A Queen's Ransom

A Queen's Ransom (1976; aka The International Assassin) is the third film of three that one-time James Bond star George Lazenby made with Hong Kong's Golden Harvest studio. It's not nearly as well-known as the Ozploitation-HK crossover flick that Lazenby made with director Brian Trenchard-Smith and costar Jimmy Wang Yu, The Man from Hong Kong, but it has its own offbeat charm. Lazenby, who has never gotten much respect as an actor, brings a welcome intensity to his performance as an IRA operative here -- even with his dialogue dubbed in both the Mandarin and English language options on the Blu-ray.

Lazenby's character heads up a ragtag team of mercenaries attempting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during her state visit to Hong Kong. Jimmy Wang Yu plays a diva-ish explosives expert who doesn't get along with anyone, but who has a particular beef with the meaty Bolo Yeung (Bloodsport). A team of HK detectives is trying to short-circuit the gang's plan, ensnaring a streetwise working gal (Tanny Tien Ni) to act as an informant. The team is also vulnerable to internal friction caused by Lazenby's fickle paramour (Judith Brown, The Big Doll House).

This is a fairly simple tale that nonetheless doles out a handful of dramatic twists that could all arrive earlier in the flick with no harm done (SPOILERS IMMINENT). The assassination set-up seems like a blatant attempt to recreate the espionage thrills of The Day of the Jackal, but the disintegrating gang dynamic brings to mind the doomed heist crew of Stanley Kubrick's The Killing. It also brings to mind another film that was released over a decade later... (START SPOILERS) since it turns out that the terrorist plot is a red herring distraction. The gang's real plan is to heist gold from exiled Burmese royalty in Hong Kong, much like the switcheroo heist perpetrated by Hans Gruber and his crew in a certain Christmas perennial. (END SPOILERS)

Angela Mao (Lady Whirlwind) is a Burmese princess-turned-refugee whose path ends up crossing with the criminals in a few explosively violent setpieces, but Mao is otherwise sadly underused. In fact, it would be hard to make a case that any of the three top-billed actors could be reasonably considered the film's main character. Rumor has it, Lazenby didn't really get along with Wang and Mao, so maybe the film was constructed in a way to make sure they didn't spend very much time in each other's company. As a result, A Queen's Ransom is little interested in its criminal mastermind, or in martial arts fight scenes. Instead, we mostly get fairly tepid espionage scenes and formulaic police procedural plotting. This is not to say the film is without thrills, but there is a lot more shoe leather in between than potential viewers might expect.

Eureka's disc offers the Hong Kong cut of the film and the English-dubbed Export cut, which is roughly six minutes shorter. The Hong Kong cut essentially adds a few more character moments and a little more sex. That said, the Export cut dredges up an unused shot of Judith Brown topless in a bubble bath, from a scene late in both versions of the film. The shot is stuck into an early sequence in the Export cut, presumably to keep the punters in their seats through a long exposition scene.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
Eureka sent HDD a check disc for this review. We can update this review with packaging information if we receive a finished product. According to their website, the first 2000 copies include a limited edition booklet. The disc loads directly to a static main menu.

This AVC-encoded 1080p 2.39:1 presentation is sourced from a new 2K restoration. In general, the image quality is solid in bright and daytime settings. Good detail and realistic color reproduction, although certain shots look a bit soft due to lens choice or intentional diffusion. Grain is usually not too noticeable, although in many nighttime and darker scenes, it gets a bit clumpy. Not jaw-dropping, but pretty strong for a Hong Kong production of this era.

The Hong Kong cut of this film is offered with either a Mandarin-language track or a classic English dub, both presented as LPCM 2.0 mono. The Export cut only offers the English dub. Both tracks show signs of age-based limitations and are fairly boxy. The English dub sounds louder and more compressed, and it flirted with overmodulation on my setup. I flipped back and forth at various times in the film, partly because it was a bit mind-melting to see George Lazenby dubbed in Mandarin. Then again, the person who dubbed his English dialogue with a questionable Irish lilt might have done an equally mind-melting job. The Mandarin track comes with an optional English subtitle track. This track does not match the wording of the English dub and unfortunately neither version offers an English SDH subtitle option.

The main supplements are newly recorded audio commentaries specific to the two different cuts of the film, plus a talking head supplement about one of the commentators' history with George Lazenby.

• Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth - This track with Djeng, of the New York Asian Film Festival, martial artist and filmmaker Worth is featured on the Hong Kong cut.
• Audio Commentary by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema - This track with filmmakers and fans Leeder and Venema is featured on the Export cut.
• Furious George: Training with Michael Worth (HD, 15:43) - Worth talks about his time spent training George Lazenby to fight onscreen and about their friendship.
• Trailer (HD, 4:48)

Fans of stars George Lazenby and Jimmy Wang Yu should have a good time with this odd thriller, seemingly cobbled together with ideas from several other thrillers. It's not a gonzo ride like The Man from Hong Kong but it's got enough solid setpieces and odd moments that it fits the bill as a slightly above-average exploitation flick. The supplements on Eureka's disc don't go super deep, but offer suitably interesting background on the film and the cast. The A/V quality is solid. The whole package comes Recommended.