After the great success Celestial enjoyed releasing Shaw Brothers classics on DVD, other studios have followed suit, resulting in a treasure trove of forgotten gems from the Sixties and Seventies for Hong Kong film fans to seek out. The Hellfire Angel is a lesser-known film from Golden Harvest and in addition to being a cracking thriller, provides a fascinating snapshot of strobe-lit disco era Hong Kong.
Nightclub hostess Cheng Szu (Ma Man Yee) is hired as an escort by millionaire playboy Ling Fung (Wong Yuen Sing) who, alongside his three cronies, turns out to be a wanted bank robber and jewel thief. After she helps him evade a police ambush, Ling asks Cheng to find his compatriot’s sister San (Yau Bei Ling), a mainland Chinese immigrant being forced into prostitution. She is almost fooled by a fake San, but discovers the girl is only doing this to get her kung fu kicking brother Ah Hsi (Ma Chung-Tak) out of debt. Cheng helps them out and earns a couple of lifelong friends. When she liberates the real San (Yau Bei Ling) from a brothel, the pair discover Ling only wants the girl because her imprisoned brother is the only one who knows the whereabouts of some stolen diamonds. A rival mobster named Hung (Yeung Chak-Lam) is also after the diamonds and the women find themselves caught in the crossfire between double-crossing gangsters.
The Hellfire Angel is a great example of late Seventies neo-noir, only with a hot-blooded colour palette in place of shadowy black and white. Ma Man Yee excels as the kind of hardboiled heroine someone like Jean Arthur or Barbara Stanwyck might have played in days gone by. Chic, sharp-witted, moral without being judgemental. Pretty Yau Bei Ling gives an equally fiery performance. Far from your traditional naïve damsel in distress, San is gutsy and resourceful, and bonds winningly with her elegant mentor. Screenwriter Lee Wing Ching weaves in a winning message about downtrodden folk banding together against exploitative nouveau riche gangsters, which stands out amidst the increasingly dog-eat-dog atmosphere of boom-time Hong Kong.
Cinematographer-turned-director Lam Kwok Cheung deftly handles the twists and turns of the devious plot, without recourse to sleaze, proving Hong Kong produced quality crime thrillers even before John Woo and Ringo Lam arrived on the scene. Available on Region 3 DVD from Joy Sales as part of their “Legendary Collection”, their digital restoration job is not as good as Celestial’s but clear enough so you can appreciate Lam Kwok Cheung’s evocative, almost Mario Bava-esque lighting. The scene where Ah Hsi and friends escape from a ring of fire is especially striking.
