Customer Reviews

Icons of Adventure Collection (The Pirates of Blood River / The Devil-Ship Pirates / The Stranglers of Bombay / The Terror of the Tongs)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hammer Studios is known for its particular brand of horror films, but in the early sixties they also ventured into the realm of adventure. Four of those titles are included here. PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER is a swashbuckling potboiler, with Christopher Lee as a one-eyed pirate, and Sinbad's Kerwin Matthews as the persecuted hero who saves the town that rejected him from treasure seeking mauraders.

DEVIL-SHIPS PIRATES has a clever premise, a Spanish privateer that sailed with the Armada runs ashore near a small and remote British town and terrorizes the populace, tricking the hapless villagers into believing (at least for a while) that the Armada defeated the British navy and the rest of England is now occupied by the victorious Spaniards. This clever IT HAPPENED HERE touch from screenwriter Jimmy Sangster makes DEVIL-SHIP special, as does Christopher Lee's performance as the absolute nastiest villian he's ever played in his long and distinguished career.

Two dark masterpieces are on the second disk. THE TERROR OF THE TONGS, with Christopher Lee as the evil head of the Red Dragon Tongs, is set in nineteenth century Hong Kong. When the Red Dragons murder a British sea captain's teenaged daughter, they unleash a reckoning they never imagined.

The second film on disk two is STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY, the "true" story of the Kali Cult in India. This film is the only black and white entry in this set and it stars no major Hammer actors, yet you'll be rivited by a suspenseful story that really draws you in. Though this was made decades ago, be warned, STRANGLERS is not for the faint of heart. This story was "remade" in the 1980s with James Ivory behind the camera and Pierce Brosnan in front of it, titled THE DECEIVERS.

Jimmy Sangster, Hammer's premier screenwriter, offers commentary, along with a Hammer film historian. Trailers are included, along with some wacky supplemental material. The widescreen transfers are excellent on all four films. Kuddos to Sony Home Video for this release. Now, guys, when are you going to release THE GORGON on DVD?

I wanted to specifically point out my enthisiasm for "The Stranglers of Bombay". I've been trying to acquire this great 1960 Hammer film for a long time and, finally, it's now available!

This movie is shot in black-and-white and runs for 80 minutes. As I mentioned, this is a Hammer Studios film. It was directed by Terrence Fisher and conveys a sort of story about the Thuggees of India, a murderous religious cult.

Guy Rolfe plays Captain Harry Lewis, a seasoned British officer who trys to persuade the East India Company to investigate a situation where people have disappeared -- he is ignored. Lewis is replaced by an incompetent for all his troubles so he investigates the matter on his own. George Pastell plays the role of the High Priest of Kali.

The big picture is that this is yet another story of British mis-management of one of its colonies, in this case, India.

This is a very rare film and, for this movie alone, this movie set is worth the price. Highly recommended!

Any fan of Hammer films and/or Christopher Lee cannot wait to snatch up this rare item. Be aware casual Hammer Film fans these are not Horror films but action/adventure. Many familiar Hammer actors and directors. So if you are a completist of the Golden Age of Hammer like myself,snatch up this DVD collection.

I'm literally speechless! The set is so beautiful- superb prints! We finally get to see the pirates in the ambush pit - the british censor took it out of the prints showed at the movies in England, so that was a first! Tongs was the biggest pleasure, having only seen elderly,faded prints on rare occasions on TV -now we have it in all its glory, and with out mate Jimmy Sangster's comentary too.What more could we ask for!
Thanks America for cherishing them for us and letting us have them back again.Congrats to all concerned, and thanks to Amazon for their safe and quick delivery

That caveat aside, this is a rather splendid set of four of Hammer's adventure films of the Sixties with a nice array of extras - including audio commentaries on all four films - and trailers to compliment the fine widescreen transfers.

The Pirates of Blood River is infamous as the pirate movie that takes place entirely on land (well, you do at least see a ship at sea from the shore). Kerwin Matthews is the rebellious youth trying to bring moderation to the fiercely religious island community of exiles who finds an even bigger problem when Christopher Lee and his band of pirates land on the island in search of the founding fathers' hidden treasure, and aren't too bothered by how many villagers have to die finding it. Sporting an eye patch, a good accent that strangely makes him sound like a French Max Von Sydow and a henchman called Hench, Lee is a villain so cool he doesn't even sweat, and if the movie isn't a great high adventure it's an entertaining programmer. A problem picture for Hammer, who couldn't decide whether to go for a restrictive X or a general U certificate, it went back and forth with the censors several times (the main casualty was the amount of blood in the water after the piranhas lunch on one character). None of the censor trims have been restored here, but the film boasts a good 2.35:1 widescreen transfer.


The Devil-Ship Pirates is an entertaining pirate romp from Hammer that's a part of studio legend. Hammer built a Spanish pirate ship for the film planning to reuse it on other pictures. Unfortunately, it was a death trap - the woodwork was so bad the decks would give way under people's feet and it was so unseaworthy that even in calm landlocked waters the thing would capsize, nearly drowning cast and crew. Things got so bad that even the parsimonious Hammer burnt it for real in the final scenes!
The film itself isn't as good as the story behind it, but it's a neat premise - the crew of Christopher Lee's Spanish privateer convince a small village that the Spanish Armada defeated the British to give them time to make repairs - well executed and an entertaining enough way to fill an hour-and-a-half on a Sunday afternoon.


