Eureka Video UK Blu-ray Synopsis: Cynthia Rothrock's first leading role was also the first (and to this day, only) time a Western actress had lead billing in a Hong Kong film. Rothrock plays Cindy, the titular female reporter sent to investigate an unscrupulous newspaper editor (Ronny Yu). Teaming up with Elizabeth Lee (Long Arm of the Law Part 3), the two go up against a series of opponents played by some of the greatest “bad guy” actors in 80s cinema, including Billy Chow (Fist Of Legend), Jeff Falcon (Outlaw Brothers, Six String Samurai), and Vincent Lyn (Tiger Cage). Mang Hoi handles directing duties here, but much like Yes, Madam, this was a collaborative effort between Mang Hoi and Corey Yuen, and just as in that film the results are magnificent – Mang Hoi's graceful and acrobatic choreography fusing perfectly with Corey Yuen's hard-hitting style. But the star here is Cynthia Rothrock, and the film deservedly secured her position as one of the top action stars of her era. Eureka Classics is proud to present Lady Reporter in itsUK debut on Blu-ray from a brand new 2K restoration. (88 Mins)

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Vinegar Syndrome US Blu-ray Synopsis: When the FBI learns of an international counterfeiting operation being run through a Hong Kong newspaper, they send on of their leading agents, Cindy, undercover as a reporter in order to investigate. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, Cindy quickly becomes a headline herself after being photographed by a rival tabloid saving a child from a burning building. It doesn't take long for the criminals to realize what is happening and soon they are after Cindy and her good friend Judy. To make matters worse, Judy's father is the lead prosecutor trying to convict the head of the counterfeiting ring and the criminals will stop at nothing to remove him from the case. With the help of a few new friends, Cindy soon finds herself facing off against a wave of henchmen and hitmen all hell bent on stopping her from exposing the truth. LADY REPORTER (aka Blonde Fury)was Cynthia Rothrock's first official leading role, as well as one of her last Hong Kong productions before switching to American-made films. Directed by actor and stunt coordinator Mang Hoi (Yes, Madam!) and featuring fight choreography by Corey Yuen (Righting Wrongs), LADY REPORTER delivers a barrage of head-spinning fight scenes including a climatic pole fight between Rothrock and fellow American martial artist Jeffrey Falcon (Six-String Samurai). Featuring strong supporting performances by Roy Chiao (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), Melvin Wong (Ghost Nursing), and actor/director Ronny Yu (Freddy vs. Jason), Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present this landmark in Cynthia Rothrock's filmography for the first time on Blu-ray in North America, newly restored from studio-provided masters. (88 Mins)

 

Phoenix Distribution German DVD Synopsis: She risks everything - even her life - to prevent the chief prosecutor from being taken out by the city's top banker. Relentlessly and mercilessly she is on the trail of the gangsters. Only with iron fists as a deadly weapon, she fights a merciless fight. The gangsters put top hit men on Cynthia. Again and again she manages to escape the attempts on her life and relentlessly pursues her goal: to settle accounts with the city's gangsters once and for all... (88 Mins)

 

Joy Sales HK VCD Synopsis: When celebrating the smashing of a big New York counterfeit ring, the G-men find out that the top criminal, Wong, has slipped away. Black belt Cynthia Rothrock is ordered to come to Hong Kong to get Wong. In Hong Kong,Wong goes into the printing business. Ostensibly, he publishes newspaper. But his real business is still the forging of banknotes. Cynthia gets a job as a reporter in Wong's company but is alerted Hong Kong police and ask her to keep off. Cynthia happens to know her friend's father is the prosecutor in Wong's trial. She tries to help but Wong gets off by poisoning the prosecutor. Now Cynthia is desperated. The police want her back to New York while she wants to get Wong herself... (88 Mins)

 

American Imperial UK VHS Synopsis: Cynthia Rothrock – America's greatest martial arts star is back in another great adventure (and a whole mess of trouble). Cindy Law (Cynthia Rothrock) a reporter for the Hong Kong Times, is covering a story involving the trial for fraud, of one of the territory's leading bankers. Cindy's investigations uncover more than she first bargained for, resulting in two 'hitmen' being assigned to kill Cindy and her friends. This will make one hell of a story – if she can survive. (85 Mins)

