Angel with the Iron Fists
Director: Lo Wei
Year: 1967
Rating: 7.5
The early Bond films
seemed to have an enormous frothy influence on the Hong Kong film scene
as there were many films that came out in both the Mandarin as well as the
Cantonese film industries that were clearly inspired by the doings of Sean
Connery as the implacably cool British agent. The director of this film,
Lo Wei, had two other films of this ilk already in his pocket – The Golden
Buddha and The Black Falcon both of which starred Paul Chang Chung – when
he created this pop pastiche. This one shares many of the same characteristics
– big gilded sets, cruel masterminds and lots of toys to play with – except
that it transforms the hero into a sleek heroine with Lily Ho as the deliciously
hip Agent 009 who is by turns hard hitting and seductive in this 1967 adventure.
This is a lot of 60’s retro fun though one should be aware that even though
Bond inspires this film it is done with a tiny fraction of the budget of
those films. Still it looks good, moves at a fast clip and Lily and the two
female villains are a total pleasure to watch.
The Chief Inspector (Lo Wei) has summoned Agent 009 to Hong Kong after the
previous agent was assassinated by seven killers lined up like a firing squad
while trying to call for help in a telephone booth. Lily arrives from London
attired in mod Carnaby Street gear with a plan to bring the “Dark Angel” gang
to justice. They have their hands in drugs, smuggling, murder and anything
else that turns a dirty profit. Interestingly, the gang is very matriarchal
in nature with a female boss (Tina Chin Fei) running the whole show with an
iron hand. She is very much an equal opportunity employer as much of her staff
is female as well and at one point when one of her male lieutenants forces
himself on a woman, she shows him no mercy. First spotted with her legs casually
crossed on a desk, a long cigarette holder in her hand and adorned in a tight
militaristic high button pantsuit with gold lame boots, she is too fashionable
to be all bad – though her use of a modern day guillotine to punish her people
(Helen Ma in a very quick cameo!) seemed a bit highhanded – or would that
be headhanded?
Lily poses as the girlfriend of a head gangster currently residing in jail
and gets the attention of the "Dark Angels" – not a difficult task for the
dazzling Lily - by pretending to want to buy some diamonds. She makes contact
with one of the gang’s male subordinates named Cheng (Tang Ching) and soon
has him under her delectable thumb – which doesn’t please his nightclub singing
girlfriend and occasional killer, the voluptuously curvy Miss Dolly (Fannie
Fan). Later this little relationship between Lily and Cheng leads to a smash
and grab fight between the two ladies. Outfitted by a Q like character with
all the gadgets a Hong Kong spy can afford – a ring flashlight, infrared sunglasses,
watch bombs and a purse that seconds as a pistol – every accessory that a
modern day woman should have – Lily goes undercover to join the gang.
The bad guys have their own toys as well – camera cuff links, matches that
knock you out, hidden video cameras that transmit live back to HQ, poison
spiked shoes ala Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love and of course what every
mastermind must have – a hidden underground cavernous headquarters decorated
in the latest in recroom polyester/shag style. They also have their very own
logo! You have to wonder exactly where they get their interior decorators
from for these lairs of larceny. “We have a wonderful space that we would
like you to decorate. Something that combines modern and gauche with just
a touch of Flash Gordon. Oh and we need these devices that can come down and
take off someone’s head and would like them to match the overall décor.
Where is this place? Well you have to go to this hill, pick up the third rock
from the left and ring the bell underneath it”.
Lily is a treat – changing clothes faster than matador ole’ing a bull, tough
as nails as she battles herself out of various scenarios, always cool as a
cucumber or as seductively vulnerable as she needs to be to get her way –
just completely in charge of the situation at all times. She doesn’t even
get loaded with a typical love interest but just uses men to accomplish her
goal and then jettisons them. Fanny Fan isn’t hard on the eyes either – a
sultry siren who oozes sex like a leaky faucet.
Lily Ho has perhaps become my favorite Shaw actress taking on all sorts
of roles in her films from a spy to a jewel thief (The Venus Tear Diamond)
to a singer (Hong Kong Nocturne) to a comedic love struck girl (A Time for
Love) to a revenge seeking gun toting killer (The Lady Professional) to her
most famous role as Ainu in Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan.
She is like a sleek steel edged stiletto in all of these – extremely beautiful
of course but with eyes that always have a tinge of sadness around them and
a sign of her inner vulnerability like the world somehow did her wrong and
she is out to right it. She may not be a great actress per se but more importantly
- Lily Ho rocks.
A sequel to this film – Angel Strikes Again
– came out the following year.
My rating for this film: 7.5
Trailer