It's all too easy to understand why Terror of the Tongs is such a rarity now - forget the political incorrectness, the most terrible thing about it is the sheer tedium. One brief scene of mild off-screen torture, a couple of badly choreographed fights and a LOT of sitting around talking to French or Irish actors pretending to be Chinese makes for a very, very long 80 minutes. Lee is mostly inert throughout the movie and has little to do, leading lady's Yvonne Monlaur's thick French accent and bad makeup make a mockery of her every scene and a plot which somehow manages to mix revenge, opium ("the pipe of dreams"), brothels, corruption, secret societies and murder and do nothing of even the remotest interest with them leaves you wondering how many irreplaceable body cells died while you were watching. The only pluses are Arthur Grant's photography and Bernard Robinson's typically beautiful production design and sets, both better than anything you'll see in even the best of Harry Allan Towers' superior Fu Manchu series, but other than that the most memorable thing in the film for me was the curious fact that, made up as a Chinaman, Marne Maitland looks just like my dog - and I don't think she'd be flattered by the comparison!

Only the existence of 'George and Mildred' stops this from being one of Hammer's very, very worst. Dull, but don't let that put you off the set - it's more than worth it for the other films.


The Stranglers of Bombay is much more like it. Directed by Terence Fisher at the peak of his powers, it's slightly more accurate than expected - some research has been done into the Thugs, which is more than can be said for Gunga Din - but is still closer in tone to Victorian melodrama than history. Guy Rolfe is typically laid back as the officer trying to persuade the apathetic East India Company to investigate a series of disappearances only to be ignored and ultimately replaced by the a particularly idiotic candidate who went to the right school. Investigating on his own, he soon comes up against the followers of Kali, with results that should entertain anyone who likes Fu Manchu and his ilk. It's particularly interesting just how critical the film is of the British mismanagement of India - although more an Old Boys' network here than the otherwise unemployable dregs of the Empire that made up the Honorable Company's ranks overseas in reality, rather than agents of civilisation, their concern is purely with the bottom line. It's a fast-paced 80 minutes with many of the usual 'British' suspects - George Pastell, Roger Delgado, Tutte Lemkow and Marne Maitland - in black face in the supporting cast, and better production values than you might expect from the obviously low budget.

It's strange that the film is such a rarity since there are many more politically incorrect films still in circulation: maybe its down to the controversy that greeted it on its first release. Nonetheless, well worth a look if it crosses your path, especially in a good widescreen transfer in its original 'StrangloScope!'

From one of the greatest Hammer Columbia Titles finally surfaced on the DVD market, it's a must for all Pirate/Swashbuckler and Hammer Fans.
3 Movie staring with the great Christopher Lee disc 1: He plays on both a ruthless Spanish buccaneer, the first movie is "Pirates of Blood River",a great movie off all, with splendid costumes and set and real location, a pirate yarn with co string Kerwin Mathews if you can remember him as Sinbad, from (Seventh Voyage of Sinbad) Lee is a pirate, with an eye patch and a useless arm, he really pulls this roll off as a real buccaneer. With great fencing sword duals and action.
The second movie is :Devil-Ship Pirates" he is a Privateer, a real dreadful and caning one, with real galleon and great cinematography and swashbuckling action.
Disc 2: "Terror of the Tongs", a great perphomence by Lee as the Tong Lords,
with great peices of sets and art.
The second movie is "Stranglers of Bombay" a real deal masetpeice, tells the true story behind the Tuggee cult the follower of Kali, that inspired Steven Spilberg and rinvent the stry with Indiana Jones and the Temlpe of Doom.
It's just outstanding lovely set that you can own from the Hammer Productions Library.
The picture quality of all 4 movies is the best out there you ever can get it, colours are strong with great contrast you can't even compare it with today's new released movies on DVD. They are made in High Definition Masters, with bautifull anmorphic widescreen presentation.
. A must for collector's on Pirates and Swashbuckling action.

I carriage Sony to release sooner the other Columbia titles, from the Hammer Production on DVD, just right after their planned Icons of Horror set, and to do their justice same as on the Icons of Adventure Set.
My suggestions:
"Icons of Sin-Fic/Historical Adventure"
Disc one: "Sword of Sherwood of Forest" double dill with "Creatures the World Forgot"
Disc two: "Scarlet Blade" double with "Brigand of Kandahar".

This can be great set, released at the time or sooner with the upcoming Ridley Scott Nottingham the story about Robin Hood.

A quick greeting to those other Hammer fans awaiting Terence Fisher's 'The Gorgon' and Seth Holt's 'Scream of Fear' (AKA 'Taste of Fear'): both these films, together with 'Two Faces of Dr Jekyll' and 'Curse of the Mummy's Tomb', will be released by Sony on October 18th. We hope and trust the prints (particularly for the much-loved and much-admired 'Gorgon') will be of the same superb high standard that this set -'Icons of Adventure' - has established... rather dreary cover art notwithstanding. And now, Sony, will you give us Hammer's other rarities, including Losey's legendary 'The Damned' and the impossible-to-find 'Never Take Sweets from a Stranger'?

just got through watching these great movies by hammer studios,and all i can say is thank you for these great movies. since this is a 1st volume i read somewhere, maybe you could release your other columbia titles in this series of hammer movies like the gorgon, scream of fear,maniac, curse of the mummy's tomb, etc. i have always been a hammer fan since i was a kid and its great to see these hammer movies i have not seen before released on dvd, even the ones i have mentioned to be released.thanks again.

After all these years, we finally get a copy of Hammer's "Stranglers of Bombay" on DVD...and there's three more obscure Hammer adventure films included on two-discs and they all look and sound awesome. Buy this now! Let's send Sony a message that there are Hammer fans out there willing to part with their hard-earned cash for a great, great bargain. You know who you are!

Four films which have never been available previously in the U.S. in any home video format are presented here for the first time by Sony Pictures. Great care has obviously been taken as the picture quality is stunning on all the features. The color on Terror of the Tongs in particular is terrific. A wonderful buy for those legions of Hammer fans...of which I am certainly one. I hope this leads to more Hammer discs from Sony.