 

Views: While covering a story involving a twisted story of fraud, Cindy finds herself getting pulled deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of a criminal organisation who send out their best fighters to take her down. In turn, the blonde fury must fight for her life and protect those around her while putting a stop to the evil gang boss, and scoring her big story! It was 30 years ago when I walked into my local Xtravision store and saw the video box for Above The Law 2: The Blonde Fury on the shelf. It was designed very like the American Imperial VHS release of Above The Law (featuring Rothrock and Yuen Biao of course), of which I was a huge fan, and I just had to get my hands on it. Much to my surprise, this (then) 15 year old was more than a little confused as to the lack of connection between both movies. Of course, I quickly learned that it was marketed as a sequel by name only (and lead actress) and soon went on to own multiple versions of the movie with my love for this film quickly growing with each viewing. And now, thanks to this incredible 2K restoration Blu-ray release from Eureka Video, this wonderful Hong Kong movie has never looked better! A film of many titles (and edits) Lady Reporter has been described by many as 'Frankenstein project' or 'Golden Harvest cut-n-paste' which is most likely in reference to the films of a certain Godfrey Ho. While this is true to some degree on a visual level – with the often hilarious changes of Cynthia's hairstyles between scenes, plot points, and change in direction – it doesn't really take away from the fact that this is one of Rothrock's finest hours, and a damn good martial-arts action-comedy at the end of the day. Some of these reasons included Cindy's clash of schedules, with Golden Harvest shifting her between this and China O'Brien for reshoots and additional scenes in Lady Reporter. Another was the studios demands to add more action to the film on hearing that Cindy was about to get her first starring Hollywood role against a certain Sylvester Stallone (a film that never did come to light); going on to bring producer and choreographer Corey Yuen Kwai in to direct, overshadowing Mang Hoi as the original director which no doubt caused some negativity between them. But these things certainly don't detract from the film's true entertainment value...

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There's a complete and utter wildness to Lady Reporter, which is probably down to the script by SamChi Leung – writer of the Danny Lee directed comedy Oh, My Cops!, Andy Lau's Three Against The World, Lam Ching Ying's Vampire Vs Vampire and Magic Cop, and Yuen Biao's self-directed Kid From Tibet – and the uneven style of first-time director, Mang Hoi. Often mistaken for Yuen Biao by many; a fact I was guilty of myself in my younger years until I saw them star alongside each other in Zu Warriors From Magic Mountain – this popular Hong Kong star started life in the film industry as a child actor in the early 1970s. This included roles in films such as The Price Of Love, Human Goddess, The Young Avenger, Fist Of The Unicorn, and Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon. Roles would follow in classics such as Executioners From Shaolin, He Has Nothing But Kung Fu, and Fatal Flying Guillotines, as well as The Shaolin Plot and Iron Fisted Monk alongside Sammo Hung of whom he would continue to work with for a few decades after. From Enter The Fat Dragon to Warriors Two, Heart Of The Dragon to Millionaires Express, and Pedicab Driver to Gambling Ghost, Mang Hoi would work with Hung in front of and behind the scenes time and time again, with Sammo producing this and guest starring in Hoi's second (and only other) directed piece, The Tantana. As well as helming Lady Reporter, Mang Hoi not only served as one of the films fight choreographers, but also starred as one of its leads – a pretty incompetent reporter who sticks close to Cindy and manages to stumble across a big story. As always, no matter what role he may be playing when in front of the camera, Hoi does a pretty good job and entertains on every level. Interestingly enough, it was said that Mang Hoi and Cynthia Rothrock dated for a period in the late 80s and would have first met on the set of Yes, Madam! - Cindy's amazing Hong Kong cinema debut that put her alongside the Oscar winning and hugely talented Michelle Yeoh. Soon after that, the pair would both star in Sammo's epic Millionaires Express, with Hoi next lending his talents as an action-choreographer on Righting Wrongs where Cindy would play another incredible role, with Lady Reporter proving to be their fourth and final project together...

