The Brain Stealers
Director: Inoue Umetsugu
Year: 1968
Rating: 7.5/10
The James Bond
films that exploded on the screen in the early 1960's had a global reach
that was felt in every film industry around the world. Bollywood, Japan,
Europe and Hong Kong were all smitten with secret agent shenanigans saving
the world. In Hong Kong both the Cantonese and the Mandarin film industries
cranked out a bunch of these - the Cantonese ones with quite a low budget
and very few are now available with English subs but the Mandarin films -
primarily the Shaw Brothers - made some really good looking ones. They are
a far step below the Bond films, but ones like this are a good deal better
than most of the Euro-Spy films I have seen lately.
This film is a blast - great sets and designs,
a stunning leading lady, a good assortment of spy gadgets and a villain who
has a very cool lair within a cave and whose bedroom looks to have gotten
a makeover from Dali. The Shaw Brothers must have set aside a set just for
lairs since they all have the same shape and size. This film has many of
the trappings of a spy film - the evil laugh, the drug to make someone appear
dead, cufflinks that communicate, an acid pit, a poison snake, near death
escapes, a perfume flame thrower, sleek cars, multiple minions willing to
die but best of all it has Lily Ho.
Lily Ho was the Cat's Meow at Shaw Brothers
back in the 1960's and 70's - in weepies, comedies, romances, musicals, kung
fu and modern action films. Not to infer that she was a great actress but
she had a great pooky twinkling eyed face that made up for it and not to
infer that she was in any way trained to be an action star beyond some basics
at the studio where nearly every actor had to pretend to do martial arts
at some point. But we gladly overlook this and just enjoy her shooting bad
guys or throwing them over her shoulder. It is also not hard to believe as
in this film that every guy who comes into contact with her - good or bad
- falls head over heels in love with her.
Directing this is Inoue Umetsugu, who the
Shaw Brothers had brought over from Japan to give their films a more glamorous
sheen. He is best know for the musicals he directed at Shaws - this one was
produced between his two most famous - Hong Kong Nocturne and Hong Kong Rhapsody
- and he makes this film look great from the interiors to Lily Ho's ever
changing mod fashions with her stylish short hair cut. Behind the camera
was a Japanese countryman - Nishimoto Tadashi - but he had been working in
Hong Kong for years and was the cinematographer for Come Drink with Me, Love
Without End, The Love Eterne and a ton of other Shaw classics.
Lily Ho's character has a father who has
discovered a way to exponentially grow plants bigger and faster in hopes
of feeding the poor. But the evil Dr. Zero has other plans for it - to create
an army of giant supermen! So he puts a simple plan into action - kidnap
Ho's brother (Chin Feng) in Japan (after politely apologizing for his ugly
scar) and switch his mind with one of his men and send this fellow in his
place to steal the plans. What could be simpler? Though others do notice
a few odd things about him - he is now right handed, drinks whiskey and perhaps
the dead giveaway is when he tries to rape Lily (in a scene with Lily kung-fu'ing
in slip and bra). But you are my brother!
Along on the ride is perennial nice guy
Peter Chen who is coming over with the brother in hopes of marrying Lily
who he has never met but is proposing to within five minutes, the brother's
girlfriend in Tokyo played by Betty Ting Pei famous for having Bruce Lee
die in her apartment and a charming ex-Interpol thief (Lin Chih-yung) trying
to steal the formula too. Who falls in love with Lily too naturally.
