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Extras
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| Audio
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Video
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The only way, I believe to get this movie on DVD is the Celestial, region 3, release.
Movie
For a director that was rather popular in his time, Lo Wei (‘The
Big Boss’, ‘Fist of Fury’) sort of got
the short end of the stick when Celestial decided that some of its titles
would only be released on VCD. Yes, many of Mr. Wei’s movies were
(and will be) released on DVD, but some of his movies are only available
on DVD. The ‘Angel with the Iron Fists’ sequel, ‘The Angel Strikes
Again’, for example, is only on VCD as well as Mr. Wei’s first Shaw movie,
‘Crocodile River’. I’m not saying others weren’t short-changed, but
for I think Lo Wei’s first Shaw movie is an important historical document
that at least deserves a DVD release.
Wow, for an evil organization their screening process kind of bites. Let me explain. After planting an infrared camera that can film in the dark (in black and white no less!), that has to be projected on a reel-to-reel machine, the Dark Angels (the evil organization) decides they want to have Lily Ho in their organization because she can fight very well even in high heels. The movie has Lily Ho trying to… um, see, the movie’s not so clear on that. She goes around trying to catch some bad guys, but nobody really explains why they’re bad guys. In the movie you learn they’re trying to create a drug that will restore people’s youth. How utterly evil they are! The male love interest (and it is a male love interest, not a female love interest, read on) is also a bad guy, but he never really gets into trouble with the police, or whatever organization Lily Ho works for. Well, the movie isn’t so clear on that guy’s outcome either.
It’s well known that Chang Cheh brought testosterone to Hong Kong filmmaking. Before him and his groundbreaking ‘Vengeance’, men weren’t really leads. You had basically two guys, but the rest of the movie leads were all women. After seeing this, I can imagine why female stars were so much more popular in Hong Kong at the time. I mean, seeing Jimmy Wang Yu in a swimsuit would be interesting, but I’m sure Hong Kong men would rather see Lily Ho in one. Along the same lines of reasoning, I also think that, between seeing Kwan Tak-Hing’s naked ass and Fanny Fan Lai’s, most people would choose the latter’s.
Regardless, onto the movie itself. I love the Dark Angels’ (bad guys’, well, bad girls’) hideout, it’s just so groovy. It would make Robert Wiene do a jealousy-ridden double-take. They have groovy booby traps like the ‘Tunnel of Fatal Light’, which is easily avoided if you ever need to escape the compound and have no way out. The good guys also have interesting gadgets. What the hell is that tracing device? It sure looks neat, though.
The people in this movie are a little naïve or a little stupid or both. Going from plot point to plot point might also seem a bit random but these kinds of movies are never renowned for their authenticity and credibility. The acting is okay for the movie and it never gets out of hand. Lily Ho (‘The Water Margin’, ‘The Singing Thief’) gives a nice performance as the Agent 009 (9, in China, if you’re wondering, is a good luck number). Chinese sex symbol Tina Chin Fei gives a nice performace that would make Goldfinger see red. Give her a whip and Ilsa would crawl at her feet. She’s not as evil as she could be but this is basically a PG-13 movie.
One thing I found rather interesting is that, in the James Bond movies, the bad guys always send girls to seduce the hero, but in this movie the hero is a girl. Both sides are playing each other but who has more power over the other? The plot is intriguing. You never really know the purpose, but it’s quite interesting to see unfold. Writer/director Lo Wei
Ultimately, there’s no substitute for a good James Bond movie except for another good James Bond movie. My biggest reaction to this movie, though, is that it made me want to watch ‘Get Smart’. This movie is nice, don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice thriller. It competes with the average James Bond movie. Give me my ‘Goldfinger’ over this one, but I’ll take this one over ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’.
Because it’s only on VCD and I feel like talking about it, here’s a mini-review of the sequel,
The Angel Strikes Again
4 out of 5 stars/DVDs/whatevers
Of the two Angel movies I think I prefer the first one but the second one has a lot going for it. The movie follows the same plot logic as the first movie, only this time there’s slightly more exposition. The bad guys also do bad things this time. It’s nice but the more the movie goes on the looser the plot elements seem to be. It’s not incoherent, mind you, it’s just stretching things a little more. On the a better note, the movie is a lot more James Bond-y than the first, with more action, more intrigue and more ruthless bad guys making more destructive weapons. This movie comes complete with micro-bombs à-la ‘Knock Off’, that take out an entire cement wall, while only being the size of a bit acid hit.
