Search - Invaders of the Lost Gold on DVD

A ?B-movie? cast up the creek without a paddle.

06/13/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Invaders of the Lost Gold is an exploitation film that really does throw in everything but the kitchen sink. It was helmed by British director by Alan Birkinshaw, a former TV cameraman who had directed the self explanatory home-grown sex comedy Confessions of a Sex Maniac and the sex and horror film Killer's Moon. Unlike many contemporary Brit exploitation directors who either retired (Pete Walker, Stanley Long) or struggled on in the declining British film industry (Derek Ford, Norman J Warren), Birkinshaw spent much of the 1980's in Europe working for legendary globe trotting producers Harry Alan Towers and Dick Randall. Here under the thumb of the latter, Birkinshaw spins a tall tale whose opening documents a little known incident in WW2 in which the Japanese army faced off against a tribe of unkempt Filipino head-hunters (or rather some blacked up extras in fright wigs). Despite their heavy firepower the Japanese come off noticeably worse and the enthusiastic head-hunters soon have a few severed heads to waive in the audiences faces. The only survivors are three Japanese soldiers who, forced to leave a large consignment of gold behind, vow to return. `36 years later' ruthless British businessman Rex Larson (welwyn garden city born actor Edmund Purdom) is up to no good and using less than democratic ways to separate the aged Japanese soldiers from a map of where the gold is hidden. Larson's boss Douglas Jefferson, an upper-crust Englishman in a safari jacket then ensembles a motley crew of street fighters, mercenaries and unclassifiable toughs to journey back into the jungle for the gold. Much to Larson's annoyance his boss has also enlisted the services of Larson's nemesis, hard-living hard drinking american Mark Forrest played by Stuart Whitman fresh from his Jim Jones gig in Guyana-Crime of the Century (1980).

Likely to disappoint anyone expecting `part Cannibal Holocaust and part Raiders of the Lost Ark' (as the mondo crash DVD cheekily sells it as), Invaders of the Lost Gold is a standard but not unenjoyable jungle adventure. Birkinshaw throws in some unconvincing gore, a little nudity and fans of his Killer's Moon will be pleased to know that continuity is still not Birkinshaw's strong point (just try and figure out what fate is meant to befall secondary character `Maria' on her ill-fated swim). Surprisingly though, while Birkinshaw's british films ear-mark him as a man who could deliver a high amount of exploitation film goods on a micro budget (no doubt what brought him to Dick Randall's attention) here his direction seems pedestrian and at times the proceedings threaten to drag dangerously to a halt. The best thing about Invaders of the Lost Gold, and what keeps it so watchable, is the eclectic `all star' cast which as well as Messrs Purdom and Whitman also includes Woody Strode, Laura `Black Emanuelle' Gemser, Harold Sakata making an odder job of it than usual and looking hopelessly lost as Whitman's 20 years younger love interest Glynis `Dempsey and Makepeace' Barber in a role she'd be forgiven for leaving off her CV these days. Invaders is best approached on the level of `I'm an exploitation film celebrity get me out of here' with the cast fighting off attacks from crocodiles, snakes, booby-traps and suffering in (both on and probably off screen) believably hellish locations. The print used for the DVD is in a very scratched condition and the only extras are trailers for some dodgy 1970's kung-fu titles which look far worst than the main feature."

Not the original uncut version.

masterjedi | 03/19/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"On the cover of this DVD release, it is advertised as "Raw and Uncut". However I don't believe this is the original uncut version. Some scenes have been cut from the movie from what I can remember of the old VHS version. The DVD transfer is farily poor. Also there are no DVD extras on the disc."

Not much Laura

R. Gray | Los Angeles, CA United States | 07/20/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"THe movie itself is fair, but Laura Gemser(the reason I bought said DVD and covergirl) is barely in the movie. She only has one brief nude scene and it only shows her butt briefly. Only good for collectors like myself.

And yeah, the movie seems pretty cut to me as well."