai as his teacher, Luk Ah Choi. The important distinction is that Wong begins as an impatient student. Training must change how he treats people as well as what he can do in a fight. Lau directs and also appears. MoMA's program note.

That makes this an approachable introduction to Lau's teaching stories. The question is not simply whether the student will become strong enough; it is whether strength will be accompanied by responsibility. Watch the relationship between student and teacher as closely as the demonstrations of technique. It gives the eventual action a purpose beyond proving superiority.

CKF offers Challenge of the Masters on DVD-R.

3. Executioners from Shaolin (1977)

Start here for: fighting traditions passed through a family.

After the destruction of the Shaolin temple, Hung Hsi-kuan, played by Chen Kuan-tai, seeks revenge against Pai Mei, played by Lo Lieh. His marriage to a woman skilled in Crane-style fighting brings another tradition into a story initially driven by his Tiger technique. Lily Li's role is therefore central to the film's treatment of inherited knowledge. UCLA credits Lau with direction and martial arts direction. UCLA Film & Television Archive.

The appeal is the family relationship as much as the revenge premise. Comparing methods becomes part of domestic life, and knowledge can come from more than the most imposing authority figure. It is a useful companion to Challenge of the Masters: one places learning with a teacher, while the other explores what a family passes on.

CKF lists the same film as Executioners of Shaolin. The “of” and “from” title difference does not identify a different film.

4. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)

Start here for: training as the main attraction.

Gordon Liu plays San Te, who takes refuge at Shaolin and works through a series of demanding exercises. Different chambers test different abilities, making improvement visible through specific problems. MoMA's program identifies balance, strength, vision, and weapons among the areas developed. MoMA's program note.

This is the clearest first choice if you want to understand why learning occupies so much of Lau's cinema. The exercises provide a sequence of challenges rather than a brief pause before the “real” story. Look for the link between an obstacle and the adjustment it requires: the satisfaction comes from understanding how a skill is acquired.

The guide uses 1978. MoMA and HKFA's filmmaker biography agree on that year, and HKFA's older release list records a February 1978 Hong Kong opening. One later HKFA screening page instead labels the film 1977; the reason for that discrepancy is not established. HKFA screening record; HKFA release list, p. 376, hosted by HKFilm.net.

5. Heroes of the East (1978)

Start here for: a comparison of martial traditions with a comic spark.

A Chinese husband and his Japanese wife argue over their respective fighting traditions. The dispute leads to encounters with Japanese martial artists and a succession of contrasting weapons and methods. HKFA credits Lau with both direction and fight choreography, and lists Gordon Liu, Yuka Mizuno, and Yasuaki Kurata among the cast. HKFA program.

The viewing pleasure lies in the comparisons. Similar problems receive different physical answers, and the encounters give the visitor's skills room to register. You do not need to identify every weapon beforehand; pay attention to reach, distance, and the effort required to adjust to an unfamiliar opponent. The domestic argument provides an accessible way into that technical variety.

CKF offers Heroes of the East on DVD-R.

6. Dirty Ho (1979)

Start here for: fighting while pretending not to fight.

Gordon Liu's Master Wang conceals his status and martial ability behind the manners of a connoisseur. His partnership with the resourceful Ho, played by Wong Yue, develops within a royal intrigue. Lau turns the need to maintain appearances into opportunities for inventive action. MoMA's program note.

Bordwell highlights the way combat can continue beneath polite social behavior. The joke depends on the same precision that makes an encounter exciting: timing and concealment must work together. Bordwell.

If you usually separate comedy from “serious” choreography, this is a good place to reconsider the distinction. Watch who understands what is happening, who needs to hide it, and how that imbalance shapes the exchange. It offers a different kind of suspense from the open challenge of a tournament.

7. My Young Auntie (1981)

Start here for: Kara Wai, family etiquette, and comic reversals.

Wai plays a young widow whose position in the family makes her the aunt of a much older man, played by Lau. An inheritance dispute brings them into an uneasy alliance. The mismatch between age, status, and expected behavior supplies the comedy, while her fighting ability complicates other characters' assumptions. MoMA's program note.

Lau's presence makes this especially useful for seeing him as a performer as well as a director. Instead of beginning with an expert teaching an obvious novice, the film asks its characters to revise their ideas about one another. Follow Wai's authority within the family, and notice how competence changes the meaning of apparent vulnerability. The inheritance provides stakes, but the shifting relationship is the reason to make room for it in a viewing route.

8. The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)

Start here for: the darker emotional end of the selection.

After a disastrous attack on the Yang family, Gordon Liu's surviving warrior seeks refuge in a monastery. His developing pole technique exists alongside grief and a desire for revenge. MoMA identifies Lau as director and as a performer in a small hunter role. MoMA's program note.

Place this after one of the comedies to appreciate the change in emotional pressure. Training remains important, but learning a skill does not automatically resolve suffering. The BFI's discussion emphasizes the film's troubled treatment of vengeance. BFI.

The point of this recommendation is range: the same filmmaker who could build a joke around a concealed strike could organize action around bereavement and anger. Expect a harsher experience than Dirty Ho or My Young Auntie.

Beyond the eight starting points

The selection is an introduction, not a boundary. Mad Monkey Kung Fu (1979) gives Lau a substantial acting role opposite Hsiao Hou, with extended training shared by teacher and student. Return to the 36th Chamber (1980) brings a more comic Gordon Liu character to the problem of acquiring real skill. MoMA: Mad Monkey Kung Fu; Return to the 36th Chamber.

For another view of Lau on screen, try Legendary Weapons of China (1982), whose cast includes his brother Lau Kar-wing. For a different leading performer under his direction, Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986) features Jet Li. These are useful next steps after the Gordon Liu-centered route above. MoMA: Legendary Weapons; Martial Arts of Shaolin.

Lau's later career included Drunken Master II (1994) and Seven Swords (2005). Official Golden Horse records confirm shared action awards for the former with the JC Stunt Team and for the latter with Tung Wai and Xiong Xinxin. The Drunken Master II team also won at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Lau received that organization's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. Golden Horse, 1994; Golden Horse, 2005; 14th HKFAwards; 29th HKFAwards.

Selected filmography

This selected table distinguishes directing credits from additional work. A dash means an additional job is not established here, not that Lau had no other involvement.

On a small screen, swipe the table to see every column. Keyboard users can focus the table and use the arrow keys.

Names, credits, and editions

Are Lau Kar-leung and Liu Chia-liang the same filmmaker? Yes. MoMA identifies Liu Chia-liang as an alternate name for Lau. Gordon Liu, also known as Liu Chia-hui or Lau Kar-fai, is a different person. CKF's name guide explains the distinction.

Does an action credit mean he directed the whole film? No. One-Armed Swordsman is a useful example: Chang Cheh directed, while Lau and Tong Kai designed the fights. Shared credits also matter; an award or a collaboration should not be rewritten as a claim that one person did all the work.

Do these film records establish what is on a CKF DVD? No. CKF's editions are made-to-order DVD-Rs. Use the current product page for audio, subtitles, and other edition information, or ask CKF about the disc. A museum's screening copy or a database runtime is not a measurement of CKF's supplied edition.

For further reading, visit the Shaw Brothers vs. Golden Harvest guide or browse Articles & Guides.

Research and corrections

Prepared with Grok; researched, fact-checked, and edited with Codex. Research reviewed November 13, 2026. Recommendations are editorial, and the filmography is selected.

Sources are linked beside the relevant passages. To suggest a factual correction or share an original credit record, please contact CKF.