An explosive action-thriller starring George Lazenby, Angela Mao, and the legendary Jimmy Wang Yu.
Presented for the first time ever on Blu-ray from a brand new 2K restoration. Available from 27th May 2024 in the UK, and from 28th May 2024 in North America, as part of the Eureka Classics range.
“A Queen’s Ransom” Blu-ray version is OUT TODAY via Eureka Video and Amazon!
Trailer
Cast
Australian model turned actor George Lazenby stars as the mercenary “Morgan”. Lazenby famously took over the coveted role of James Bond from Sean Connery in 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”.
Following some poor counsel from his agent, Lazenby vacated the role almost as soon as the movie completed production.
In 1973, he found himself in Hong Kong in the company of none other than Bruce Lee and Raymond Chow, who offered him a role in Lee’s “Game of Death“.
Lazenby was due to meet with Lee for dinner the day he died, and the deal collapsed. However, Golden Harvest signed Lazenby for three films; “Stoner” (aka “The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss”) in 1974, “The Man from Hong Kong” (aka “The Dragon Flies”) in 1975, and “A Queen’s Ransom” (aka “International Assassin”) in 1976.
The first superstar of Chinese cinema, Jimmy Wang Yu, stars as “Jimmy”. Until the emergence of Bruce Lee, Wang Yu was the box office king of Hong Kong movies. He had a string of hits such as the “One Armed Swordsman”, “The Chinese Boxer”, “One Armed Boxer”, and “Master of the Flying Guillotine”.
Prior to this movie he also co-starred with Lazenby in “The Man from Hong Kong”. In later years he appeared in Sammo Hung’s “Millionaires Express” and Donnie Yen’s “Dragon/Wu Xia”.
In 2011 Wang suffered a stroke that caused him to lose much of his strength in the left side of his body. Wang Yu worked vigorously in physical therapy, even exceeding the doctor’s recommended pace.
He would reportedly lift his arm 1000 times a day instead of 200, and walk three times the suggested distance. As a result of his efforts he regained most of his ability to walk and talk, and he could lift his left arm, though he could no longer use its full strength.
Since his recovery Wang tried to live as normal a life as possible, and had even returned to film work. In an interview he admitted to driving to his physical therapy session with the use of only one arm, but explained that his daughter put a stop to it when she found out, and that she had hired a driver for him. He passed away on 5th April 2022 at the age of 79.
One of the first female martial arts movie stars, Taiwanese actress Angela Mao Ying stars as “Maria”. Originally trained in traditional Chinese opera, Mao studied Hapkido, Wushu, Taekwondo and other forms of martial arts to prepare for her various movie roles.
She shot to fame in 1972 with her film “Deadly China Doll”. Her popularity grew with featured roles in titles such as “Hapkido”, “Lady Whirlwind”, “When Taekwondo Strikes”, “The Fate of Lee Khan”, and “The Broken Oath”.
Mao is probably most recognised internationally for her role as the sister of Bruce Lee’s character in the film “Enter the Dragon”. She retired from acting in 1992 to devote herself to her family, moving to New York City in 1993, where she and her family run three restaurants.
Keep an eye out for Hong Kong & Taiwanese film regulars Dean Shek Tin, Bolo Yeung Tse, Chang Pei-shan, Peter Chan Lung, Ko Chun-Hsiung, and Tanny Tien Ni.
Plot
A QUEEN’S RANSOM Original 1976 Trailer
As Queen Elizabeth II arrives in Hong Kong for a state visit, a band of skilled mercenaries plan her assassination.
Contracted by Morgan, an Irish Republican, the international group of hired killers includes a Japanese explosives expert, a Thai boxer, a Filipino sniper and a veteran of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.
As the conspirators move to carry out their plot, two police officials work with a young socialite in a race against time to save the Monarch’s head – while also trying to manage a crisis that has brought a huge number of refugees to Hong Kong, including a young Burmese princess.
Action
After nearly 20 minutes of exposition, we get to see none other than Bolo Yeung flexing his impressive physique in a dust up with Jimmy Wang Yu.
The choreography is pretty basic, but spiced up with Bolo using his dumbbells as boxing gloves, and Wang Yu retaliating with a kitchen knife.
A QUEEN’S RANSOM “Take Leroy and throw him into the sea” Clip
Wang Yu has a more traditional style kung fu punch up against half a dozen thugs that is much more in keeping with his previous movies. Bolo also has a more standard fight with a high-kicking opponent.
Angela Mao explodes into action, efficiently disposing of the bullying Hong See Yang. It acts as a prelude to her giving Peter Chan and Bolo Yeung a taste of her exceptional skills.
A QUEEN’S RANSOM “Tomorrow I could be dead” Clip
The finale kicks off with an all out guns and grenades battle in the countryside. It wouldn’t look out of place in a war film or something like the classic 70s movie “The Wild Geese”.
As the ammunition starts to run out, we get to see Wang Yu get back to using his fists and feet. George Lazenby gets to demonstrate his famed physicality, energetically throwing himself into the dirt, and even going toe-to-toe with Angela Mao.
Summary
In the name of transparency, I must admit I have never seen George Lazenby’s three Golden Harvest movies before. I am a massive James Bond fan and geek so I was keen to see him in one of my other favourite genres, Hong Kong cinema.
In this particular movie, acting-wise, he really doesn’t look invested in his role at all.
Listening to the audio commentaries, it would seem Lazenby had a poor experience co-starring with Jimmy Wang Yu in the previous productions, and was pretty much just seeing out his contract appearing in this one.
However, when it comes to the physical stuff, Lazenby is really very impressive, performing virtually all of his own action.
Alongside the audio commentaries from double act Arne Venema and Mike Leeder, and film expert Frank Djeng, this package includes a fascinating interview with Michael Worth.
He discusses Lazenby’s legendary physicality, having spent some time doing martial arts training with him.
This film is at times a fascinating travelogue of the old Hong Kong, an intriguing assassination plot thriller, and a bizarre mish-mash of gaping plot holes.
Despite this it is an entertaining snapshot of post-Bruce Lee Hong Kong cinema, and has whetted my appetite to see Lazenby’s other works with Golden Harvest!
Trivia
- The last of three films George Lazenby made for Golden Harvest, the others being “Stoner” and “The Man from Hong Kong”.
- Export cut is roughly 6 minutes shorter, cutting out both of the sex scenes with Black Rose, and trimming down some slower beats in the film. This cut also uses a couple of stock clips from 1975’s Man From Hong Kong, another Golden Harvest production featuring Jimmy Wang Yu and George Lazenby.
A QUEEN’S RANSOM (1976) – Blu-ray – KUNG FU KINGDOM
