by Yann Benarrous
Is it really worthwhile for me to comment further? Just imagine throwing into a defective Thermomix in no particular order Bruce Lee's early classics, (not-the-best) Blaxploitation undercover stories, few OSS177 and other cheap cold war spy fictions with just a drop of Nunsploitation to spice it up. Tempting, isn't it? No surprise to see the B-movies undisputed ruler Quentin Tarantino resurrecting this underground piece for an interview to the Straight Times while promoting “Kill Bill”.
Obviously, the name Cleopatra Wong is directly inspired form Jack Starrett's “Cleopatra Jones” (1973), just like the introductive “They call her… “ is a common pattern of the Exploitation scene, the most famous probably being the Spaghetti Western “They Call Me Trinity” (1970). Moreover seeing the coming-from-nowhere-soon-returning-to-nowhere leading actress Doris Young getting renamed Marrie Lee is certainly making her a sibling of King Bruce, a sort of female “Big Boss“ who would turn sexy only on purpose. But what was subversive in the America of the 70s in having a (black) woman heroine in an action movie is definitely not a novelty in Asia, starting with the traditional Chinese Wu Xia Pian (martial heroes movies), from Weng Yiming's “Red Heroine” (1929) to King Hu's Wu Xia masterpiece “Come Drink with me” (1966).
To begin with, let's get rid of the plot at once since it is not most remarkable part of the film: while on holiday in the Philippines in pleasant company, Cleopatra Wong, the best-in-class Singaporean agent for Interpol is informed that an avalanche of counterfeited currencies is currently distributed among Southeast Asia by a powerful triad. Their objective? To create a financial crisis and acquire for cheap various business assets. After a failed undercover mission in Singapore (like you would not often see it!), she sets off to Hong Kong to eventually localize the fake money, nicely smuggled into jars of jam. It appears imported from a strawberry farm in the Philippines run by… Catholic nuns. Really? Cleopatra and her squad are yet ready to strike: machinegun-motocross, explosive arrows, flying nuns, you must see to believe!
Check also this interview
Z-movies specialists would surely be delighted but more interesting is to put the film back in context. Beyond the charm of this no-brainer hilarious piece, we are witnessing the sad end of the golden age of the Malaysian peninsula cinema, this unique melting pot of Indian directors, Chinese producers, and Malay actors. After Singapore got expelled for the federation of Malaysia in 1964, the film industry in Malay language, which was actually representing most of the production since the early days of the Shaw Brothers, was severely impacted, not to say debilitated. Besides, with a Singapore government giving priority to a fast-track modernization (at the expense of a rising censorship), all eyes were on the successful Hong Kong. Let's face it, with no success. Only two movies were produced locally in 1978, the other being “Dynamite Johnson” from the same director and seeing Cleopatra Wong character supporting the infamous Bionic Boy (“Bionic Boy” by Leody M. Diaz, 1977) in a double sequel. They were the last two Singaporean movies till the 90s.
Booby A. Suarez, aka BAS, is also an interesting character. Turned orphan after a quasi-homeless youth, selling newspapers or flowers in the streets to support a sick mother and younger siblings, he started his career as a simple errand boy for various film distributors. Soon becoming involved in sales, he eventually founded his own company in Hong Kong with the brilliant idea of dubbing Chinese films in English and distributing them worldwide at a very competitive price. In the meantime, the legend says he was introduced to filmmaking by the Spanish director Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi (“They Came to Rob Las Vegas”, 1968) and soon started to produce or make low-budget action movies aiming the export B-market, with a decent success like “They call him Chop Suey” (1976) or “The One-Armed Executioner” (1983)
So let's face it, we are indeed far from Lino Brocka or Ishmael Bernal, but the highly decent cinematography and the right editing tempo make it quite pleasant entertainment, full of laughs and twists. “Cleopatra Wong” feels at least superior to most of the Bomba erotic movies of the same period. A rarity by context, a curiosity by uniqueness and a charming heroine by nature: enough reasons to have a (not too) serious look on this B.
