Cool
HK Detective Caper directed by Mitsuo Murayama
Original
Hong Kong title: REN TOU MA [Centaur]
director: Mitsuo Murayama
(as Mu Shih Chieh)
starring: Ling Yun · Chiao Chiao · Yu Chien · Tina Ti · Angela Yu Chien
· Chang Pei Shan
Here's
a Hong Kong film obviously inspired by the chic '60s world of James
Bond and The Avengers. For this eye-popping adventure, private
detective Chang Wen Chiang gets a panicked telephone call from his ex-girlfriend
Li Lan Hsing. Apparently, she was 'entertaining' a gentleman in a swank
condo when somebody broke inside and stabbed him to death in the bed.
Chang jumps in his red sportscar and rushes over. However, instead of
saving Li's life, he finds her dead in a pool of blood. This begins
Detective Chang's wild venture into the dark underbelly of HK's sordid
nightlife, filled with SM and strange sex clubs.
This
ultra-cool caper was directed by Japanese filmmaker Mitsuo Murayama,
under the Chinese alias Mu Shih Chieh. Throughout the '60s and into
the early '70s, Mitsuo enjoyed a double identity as he split his time
helming movies in both Japan and Hong Kong. Some of his early Japanese
projects were quirky horror films (THE
INVISIBLE MAN VS THE FLY MAN), but of the later ones were largely
war pictures churned out by Daei Studios during that period. His friend
Takumi Furukawa had gone to Hong Kong in 1968 to make KISS
AND KILL and he introduced Mitsuo to the Shaw Bros Studio, his
new home-away-from-home.
The
director brought Japanese pop cinema visuals to a series of HK productions
that literally exploded in bursts of colors on the screen. Mr Mureyama
would eventually retire from his duo-country romps and settle into a
career of helming Japanese television programs. He died from a stroke
in 1978 at age 57.
A Hong
Kong film with English subtitles; widescreen format, uncut version (85
min.),
DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC, playable on any American machine.
Extras include
selected trailers.
Graphic
Violence/Nudity/Sexual Brutality
For Mature Audiences
