ASIA-POL
THE FACTS:
In 1966 the decline of Japanese movie studios and the dark financial times for the film industry in Nippon reached its peak. Television had started to be the latest rave in the early and mid 1960ies and had a rather negative impact on box office results. For the Shaw studio, which was on its way to become the biggest studio throughout Asia, this was good news, as it offered two advantages for Run Run Shaw. First, unemployed Japanese film crews – amongst them many accomplished cinematographers and directors like Umetsugu Inoue, Ko Nakahira (Yang Shu Hei) and Matsuo Akinori (Ma Chi Ho) – now were available to come to Hong Kong to work under assumed Chinese names (in order to avoid anti-Japanesye sentiments among the target audiences) and to teach their trade to a growing talent pool at Clearwater Bay. The second advantage was the increased openness of Japanese movie studios to get cash infusions from foreign film companies. Shaw wanted to increase efficiency, productivity as well as the scope and influence of his studio and the Japanese manpower helped his studio to become number one player in Asia. So, after acquiring stakes in Toho and Daiei he also took some control of Nikkatsu, another big studio in Tokyo that was famous for gritty crime flicks. As Shaw wanted to jump the bandwagon of the James Bond franchise, he used his Japanese star talent to produce spy flicks like “Inter-pol”, “The Lady Professional”, “Angel with the Iron Fists”, “Summons to Death”, “The Golden Buddha” and others. One of the movies was “Asia-pol” co- produced with Nikkatsu. Now, Shaw was not limited to his studio sets but could use location shooting sets in Japan, Hong Kong and Macao. This style of shooting was perfect for his new Japanese crews, who were more than accustomed to make Yakuza thrillers. Also, the script (by Nikkatsu’s top script writer Gan Yamazaki) was not as campy as the usual Shaw nonsense their writers would probably come up with in this genre. Shooting started in 1966 and early 1967 and after its release on June 23rd, 1967 the movie went on to become a success. Even more so as the movie was shot in two versions, one made for the Japanese market, one for Hong Kong and the Chinese audiences throughout Asia. Up-and-coming Shaw superstar Wang Yu took the lead in the international version, Nikkatsu star actor Hideaki Nitani played the suave secret agent in the Japanese version, replacing Wang Yu in every of his scenes, as both versions were shot simultaneously.
But this commercial success of “Asia-pol” did not help Nikkatsu which went belly down roughly more than two years later to be reborn with Shaw funding whilst focussing on kinky porn movies thereafter. The decision to do so proved more successful for the Japanese and their Hong Kong money lender, but this is another story…
SYNOPSIS:
A Japanese crime syndicate helmed by the sinister operative “George” (played by Nikkatsu superstar actor Shishido Jo) wants to smuggle large quantities of gold into Japan to destroy finance institutions and the currency of the country and to take over Japan. Enter Wang Ming Xuan (Wang Yu) a suave top agent of the Japanese branch of Asia-Pol (a fictional pan-Asian Pacific police force which is so secret that no government even knows about it) who tries to intercept one of the shipments. But his partner is killed and the shipment destroyed by George’s henchmen. Wang escapes several times from evil traps and finds out that his Chinese father was used and killed by the crime organisation. Wang goes to Hong Kong and Macao to get George and to stop the activities of the syndicate only to find out about a sister (Fang Ying) he never knew he had and a cat-and-mouse game starts. After many set-backs and with the help of his lover and secretary (played by lovely star actress Asaoka Ruriko) he manages to stay alive long enough to get a showdown with George on a Japan-bound freighter…
VERDICT:
Kazumi Iwasa does a brilliant job in regard to the cinematography of this movie. He shows post card images of the 1960s era Tokyo, Hong Kong and Macao and the drama and action scenes are nice to watch. Of course, the movie lacks some of the thrilling power like the original James Bond movies or spy flicks from the UK or USA and some shots are bluntly stolen (i.e. the Asia-Pol headquarters located in a taylor’s shop is lifted from the TV-hit “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”. But the narrative approach is well done and different from the usual Shaw fare in this genre. If there is a weak point, then it must be Wang Yu and his character. A limited ex-swimming star as a actor to take on the likes of Sean Connery is nothing short of blasphemy and he is simply too young and too lightweight to carry the whole movie on his shoulders. Considering their display in similar flicks, maybe Chin Han, Tang Ching or Paul Chang would have been a better choice. But Wang Yu got his shot at stardom a few months later with “The One Armed Swordsman” and then went on to become the first Asian superstar if only for his ability to kill hundreds of enemies with a sword in hand and without one arm. The supporting cast is nicely chosen. Good performances by bit players like Wang Hsia or Chang Pooi Shan are worth mentioning. Of course, the soundtrack by Toshiro Mayazumi has to be mentioned too, as the original score is so much better than the usual stuff Shaw throws at us in this particular genre.
Now, what about “best performance” overall? The laurels go to Shishido Jo, a Nikkatsu regular who got plastic surgery to become a star, playing cool, cruel baddies, stylish assassins and tough guys. A few months later he would become a superstar with “Branded to Kill” with a performance that got first visible in “Asia-Pol”.
Final verdict: Aside some shortcomings and the necessity to see it with Asian eyes, 8 out of 10 points can be given, if only for the uniqueness of the movie.
