Return to the 36th Chamber

Return to the 36th Chamber is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts comedy directed by Lau Kar-leung. In a Chinese dye factory under Manchu rule, the owner hires Manchu enforcers to raise output and cuts the workers' wages by a fifth. To frighten the owner and his men, the workers recruit a careless young actor, Chou Chun Chi, to pose as the legendary monk San Te of Shaolin, whose fighting skill is said to be extraordinary. The impersonation collapses when the real fraud is exposed, and the owner punishes everyone involved. Ashamed at having failed the workers, Chun Chi travels to the Shaolin temple and asks to be taken on as a pupil, hoping to learn genuine kung fu.

The film continues the story begun in Lau's The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, the third title in the chronological list of his directed features. It was written by Ni Kuang and produced by Run Run Shaw for Shaw Brothers, with Gordon Liu Chia-hui playing the lead and Kara Wai Ying-Hung among the principal cast, alongside Hsiao Ho, Wong Ching-Ho, Wa Lun and King Lee King-Chu as Monk San Te. Running a little over an hour and a half, it blends combat with comedy.

Audience responses are moderately positive rather than enthusiastic: on IMDb it holds 6.9/10 from roughly 4,600 votes, and on TMDB 6.8/10 from around 251 votes. The wide gap in vote numbers reflects the film's established following among martial arts viewers, while the similar scores suggest a consistent reaction across both audiences.