 

As one of the worlds most famous martial artists and action heroines, it's fair to say that Cynthia Rothrock needs no introduction. Before starring as the Lady Reporter, Cindy had appeared in the aforementioned titles with Mang Hoi as well as starring in the critically panned indie flick 24 Hours To Midnight (quite possibly her very first role), Wong Jing's hugely entertaining action-comedy Magic Crystal, the fun Fight To Win alongside Richard Norton, Corey Yuen Kwai's No Retreat No Surrender 2, and the Jackie Chan produced Top Squad; aka The Inspector Wears Skirts with Sibelle Hu. While her characters had shown hints of humour in the majority of the films mentioned, Lady Reporter would call for Rothrock to step a little more out of her comfort zone and deliver a more comedic role than she was used to – but I liked it and think that she did a great job for the most part. This must have been the year that she wanted to try something different, as Cindy would continue the comedy persona for Lau Kar Wing's City Cops/Beyond The Law before winding it back for pretty much every other film project that was to follow. I think the fact that she was able to have a bit more fun in this role helps in making it one of my all-time favourite Cynthia Rothrock movies, and I would've loved to have seen her do more comedy films if I'm honest. Of course, by the mid-90s Cindy had left the Hong Kong scene and headed back West for a shot at the American film market where all of her films, albeit for Fast Getaway 1 & 2, saw her cast in very serious or generally straight-laced roles. Personally, I feel that her last good movie was Outside The Law in 2002, with her last great movie being Sworn To Justice in '96 that saw her star alongside Kurt McKinney and Brad Dourif. Regardless, there's at least 30 strong titles in Rothrock's filmography that are highly entertaining in their own right, and Lady Reporter is one of the best among them. It's a toss-up between Lady Reporter and Return Engagement (with Andy Lau) as to which was the first film that introduced me to the lovely Elizabeth Lee. Racking up 25 films in just under a decade, Lee made her debut in Wong Jing's rom-com The Romancing Star 2 and starred in 5 other titles that year including Picture Of A Nymph, He Who Chases After The Wind, How To Pick Up Girls, The Greatest Lover, and the wonderful Gunmen from Kirk Wong. Just as many titles would follow in 1989 while shooting Lady Reporter, with things eventually slowing things down until her retirement in 1996 with films such as Long Arm Of The Law 3, Widow Warriors, Sword Stained With Royal Blood, and Organized Crime & Triad Bureau among many more. Both ladies are joined by the aforementioned Mang Hoi – who is highly enjoyable as the energetic and acrobatic fellow-reporter, Hai – and the wonderful Chin Siu Ho; the man who should have been a much bigger star than he was! The handsome kick-ass hero stars as a C.I.D. agent who tries to befriend the girls by posing as an insurance salesman, before eventually joining them to go up against the bad guys. As with many Hong Kong stars from this era, Chin started his career in the industry starring in a number of Shaw Brothers classics like Ten Tigers Of Kwantung, Two Champions Of Shaolin, Legend Of The Fox, House Of Traps, and Demon Of The Lute, as well as many others. While a few modern roles followed, it would be the Sammo Hung produced Mr. Vampire that would really launch him to the next level. Films like The Seventh Curse, In The Blood, Killer's Nocturne, and Edge Of Darkness, and more vampire titles would follow before his role here in Lady Reporter, with the star keeping himself busy between film and television – making quite the impression in movies like New Kids In Town, Visa To Hell, The Vengeance Of Six Dragon, Mr. Vampire '92, The Beheaded 1000, as well as Jet Li's Tai Chi Master and Fist Of Legend where he held his own next to the popular superstar. As with most Hong Kong stars, his career started to wobble in the late 1990s (even though he was continuously busy), and it would be almost a decade before things started to look up again with roles in films such as A Battle Of Wits, Revenge: A Love Story, The Lost Bladesman, and the incredible Rigor Mortis which hailed back to his vampire busting days and really helped push him back out there!

