Invaders of the Lost Gold

Summary

“Why did we ever come into this damn jungle!?”

Recently I watched Severin Films’ releases of Raiders of Atlantis, Strike Commando, and Strike Commando 2. If I did not necessarily know much about cheap independent filmmaking in the Philippines during the Eighties, I felt like I had a bachelor’s degree in the subject after watching those films. I turned my attention to another Severin Films title directly afterward – Invaders of the Lost Gold. Produced by Dick Randall (best known for the film Pieces,) Invaders features a cast of cobbled together former stars and character actors including the beautiful Laura Gemser, former Oscar nominee Stuart Whitman, Edmund Purdom, western star Woody Strode, and Harold “Oddball” Sakata. The actors slum their way through the jungle in a film that has trouble figuring out ways to use its mixture of stars effectively. 

The story begins in the Philippines during World War 2. Some Japanese soldiers fight their way past some aggressive natives and into a cave where they deposit some gold. They plan to return there with each other years later. They vow to only return as a group. Thirty six years later, Rex Larson (Edmond Purdom) begins to meet with surviving members of the group of soldiers. He gains a map by killing the former captain, but he needs one of the remaining soldiers to come on the journey to help decipher the map as they grab the gold. When another soldier kills himself after hearing the news of his captain, Rex locates Tobachi (Harold Sakata) who agrees to help him understand the map. Rex brings the proposal to Douglas Jefferson (David de Martyn) in order to receive funds and personnel for the journey. Douglas agrees to finance the journey on the condition that he be allowed to accompany them. His daughter Janice (Glynis Barber) also interjects herself into the crew. Douglas sends his daughter to fetch the drunken Mark Forrest (Stuart Whitman.) Forrest refuses to join the expedition until he finds out his old partner and nemesis Rex is involved. This inspires him to join the expedition. The crew is rounded out by Rex’s barfighting companion Cal (Woody Strode,) the beautiful Maria (Laura Gemser,) and her lover and river guide Fernando. As they make their way towards the gold, the prior confrontation between Forrest and Rex is revealed. Not all of the members of the party will survive the expedition.

Invaders of the Lost Gold feels a little bit like watching a car crash in slow motion. It is not a pretty sight, but it is hard to look away. By all accounts, this movie is not “good.” The actors in the film seem exhausted – as if a long career has worn them down into performing with just fractions of the talents they used to display. This exhaustion lends itself to some painfully slow sequences. The fight between Woody Strode and Harold Sakata actually ends when both fighters become too exhausted to fight, but after watching everyone in this film act, maybe that was simply out of convenience? The plot of the film is serviceable for an adventure film, and the Philippines setting photographs fairly well, but director-cowriter Alan Birkinshaw can not seem to figure out a way to create any form of tension or excitement. This is because the actors in the film look as if they are all about to be taken back to the house for a nice long nap. My favorite performance in the film comes from Stuart Whitman as Mark Forrest. Forrest seems to be extremely attractive to any and all females he encounters despite being out of shape and clearly past his best years. It amazed me to watch the exotic and beautiful Laura Gemser act as if she wanted this man so badly, and for that in turn to make Glynis Barber jealous! We should all be so lucky. The fact that the director could not see how far off base this was and correct it is beyond my comprehension. The best aspect of the film is the beauty of Laura Gemser is on full display in the film, and she has a very gratuitous skinnydipping scene that will draw the attention of anyone watching the film. Aside from that sequence, the pacing of the film is seriously flawed from very slow exchanges to very slow fight sequences. It feels like this whole movie was filmed in some state of codeine induced stupor.

Released under the titles that vary from Greed, to Horror Safari, to Invaders of the Lost Gold – this outing is going to only please a certain type of audience that has a penchant for films that are best viewed for their cult novelty value than for what the film achieved. I did not find myself disliking the film because of the odd mishmash of actors and poorly conceived aspects of the film, but instead found myself perplexed and occasionally laughing at the proceedings. Even for Severin Films fans like myself, this film may be a bit of a test on your patience. Consider that both a warning and an endorsement.

Video

Severin Films has provided a great transfer in 1080p of Invaders of the Lost Gold in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with an MPEG-4 AVC encode from a 2K scan of the original negative. While the film itself is of debatable quality, the transfer that Severin have provided of the film looks fantastic for the most part. This film has always looked terrible. If you do an image search on google, old vid caps will show you what I am talking about. While this may not be a film that carries the same visual impact as a mainstream film, I want to recognize just how much work that Severin must have put into this release to shake off years of damage and present a very clean picture. 

Audio

Severin Films has provided an enjoyable DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track in English. The sound quality on the tracks is essentially reference quality. Some of the dialogue is clearly dubbed (Woody Strode is hilariously voiced by another actor for inexplicably reasons.) The original sound design is presented in the best shape that any fan could ask for or expect.

Supplements:

• Rumble in the Jungle – director Alan Birkinshaw gives a fairly in-depth interview on how the film came to exist and some of the unique challenges of the actors and filming in the Philippines.
• Outtakes from Machete Maidens Unleashed – Alan Birkinshaw and Corliss Randall, wife of producer Dick Randall, are both interviewed separately in this piece.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 2.5/5

Overall – 3/5

Invaders of the Lost Gold has a mishmash of formerly esteemed stars slumming their way through an adventure film shot in the Philippines and produced inexpensively by Dick Randall. The results are definitely not by any means impressive, but the film is entertaining as a sort of slow motion train wreck. The film is almost comedically slow paced due to the actors seemingly being totally worn out by acting in the film or just from their age (and maybe the climate?) Whatever the case, this film is strictly for people that collect and view oddities like this. I like the films that Severin puts out, and this one was a little bit of a stretch for me. That said, I still found myself entertained for all the strange decisions made by the film’s writer and director. Stuart Whitman as a sex symbol at that age and in that shape? He makes Roger Moore in A View to a Kill look reasonably in shape. The technical specifications of the Blu-ray release are very good. The supplements are light but informative. Fans of the film should definitely purchase this release without hesitation, but this is definitely a release that may test the patience of viewers that are not used to films that are best recognized for their qualities as an oddity.