High-Octane
Summary
Severin’s handsome box set collection entitled Antonio Margheriti & the Jungles of Doom: His ’80s Adventure Films might not contain the greatest examples of rip offs of the Indiana Jones movies, but it does offer three adequate cinematic (and Italian!) forays of the genre in pristine transfers, upgrading all three films from their previous VHS iterations to completely satisfactory results.
The Hunters of the Golden Cobra (1982)
Plot: During WWII, a British soldier becomes the catalyst for discovering a priceless artifact held in a cavern by a lost tribe.
Review: Shot down over an Asian jungle during World War II, British soldier Bob Jackson (David Warbeck) is captured by a lost tribe who worship a deity contained within an artifact that has a legend around it, the Golden Cobra. After Jackson escapes the tribe in a delirium, he vaguely remembers that the tribe’s mascot – a beautiful white woman (played by Almanta Suska) – helped him to escape, but unsure of whether or not it was just a dream or not, he goes back to his superiors with a tale that seems impossible. Approached by an archeologist named Greenwater (Luciano Pigozzi) and his ward, the beautiful Julie (Suska in a dual role), whose twin sister was lost to the jungle many years ago, they are willing to pay Jackson to lead them to the lost tribe with the hope to find the Golden Cobra and save Julie’s sister and bring her back to civilization. But nothing is as it seems, and Jackson and his pilot captain (John Steiner who has the most annoying laugh in movie history) are double-crossed and betrayed by the very two who are willing to steal and murder for the treasure.
Quickly produced and released on the coattails of Raiders of the Lost Ark with the same gung-ho spirit of retro adventure and aesthetics, The Hunters of the Golden Cobra has the bare-chested adventurer who makes up plans as he goes along, has a hatred of pissed-off snakes, and shares a lot of similarities as the better-known film from which inspired it. It’s also very much its own thing, but it works from a thriftier budget (model airplanes are sometimes used to obvious effect) and sometimes doesn’t quite feel like it’s set in the 1940’s, although it tries. Director Antonio Margheriti (as Anthony Dawson) juggled a lot of little moving parts as best he could, and Warbeck and his costars do their darnedest to make this as fun as possible.
The Ark of the Sun God (1984)
Plot: A master thief is challenged with locating and “stealing” the scepter of Gilgamesh.
Review: Rick Spear (David Warbeck) may seem like he’s on vacation in Turkey, but he’s, in fact, a master class thief, and when he’s approached by a wealthy patron who’s a fan of his work to hear him out, Spear listens. Since he’s already in Turkey, Spear is proposed the chance of a lifetime: Find the lost cavern of Gilgamesh, a God of the ancient realm, and “steal” from within a Scepter, which would make a great prize for someone who would use it to rule, as Gilgamesh once ruled. Spear takes the gig, but as soon as he does a bunch of thugs employed by an evil prince begin pursuing Spear and his sidekicks and girlfriend throughout the wilderness of Turkey. Cue the car chases through the desert! Cue the explosions! The fist fights! The close calls! The narrow escapes! The dungeon full of rats! The showdown where the scepter of Gilgamesh is revealed!
A modern-day mishmash that throws a little 007-style action with the formulaic and proven template of the first two Indiana Jones films and the exploitation riffing from the Italians, namely from Antonio Margheriti (as Anthony Dawson), whose previous riff on the genre was The Hunters of the Golden Cobra with star Warbeck, The Ark of the Sun God is a little more sophisticated with a more streamlined approach to the cross-pollination of genres and a seemingly bigger budget, but it’s still suspiciously goofy in some places, and yet that’s part of its lowbrow appeal. It ends with a bunch of characters laughing together like an ’80s cartoon, which is just perfect. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the theme music from The Beastmaster played throughout.
Jungle Raiders (1985)
Plot: A phony treasure hunter becomes a real treasure hunter, which means real danger and real adventure.
Review: Captain Yankee (Christopher Connelly just a few years before he passed away from lung cancer) makes a living taking high-paying tourists on bogus treasure hunts, which means elaborate setups with his paid buddies who dress as native pigmies or sidekicks who pretend to be horribly killed by booby traps or poison arrows. After his latest gig, his client “escapes” certain death with a phony treasure, headed straight to Beverly Hills with a story that will surely someday grace the silver screen. It’s the early 1940’s, and these are the days of miracle and wonder! Yankee is approached by a surly expatriate named Warren (Lee Van Cleef) with the prospect of hunting for a very real legendary treasure, the Ruby of Gloom, a red jewel hidden somewhere deep in a volcano nearby, and seeing as how he can’t possibly refuse the adventure, Yankee and a recently arrived researcher named Maria (Marina Costa) and a couple of his sidekicks, including a robust hanger-on named Gin Fizz (Luciano Pigozzi), head straight into danger when a group of pirates try to obtain the Ruby first!
The third and final of Antonio Margheriti’s Raiders of the Lost Ark riffs, the plainly titled Jungle Raiders should have been the most accomplished of the unrelated trilogy, but instead is the most lackluster of the three, with a longer running time, a lackluster pace, and a distinctly lethargic sense of energy, no thanks to a completely indistinct score that pilfers The Beastmaster (again, see The Ark of the Sun God) and totally inappropriate big band public domain orchestrations that play during action and chase scenes, giving the movie a weird, lopsided vibe. Connelly isn’t much of a manly hero and appears to be much older than he was here in his mid-’40s, and while there are a couple of explosions and fiery stunt sequences, the movie just never feels quite in synch with itself as the adventure it’s cracked up to be.
Severin’s handsome box set collection entitled Antonio Margheriti & the Jungles of Doom: His ’80s Adventure Films might not contain the greatest examples of rip offs of the Indiana Jones movies, but it does offer three adequate cinematic (and Italian!) forays of the genre in pristine transfers, upgrading all three films from their previous VHS iterations to completely satisfactory results. The only one of these I am certain was previously given a Blu-ray / 4K transfer was The Ark of the Sun God from 88 Films (which I own), but it’s a happy thing to have these three films reissued in such a way, and in one set to boot. All films are offered in 4K Ultra HD and in Blu-ray, and there is a soundtrack CD disc included for a selection of music from The Hunters of the Golden Cobra and The Ark of the Sun God included in the latter’s packaging. Special features include interviews, video essays, trailers, alternate title sequences, and more. If you choose not to purchase the set from Severin’s website, you can get all three films separately, and the box case is also sold separately.