Review for A Queen’s Ransom

Introduction

What’s the difference between Burma and Cambodia? It depends on whether you’re watching the subtitled version of A Queen’s Ransom, or the English dub. Given the subject matter of this film, you can speculate as to why Eureka waited until 2024 to release it. A couple of years ago, it might have been in poor taste. After all, it is about a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II, during a state visit to Hong Kong back in the mid-seventies. It also has the strange aspect to it, where George Lazenby plays one of the prospective assassins. Just a few years before this, he was On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Anyway, I’m getting around to one of those prospective review discs, a Hong Kong action movie from that period of Hong Kong action that I least like.


The Hong Kong police have it tough at the best of times, dealing with organised crime in the territory. But recent years have also seen an influx of refugees from all the conflict in South East Asia, not least a Burmese princess and her entourage, and all the gold they have with them. On top of that, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh will soon arrive on a state visit, which is when credible rumours of an assassination attempt drop. It’s more than just an attempt though, as a group of global assassins have come together to get the job done, and the only lead the Hong Kong police have is the prostitute who dropped the tip.

The Disc

A Queen’s Ransom bombed hard in the Hong Kong box office, despite its novel and modern premise in an era of period kung fu movies, and despite its big name cast and potential international appeal. That means that this is a film that hasn’t seen too many projectors in its life, and the quality of the transfer reflect that. A Queen’s Ransom gets a 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p transfer on this disc, with the choice of PCM 2.0 Mono Mandarin and English dub, with optional English subtitles. And the film looks brand new on this release. The image is clear and sharp, contrast is excellent, colours are rich and consistent, and detail levels are top notch. The action comes across well given all that, although it’s a more conventional action movie than anything extolling the martial arts. The audio is fine, clear and rich enough. The dialogue is clear, and the subtitles are accurately timed and are free of typos.

Extras

The disc boots to a static menu page, where you’ll find the following extras.

Audio Commentary on Main Feature with Frank Djeng & Michael Worth
Furious George: Training with Michael Worth (15:43)
Trailer (4:48)
Export Version with PCM 2.0 Mono English (91:47)
Audio Commentary on Export Version from Mike Leeder & Arne Venema

There is also a 24 page booklet with writing from James Oliver, limited to the first run release of the film (2000 copies).

Conclusion

In the commentary, they call the footage of the Queen’s state visit to Hong Kong as stock footage, equating it to the grainy, damaged and well-worn conflict footage at the head of the film. But the footage in this film belongs there, shot on the same film stock as the rest of the movie, just as detailed, just as clean, and just as colourful. It must be the case, that during her 1975 state visit, Golden Harvest sent a few cameras there to get some guerrilla footage of the crowds and the associated jamboree, as well as some heavily zoomed imagery of the Queen and the Duke. It doesn’t exactly feel like they would have given permission to begin with, and given the plot of the film, it seems borderline felonious, but it does give the film a scope and authenticity beyond what it deserves.


It certainly looks the part, but the film doesn’t quite live up to the promise. The most obvious problem is that its two biggest stars, former James Bond George Lazenby, and sixties and seventies HK action star Jimmy Wang Yu, play the villains in the film. It’s a rare Hong Kong film that lets the bad guys get any kind of triumph, and certainly not in the films of this era. You have this group of villains, assassins and terrorists from around the world coming together to enact their dastardly plot, and from the off you can see that there is no honour among thieves, or rather assassins, as the group quickly turn on each other. There’s very little in the way of redeeming characteristics among any of the antagonists, which diminishes my interest in the film.


By that same token, the heroes of the piece, the police who conduct the investigation into the plot are upstanding as you would expect, and there are some interesting interactions, particularly with the informant Jenny who put this all in motion. But few of the protagonists have the kind of presence to hold the attention, although Dean Shek is there, given a leading man persona as he charms the Burmese princess.


You can see where Golden Harvest was coming from at the time, back when political thrillers were all the rage in Hollywood. This is Hong Kong’s take on the genre, but it’s clumsy and obvious, albeit intermittent with its political commentary, and given the ammunition it has when it comes to the situation in South East Asia back in the seventies, coupled with the nature of colonialism brought into harsh relief during the Queen’s visit.


The characterisations aren’t quite right, and as a political thriller it feels ham-handed, but it could still succeed if the action was up there, and if there is a triumphant climax. Alas A Queen’s Ransom actually underplays its action, with more guns and explosions than kung-fu. The film also does what so many movies in this era did; subvert audience expectations with ambiguous and downbeat endings. The end credits roll in this film, and I’m feeling a little depressed with the anticlimax.


A Queen’s Ransom is a film of its time, and it’s worth watching for just how different it is from the rest of the Hong Kong output in the mid-seventies. It’s punching way above its production values and it has some interesting aspirations even if it fails to attain them. It’s also worth watching once to see Dean Shek as a leading man type. A Queen’s Ransom is available directly from Eureka Entertainment, from Terracotta, and from mainstream retailers.