Icons Of Adventure Collection DVD Credits:

Region: 1

Icons Of Adventure Collection DVD Release Date: 9th June 2008

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Icons Of Adventure Collection DVD Review:

Hammer Studios was a British studio known best for a number of horror films, many of which were stories that had been done in Hollywood in the 1930s, and only after many years of holding onto the rights, studios like Universal sold the rights to Hammer Studios for cheap, and they began making their own Dracula and Frankenstein movies. Many people only associate Hammer with horror, but the truth is that they made many other films as well, including a few pirate films. Each of the studios that Hammer was set up at had a great deal of land surrounding. By shooting in the country it made it possible to shoot a great deal of exterior, which proved useful whether shooting an atmospheric werewolf movie or a pirate film. Icons of Adventure has two discs with four films, two of which are pirate films. The other two films are more focused on gangs and cults, but both are impressively imaginative in the filming techniques, both taking place in different countries.

All four films were made in the early 1960s, and there is a distinct style that can be placed in looking at the films together. All are in color, except The Stranglers of Bombay (1960), which seems far eerier than the others, perhaps due to the subject, although I think the black-and-white photography helps. The film is about a hidden cult in the British inhabited India of the 1820s. When Captain Lewis (Guy Rolfe) discovers large groups of people going missing, he begins to investigate. The British officer begins to discover a hidden secret of India which involves a religious cult following a goddess named Kali, killing people with a silk cloth and burying the bodies in remote locations.

All three of the remaining films star Christopher Lee, a key Hammer player. Lee fits best in the pirate roles. In The Pirates of Blood River (1962) Lee is a pirate that hears about a treasure hidden in the village in England. With the promise of treasure the pirates, determined to find the gold and flee, hold the entire village hostage while they search, but they aren’t prepared for the English to fight back. In The Devil-Ship Pirates (1964) Lee is a pirate that has joined forces with the Spanish Armada in order to fight the English in the 16th century. They take a small village, convincing them that the war has turned in their favor, when really they have just returned to the pirate’s way by looting.

The Terror of the Tongs (1961) is the last film in the set, taking place in Hong Kong in 1910. Geoffrey Toone stars as a British merchant sea captain who discovers a vast conspiracy by a ruthless gang in Hong Kong. When they kill his daughter, the captain sets out to take down the group of thugs, run by Christopher Lee. Each of these films come with an audio commentary and original theatrical trailers. There are also some short films, serials and a cartoon.

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Icons Of Adventure Collection DVD review written by: Ryan Izay