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The wonderful Ronny Yu leads the bad guys of this action-comedy and does a fantastic job in playing the intimidating evil counterfeiter, Boss Huang. Although he has appeared in films such as Tsui Hark's Don't Play With Fire, Chicken & Duck Talk, and The Great Pretenders, as well as his own films such as Legacy Of Rage, Bless This House, and China White, Yu is recognised more-so as a hugely successful director, loved by fans and critics alike for his work such as The Postman Strikes Back, Legacy Of Rage, The Bride With White Hair 1 & 2, Phantom Lover, Jet Li's Fearless, and Saving General Yang; not to mention his Hollywood projects such as Warriors Of Virtue, Bride Of Chucky, The 51st State, and very fun Freddy Vs Jason. Ronny is backed by some of the finest villains ever to pop-up in the Hong Kong films of the late 80s, including the great Billy Chow, Vincent Lyn, and wushu wonder boy, Jeff Falcon. There's also a kick-ass Thai fighter who gets to trade some amazing moves with Chin Siu Ho and Cindy herself, but trying to find out who this guy is (or anything about him) is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. 1987 was a breakout year for Billy Chow who was taken under Sammo's wing and cast in Eastern Condors, Dragons Forever, and Paper Marriage which really helped put him on the map. Soon after that, Chow would keep his star lit with brilliant roles in Sammo Hung films such as the incredible Pedicab Driver and License To Steal, as well as Magic Cop, High Risk, Fist Of Legend, Future Cops, Robotrix, and many more that would secure his position as one of Hong Kong's cinemas finest. After a couple of smaller roles in Brotherhood and Code Of Honour, Vincent Lyn got to show his worth in the fantastic Tiger Cage alongside Donnie Yen, Jacky Cheung, and Simon Yam. Lady Reporter/The Blonde Fury came soon after, along with a brief role in Yuen Cheung Yan's little seen action-thriller, Live Hard (I wonder what inspired that!). 1990 was a better year that saw Lyn appear in films such as King Of The Kickboxers, Undeclared War, and the brilliant Outlaw Brothers from Frankie Chan, with the following year proving to be just as busy. From a solid role in Jackie Chan's Armour Of God 2: Operation Condor to Sammo Hung's Touch & Go, Eastern Heroes/Fury In Red to Robotrix, Vincent Lyn had the looks and the moves to secure his position as one of Hong Kong cinemas go-to villains. But then, he just kinda stopped! Since the turn-of-the-century the handsome martial-artist has starred in (or appeared in) a handful of productions, and has recently been joining Frank Djeng audio commentaries for labels such as 88 Films and Eureka Video, on films that he has starred in – including their release of this one. And then there is, of course, the amazing Jeff Falcon who had already impressed with his debut in the Jackie Chan produced Inspector Wears Skirts/Top Squad and its fast follow-up, Operation Pink Squad. 1989 would keep him busy with decent roles in sequels for both of the aforementioned movies, along with this and Frankie Chan's brutally brilliant, Burning Ambition (which really needs the Blu-ray treatment). A year later, Jeff would join Cynthia Rothrock once more in the underrated Prince Of The Sun, and again with Vincent Lyn in Outlaw Brothers as well as a stint in Joyce Godenzi's fantastic, She Shoots Straight, before taking things a bit easier over the next few years with films such as Caged Beauties, Rape In Public Sea, Angel Kickboxers, and Frankie Chan's hilarious Oh! Yes Sir!! - to name but a few. Jeff would leave Hong Kong soon after, with his next project being the highly anticipated and critically praised, comic book martial-arts flick, Six String Samurai – a wonderful piece that recently saw a restoration and re-release courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome (check out my review elsewhere on the site). Unfortunately, due to the films failure to light-up the box office and make Jeff a household name, the Falcon would soon fly far from the film industry; disheartened at the results of his final piece, never to be seen again. Thankfully though, and much like his villainous co-stars, Jeff gave fans plenty of incredible moments to enjoy over and over again with many of the aforementioned movies – and his role here in Lady Reporter is a great example why.