Last time the bad guys’ security was bad. Well, this time the good guys’ security is sort of awful. Lily Ho isn’t even on the case one day and the bad guys know everything about her and her mission. The bad guys aren’t much smarter. They leave and booby-traps one of Lily Ho’s things. When she’s safely out of the way and it blows up, her friend thinks her half-dirtied show thrown near the blast site will convince them she’s dead. Being bad guys, they’re convinced… for a while, obviously. Well, things get more James Bond-y as the movie goes on – with brawls and evil twins and extortion of money and such – and it’s generally a lot of fun to watch.
At the start of disk 1, you have the ‘Angel with The Iron Fists’, ‘The Lady Professional’, ‘My Dream Boat’ and ‘The Golden Buddha’ trailers. The last one looks like a nice adventure movie.
The audio and video are good enough. Of course, they’re nothing compared to the DVD, but as far as VCDs go, this is pretty good quality stuff. The audio is obviously mono. In some ways it’s better than the DVD’s sound. Everything’s clear, with no new mixing to get in the way of anything. The video is presented in 2:35:1 letterbox. You get some pixelation but thankfully nothing moves too fast so everything is clear enough for the run of the movie. The first disk runs about 56 minutes and the second about 38.
Special Features
Trailers
‘Angel with the Iron Fists’, ‘The Black Falcon’, ‘Gun Brothers’, ‘The
Informer’ and ‘The Lady Professional’ get minute-long trailers. The
‘Angel with the Iron Fists’ trailer is for a really good-looking movie,
but unfortunately, it’s not for ‘Angel with the Iron Fists’. The
trailer paints a completely different movie. If all the others are
the same, then I don’t care much for the movies, but if they’re more accurate,
the movies can be really good.
Movie Information
As usual, you’ve got some Photo Galleries. A Behind the Scenes
gallery has two pictures per page (except one page with 3 pictures) and
captions telling you about what you see on the pictures. One interesting
thing is that on one page it says ‘Hong Kong and International versions’.
Now I don’t know if the captions mean the trailer or the movie, but this
intrigues me more than the movie. The Movie Stills gallery shows
you nice moments from the movie. The Original Poster shows you the
original poster, which is nice but nothing to rave about. The Production
Notes is only one sentence telling you something that vaguely resembles
the movie’s plot. The Biography and Selected Filmography section
talks about the lives and careers of actors Fanny Fan, Lily Ho and Tang
Ching, and director/actor/writer Lo Wei. A nice overview of their
lives and careers, but it’s rather short. The filmographies are relatively
long as well, so it’s nice to see.
Audio
This is only in Mandarin Dolby 5.1 and it’s not Celestial’s best mixing
job. With the right tuning of the speakers, though, the movie can
sound better. The problem is that the added special effects are way
too loud and the dialogue is too low. Despite the bad volume, though,
the positions are accurate and all the speakers are used. Both sound
effects like cars going by and doors opening and closing, and the score
make nice use of the sided and rear speakers. Even the subwoofer
gets used in the mix. The middle speaker in the front is okay, but
not the best. Voices sound a bit hollow and, like I said, are a bit
low. In the centre speaker itself, though, the score, effects and
dialogue are balanced well. With some adjustments of the volume,
this could have been a much better sound mix. If you turn up your
centre speaker and turn down every other, it’s actually quite a decent
mix, although it may sound a bit funny.
Video
2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture is actually really
good for a movie from 1967, let alone a Hong Kong movie from 1970.
The Bond movies MGM released don’t look as good as this. Colours
are generally really good and I only notice slight flickering once, but
I might have been spazzing out at the time. The colours are accurate
and solid, as is the black level. The black level might be too solid,
as the darker scenes lack clarity. I’m not going to take away points
for that, though, the contrast is very good indeed. There are no
specks, scratches, bleeding or any other print defect. Likewise for
the digital defects; I didn’t see any edge enhancement or pixelation.
The print is clear, clean and thoroughly impressive.
2/3/2005