Verdict
Summary
Eureka! brings these three films to Blu-ray in a two-disc package, and I was pleased with the transfers and presentation of the three films. Fans of 007 rip offs should get a kick out of them as a whole, and newcomers to the titles and Shaw Brothers movies should have a good time discovering them.
The Golden Buddha (1966) Plot:
A businessman picks up the wrong briefcase on a plane and it leads him on a perilous adventure in Bangkok.
Review:
Businessman Paul (Paul Zhang Chung) has a pleasant surprise when he’s on a layover in Bangkok: He ends up sitting next to an old associate, and they swap stories about their martial arts training. At first, it’s innocuous, but when they split ways, Paul is dumbfounded when he’s in his hotel room and finds that he’s not got his briefcase, but his friend’s. Within the briefcase is a small golden statue of Buddha, and it has a secret compartment in it with an inscription of a combination. Paul goes out into Bangkok to try to find his friend, whom he was sure would be easy to find. His night excursion takes him to a bathhouse (a bust, if you know what I mean), and then to another hotel where he finds his friend murdered. Thugs come calling and begin trailing him, and so Paul does something smart (if extreme): He gets the combination tattooed on his leg so he won’t forget it. Then, he crosses paths with an attractive woman (Chinese) who says she’s his friend’s sister. Paul, being savvy, realizes that the woman is lying to him and wants to “put one over on him,” and only cares about the lost Buddha statue. Turns out, the woman is a secret agent working for an evil crime syndicate called the Skeleton Gang, which has its web all over the world. They want the golden Buddha for their own purposes (it is basically a map to a vast treasure), and with Paul in their way, they’ll do anything it takes to get it back.
Part treasure hunt adventure, and part 007 spy thriller, The Golden Buddha is a really spry and fun (and sexy!) film with a colorful postcard-esque approach to telling its comic book-style story. It’s full of action (lots of Judo!), chase scenes, sexy stuff (with a surprising amount of nudity), and a budget to pull it all off, the film very much resembles the early Bond films, especially since it has a score that emulates the John Barry scores from Goldfinger and Thunderball. I had a really good time with this one. Director Wei Lo did a great job with this film.
Angel With the Iron Fists (1967) Plot:
A female secret agent infiltrates a terror organization that is run by women.
Review:
Agent 009 (Lily Ho) is the best the secret service has to offer. She’s attractive, agile, and willing to do anything and everything for the greater good. There’s a new global threat: The elusive Dirty Angels, which is polluting the streets with drugs and an especially diabolical plot to poison the populace. 009’s superiors recruit her after her latest mission proves that she’s likely capable of being the right person for this particular job that requires a unique feminine approach. They equip her with an infrared camera in a broach, a nasty purse that can shoot bullets, and a deadly perfume that can kill. She dons a bikini and enters a bikini modeling exhibition and gets the eye of the scouts who recruit for the Dirty Angels. Next thing she knows, 009 is in the secret lair of the evil women, and she witnesses the overlord decapitating a recruit who embezzled from the organization. With a mission and a mandate to rig the lair with bombs, 009 only has so much time to accomplish her task before she’s discovered. Good thing she escapes … because it all goes BOOM real soon.
If only No Time to Die had given James Bond an escape route like it was supposed to, it might’ve had a satisfying ending like Angel With the Iron Fists. Agent 009 smugly proves to her superiors that she’s the real deal and not a total loser like a suicidal 007 in a woke big budget movie. Thanks, Shaw Brothers! While Angel With the Iron Fists is too long and a little drab and draggy at a full two hours, it still delivers the goods as a halfway decent James Bond riff should. It has exotic locales, slinky babes, a score that clearly and shamelessly rips off the John Barry scores to the early Bond films, and some chop-sockie action. It’s not exactly memorable, but so what? It’s fun enough, and that’s all that matters. From director Wei Lo.
The Singing Thief (1969) Plot:
A crooner is pegged for a notorious jewel thief, and is pursued by many women … and lots of cops.
Review:
A suave and svelte nightclub crooner and recording artist named Diamond Pan (Jimmy Lin Chong) has quite the following: He attracts women from all over with his sexy, but chaste songs about winning hearts and loins … and uses gems and priceless jewels as euphemisms in his songs. His stage is incredibly tacky with huge, garish diamonds and rubies hanging from the ceiling and glued to the wall and so when the cops zero in on him for being a notorious jewel thief (because, duh: He basically implicates himself in all his songs about stealing diamonds from his lovers when he makes love to them), he tries to flee being arrested. When he’s caught, he’s very cavalier about it all, and he sort of enjoys the media attention, but he’s able to escape again and lead the cops on a chase while he tries to figure out who’s actually the jewel thief, because apparently he’s not the guy. His female admirers invite him to seek sanctuary with them all over the city, but more often than not he finds that he’s been lured to various traps when he realizes that the women are sore about him stealing their jewels and necklaces because they believe he’s actually a thief of hearts. It takes awhile, but he eventually figures out who’s framing him, and he leads the cops on a big reveal where he’s able to right all wrongs and redeem himself.
A little bit of Pink Panther infused with a lightweight martial arts action thriller, The Singing Thiefis kind of a caper comedy with some bloody fights. I had a difficult time believing that Jimmy Lin Chong was a tough guy because he’s such a featherweight and never for one second seemed like a threat, but the movie’s choreography and comic book-style approach to action made it more or less believable in a movie magic sort of way. It’s not going to be anyone’s favorite action film of the year, but it’s a cute little effort. From director Cheh Chang.
Eureka! brings these three films to Blu-ray in a two-disc package, and I was pleased with the transfers and presentation of the three films. Fans of 007 rip offs should get a kick out of them as a whole, and newcomers to the titles and Shaw Brothers movies should have a good time discovering them.
Bonus Materials
- Limited edition of 2000 copies only
- Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling
- 1080p HD presentations on Blu-ray from masters supplied by Celestial Pictures
- Original mono audio tracks
- Optional English subtitles, newly translated for this release
- New audio commentaries by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- International Super Spies – A new interview with James Bond expert Llewella Chapman on global Bondmania in the 1960s
- A new interview with Hong Kong cinema scholar Wayne Wong, editor of Martial Arts Studies
- Reversible sleeve featuring individual sleeve artwork for each film
- Original trailers
- PLUS: A limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on all three films by Iain Robert Smith, author of The Hollywood Meme: Transnational Adaptations in World Cinema