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The rest of the cast is a mix of regular faces from this period of Hong Kong cinema including the late Wu Ma as a bumbling newspaper editor, Tai Bo as another of his reporters, the great Melvin Wong as yet another police chief, and the wonderful Roy Chiao as Prosecutor Yu – doting father to Elizabeth Lee's character. The always enjoyable Chung Fat almost steals the show as the thug who ends up with a live-rat in his mouth, with Ka Lee, Yuen Miu, Lee Chi Kit, and Chow Gam Kong helping to fill out the list of henchmen, among many others. Teddy Yip pops up as a judge, while the great James Tien plays Chiao's assistant prosecutor. As mentioned before, the legendary Corey Yuen Kwai directs a small portion of the film as well as some of the action scenes. Between himself and Mang Hoi, the pair deliver a wonderful collection of fight scenes and are aided by the talents of Chin Kar Lok, Hsiao Ho, and Siu Tak Foo – all of whom stunt double throughout. Some of these martial-arts highlights for me include Cindy's infiltration of the printing press that leads to the hugely exciting fight on the scaffolding – a fight that the late Brad Allen paid homage to in the hit Marvel movie, Shang Chi & The Legend Of The Ten Rings. I love seeing this fight over and over again which gives Cindy the chance to bust some amazing moves, and everyone involved to deliver some incredible stunt-work. Another is her hilarious fight against Billy Chow in their home – a fun but powerful showdown that sees Cindy suffer the powerful blows of the champion fighter, and her equally impressive (and painful) looking fight against the massive Thai boxer, who hadjust given Chin Siu Ho a run for his money. Eagle eyed viewers should be able to spot that this fight was filmed on the Dragons Forever set (at the Golden Harvest studios), which makes good use of its surroundings and pulls off some moves very similar to that seen in the hit movie featuring the Three Dragons. Then, of course, there's the final showdown that sees Ms. Rothrock take on a gang of thugs on a large pyramid of rope, before going up against the wonderful Vincent and Jeff in a wonderful display of moves and weaponry in order to save their friend (Miss Lee). It doesn't take long for the rescue mission to, literally, go down another road which involves a crazed Ronny Yu driving a truck with everyone but Mang Hoi hanging from it,but fight fans will already feel pleased with what was offered beforehand. Of course there are many other moments of greatness and fun to be had throughout, and it wouldn't be a Sammo Hung/Corey Yuen Kwai movie if there wasn't plenty of wild stunts and full-contact on offer; a couple of things of which there is definitely plenty of...

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At the time, and quite possibly still to this day, Lady Reporter was the first fully-fledged Hong Kong action movie with a Western lead, but both Golden Harvest and Boho Films knew what kind of star they had on their hands, considering their past success with Cindy in films like Yes, Madam!, Inspector Wears Skirts, Millionaires Express, No Retreat No Surrender 2, and the incredible Righting Wrongs. Without showing any disrespect to Mang Hoi as a film-maker, I can only imagine how much more streamlined and complete the film may have been had Corey Yuen handled the whole thing – or even, just perhaps, Sammo Hung himself. With that said, Lady Reporter (in whatever edit and title) still stands as a highly enjoyable slice of 80s action cinema for me and it makes me very happy to see it receive the care, attention, and restoration that it has with this Blu-ray release from Eureka Video. This is the 4th version of the film to join my collection in over 3 decades, so if that doesn't tell you how much enjoyment I get from it, then I don't know what will!

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Overall: Hugely enjoyable and packed with some of Rothrock's best fight scenes, Lady Reporter is well worth checking out and a classic piece of Hong Kong action cinema!

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Eureka Video Blu-ray Extras: 2K Restoration, Hong Kong Theatrical Version (88 Mins), Export Version (85 Mins), Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng & Vincent Lyn (Theatrical Version), Audio Commentary by Mike Leeder & Arne Venema (International Version), Select Scene Commentary with Cynthia Rothrock & Frank Djeng, Interviews with Cynthia Rothrock & Mang Hoi, Trailers

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Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray Extras: 2K Restoration, Hong Kong Theatrical Version (88 Mins), Export Version (85 Mins), Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng (Hong Kong Version), Interviews with Cynthia Rothrock & Vincent Lyn, Trailers, Image Gallery

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Phoenix Distribution DVD Extras: Trailer, Hong Kong Version (84 Mins), International Version (85 Mins)

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American Imperial VHS Trailers: Above The Law, Miracles, Angel Town, Death Cage

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Watch my unboxing video of this Eureka release HERE

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Get your copy HERE