Devil's Treasure
Director: Jeng Cheung-who (a.k.a. Jeong Chang
Hwa and a few others)
Year: 1973
Part adventure film, part thriller, this Golden
Harvest production slowly evolves into a much better film than initially anticipated
as it ratchets up the tension and leaves the “so cool” factor behind. Directed
by Korean born Jeng Cheung-woo who was responsible for such terrific action
films as Broken Oath, The Skyhawk and King Boxer, there is a fair amount
of action here with a few future stars, but purists might be annoyed to see
dramatic actor O Chun Hung knock around Sammo Hung and Ing-Sik Whang (also
Korean) – not only individually but even when they team up against him. Still,
it’s always good to see Sammo early on in his career and not only does he
have a fairly large role with a couple fights but was co-action choreographer
as well. On the other hand, fans of Nora Miao may be disappointed to see
her strictly in a non-action faithful wife and good mother role.
Wang Chun (O Chun Hung) establishes his tough guy credentials early on in
the film when a gang of punks tries to coerce money out of him. He quickly
knocks them about and sends them scuttling away on all fours – and then swims
across the harbor to Hong Kong! Why? Just because he can. He is a professional
diver and needs to pay off his dead father’s debts – so when two slimy characters
in sunglasses and smirks show up and offer him what could well be a shady
job he only hesitates for a minute before accepting it. They have him dive
down to a Japanese ship sunk in WWII to find a box of gold bars and when
they open it up all I could think was $1,000 an ounce! It made me feel greedy.
Of course, now that the gang has the gold they want to get rid of Wang but
he fully expects this and turns the tables on them – but just as he does
a gang of four Japanese hoodlums show up to claim the gold and kill off everyone
– Sammo and Whang being two of them - though behind his droopy moustache
Sammo looks more like a used car salesman than a thug.
The resourceful Wang turns the tables on them as well and before he knows
it he has all the gold and sets off for home and his waiting sweetheart,
Yen Yen (Nora). Jump ahead six years and Wang has wisely left the country
for some unnamed land – perhaps Canada or Australia – and married Yen Yen
and procreated Shan Shan. Here he owns a vast farm and is a model citizen,
but not so wisely he didn’t change his name and sure enough the Japanese
gang shows up one day on his doorstep demanding the gold unless he wants
to see his wife and daughter killed. This touches off a tense cross country
chase as Wang and his family try to escape by car, on foot and by rail in
a land that is totally barren of any other people. It makes for a decently
entertaining brew of action and nerves though it at times is a bit frustrating
when Wang constantly leaves various members of the gang alive when he has
a chance to kill them. But then the movie would have been a lot shorter.
The VCD is widescreen. The interior and night
scenes are almost impossible to see and there are a number of them. Probably
25% of the time the sub-titles are indecipherable.
My rating for this film: 6.5