While the last few years, we’ve been getting a revival of Shaw Brothers martial arts and wuxia films, the studio did other genres. Cinema had gone spy crazy in the mid-60s with the James Bond films becoming global blockbusters. Besides being a movie studio, Shaw Brothers ran a chain of movie theaters around Asia. They weren’t going to just book a Bond flick. They made their own version of super spy adventures. Super Spies and Secret Lies brings together three films that came from this time. The boxset arrives in November from Eureka! Entertainment. Here’s the press release with all the details:
EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF
SUPER SPIES AND SECRET LIES
THREE TALES OF INTRIGUE, ESPIONAGE AND GRAND THEFT
FROM SHAW BROTHERS
11/19
Eureka Entertainment announces the release Super Spies and Secret Lies, three undercover classics from Shaw Brothers, presented in their worldwide debuts on Blu-ray. Available as part of the Eureka Classics range on 19 November 2024 in North America. The Limited Edition release of 2000 copies (per territory) will exclusively feature an O-card slipcase, and a collector’s booklet.
Following the enormous international success of Dr. No and From Russia with Love, Bondmania swept the globe and initiated a cycle of Bondsploitation movies. Studios all over the world sought to capitalize on James Bond and the concept of the super-spy – including Hong Kong’s venerable Shaw Brothers, who began producing tales of intrigue, espionage, and grand theft in the mid-1960s. Eureka Classics presents three of their best in this special-edition set: The Golden Buddha, Angel with the Iron Fists and The Singing Thief.
In The Golden Buddha, businessman Paul (Paul Chang Chung, Police Story) finds himself in the crosshairs of the Skeleton Gang after he picks up the wrong briefcase on a flight to Singapore – one containing a small golden Buddha that might just play a part in a vast criminal conspiracy. In Angel with the Iron Fists, a mysterious woman (Lily Ho, Lady with a Sword) arrives in Hong Kong carrying a cache of stolen diamonds and quickly becomes embroiled with the infamous Devil Girl’s Gang. Finally, in The Singing Thief, a master cat burglar (Jimmy Lin Chong, Tropicana Interlude) makes the decision to go straight and pursue a new career as a singer – that is, at least, until he becomes a suspect in a series of jewel heists.
Directed by studio regulars Lo Wei (The Big Boss) and Chang Cheh (The One-Armed Swordsman), The Golden Buddha, Angel with the Iron Fists and The Singing Thief filter a craze for films centred on super-spies and master criminals through the inimitable style of the Shaw Brothers Studio. All three films are presented on Blu-ray for the first time from HD masters supplied by Celestial Pictures.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
• 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
