Back in the 1960s, after the success of the first three 007 movies, ‘Bondmania’ swept the world, and many readers of a certain age will remember the deluge of wannabe Bonds that hit cinema screens, not just American entries like the Derek Flint and Matt Helm movies but the infamous Eurospy movies featuring the likes of OSS 117 and Kommissar X to name but two.
Not many will be aware that Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers got in on the act, too. Eureka Entertainment is to be applauded for making three of these enjoyable and rarely-seen movies available in the new Blu-ray boxset release Super Spies and Secret Lies. The movies are The Golden Buddha (1966), Angel with the Iron Fists (1967), and The Singing Thief (1969), each of which emulates aspects of the Bond series with style, fast moving-action and attractive women and, in some cases, shows no shame in using familiar John Barry riffs from the Connery era in their music scores.
The Golden Buddha – in which a briefcase mix-up during a flight to Singapore leads businessman Paul (Police Story’s Paul Chang Chung) into conflict with the Skeleton Gang – is the movie that most resembles Bond and is directed by Lo Wei, who went on to direct the first two Bruce Lee movies so inevitably the action and numerous fights are well executed, and there’s also plenty of humour – not all intentional. Flamboyant villains and dastardly plots are the order of the day in all of these films, presented in their original Mandarin language with English subtitles.
All the films have informative commentaries from experts in Hong Kong action cinema, and the two accompanying featurettes on Bondmania and Shaw Brothers spy films are of particular interest. A boxset highly recommended to lovers of rare and unique international cinema from the “golden era”.
Super Spies and Secret Lies – Three Undercover Classics from the Shaw Brothers is available now on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment.
