The Film Ferret: The Man from Hong Kong (1975) [aka Dragon Files in USA]

Bob Taylor: Look, don’t worry he’s in good hands.
Inspector Fang Sing Leng: [grabs Win Chan and pushes him in the interrogation room]
Morrie Grosse: Hey, hey, hey…hey. I don’t mean to be rude man but no torture, no thumbscrews. This is Australia, we’re not allowed to get into that sort of thing mate.
Inspector Fang Sing Leng: He’s Chinese, I’m Chinese. Don’t worry!

Australia's James Bond film is what comes to mind when seeing this. Not just does it have splendid scenery, car action and fights but it also stars the ex-James Bond man himself, Australia’s own George Lazenby (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 1969)!

Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, The Man from Hong Kong was the first movie to be co-produced between Australia and Hong Kong, and it was Australia’s first Martial Art’s movie. It contained elements that were representative of both nations being the landscape, language and cars for Australia and Martial Arts from Hong Kong along with its typical sound effects (assuming you have seen some Asian martial arts films). It didn’t do too good at the box office back in 1975 which is assumed mostly due to its “R” rating at the time but when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975 it sold copies around the world and almost made money before it was even released. In recent years it has been marked as a classic (yet remains very hard to get on DVD/Bluray) and gained that “Ozploitation” seal of approval and even gains a mention in Quintin Tarantino’s film Deathproof which shows its influence on him as a filmmaker.

It’s a movie well worth seeing for the scenery and car chase sequence along with the martial arts and the cinematography is also fantastic. As a movie, I really enjoyed it but there are better films in that era with the “Made in Australia” label but few that have the visuals and car action (Mad Max excluded) to match. On top of that, this along with other films around this time (The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Wake in Fright, Walkabout, The Cars That Ate Paris, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Mad Max to name a few) helped form what is called the “Australian New Wave” of cinema. These brought Australian film making back after a huge downturn after WW2.

The opening sequence brings the viewer to what was then called Ayres Rock (now known as Uluru) and is something that you would not see filmed like this today due to various regulations. But it’s a stunning view and sequence that makes you proud to be Australian simply due to the magnificent landscape, language and home grown car action. Simply superb.

The story begins around Ayres Rock (Uluru) on a coach where Police Officer Bob Taylor (Roger Ward) is following suspected drug trafficker Win Chan (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung). Upon arriving at The Rock he meets up with the drug courier and the realise they have been busted by the cops so as all nice baddies do, they run. The courier does the dash in his car and Win Chan heads, yep you guessed it, up Ayres Rock. Why is this so special? Well with the sensitivity around that area these days, it would be near impossible to film such a thing again, but apart from that it’s a really great opening sequence that is reminiscing of the James Bond films.

Win Chan is captured but upon finding he speaks no English they get Inspector Fang Sing Leng (Yu Wang) from Hong Kong Police Special Branch to come in to the country to question him and then extradite him back to Hong Kong. Inspector Fang meets up with Bob Taylor and Morrie Grosse (Hugh Keays-Byrne – hey it’s the Toecutter from Mad Max and Immortan Joe from Mad Max Fury Road!!!) and Fang finds out that Jack Wilton (George Lazenby) is the man behind the drug trafficking so he goes after him but Jack Wilton goes all out to kill Inspector Fang but his men didn’t finish the job. I will let your imagination tell you what happens next.

The movie was filmed around Ayres Rock (Uluru), Sydney, Stanwell Tops and what appears to be a National Park (maybe Kur-Ring-Gai National Park???) and includes some amazing stunts from both drivers and actors. Actor Yu Wang got knocked unconscious after falling 100 feet from a hand glider on to a sand dune and George Lazenby suffered burns to his arms after a stunt didn’t go as planned (part of the struggle is still in the film). There is also that great opening song Sky High by Jigsaw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mudlXF3MA8Q) that you’re bound to recognise if you have listened to music from the 70’s.

Now comes the bad part and it’s something that needs to be sorted out soon. The movie is harder than hen’s teeth to find on DVD and never released on Bluray! There was a DVD released in about 2001 or 2002 by Madman that boasted a restored image in its original widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 along with extras but that sold out and cannot be found anywhere (hold on to it if you own a copy!!). The only other legal copies available are from Germany which is where I got mine but they have a high asking price. There is a copy on youtube but its naturally low quality but will at least give you an idea of the movie.

The German DVD thankfully has what would appear to be the same restored image that the Madman issue had which is great news. The image is 16:9 enhanced and is in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and is in great shape. The default audio is German mono however the original English Dolby 2 Channel Stereo is available and sounds good. There are also the following extras:

Audio Commentary by Brian Trenchard Smith, together with actor Hugh Keays Byrne and stunt director Grant Page
German and English Trailer
Australian Movie Magazine featurette
Film Premiere in Australia
Gallery
Wang Yu Trailers (11 in total)

Overall this is a great underrated Australian classic movie that should be on the must-see list of Aussie movies. Whilst in some ways it doesn’t have the polish of some bigger releases, it should not be put aside or missed because of that. Sadly, it does have one scene of nudity and there is the usual Australian coarse language applicable to that era, but that aside it’s a great movie that really deserves a wider release. The good news is that I have heard through the grapevine that a major Australian Distributor is looking to bring this out on Bluray in the near future so when this happens I will be sure to update the review accordingly. But as it stands, seeing the Madman DVD is now unavailable, the German DVD is the way to go if you really must have it, though sadly as much as I dislike doing this, the youtube version may just be the way to go till a standard release comes out. It comes very highly recommended.

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