Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Singing Thief Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 7, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Super Spies and Secret Lies: Three Undercover Classics from Shaw Brothers collection from Eureka! Entertainment.

The venerable Shaw Brothers may be best remembered for their glut of martial arts extravaganzas, a glut evidenced by the recent massive Shawscope Volume Three set among many others, evidenced at least in part by that Volume Three, which is not to suggest the Shawscope collections have been the only source for Shaw Brothers films on Blu-ray. But the studio was certainly not immune to various other crazes that subsumed the global film world, including the massive wake left by the first several James Bond films, seemingly even a bit before the Bond phenomenon had a new burst of Asian energy courtesy of You Only Live Twice. Eureka has aggregated three of these slightly wacky exploits together in an appealing set which if nothing else presents both regular Shaw Brothers performers and directors in a somewhat different genre context.

Some curmudgeons might be prone to saying if the protagonist and title character of this film, one "Diamond" Poon (Jimmy Lin Chong), really isn't a spy in this tale, he isn't much of a singer, either. That withering comment aside, the narrative here follows "Diamond" as he attempts to leave his cat burglary days behind him to pursue a life as a lounge singer, a summary which may provide some insight into this film's goofy blend of supposed intrigue and more farcical elements. Lily Ho from Angel with the Iron Fists is also on hand here as Fang Darling, providing some romantic sparks, and several supporting roles are filled with Shaw Brothers standouts like Lo Lieh.

The Singing Thief Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Singing Thief is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. As usual, Eureka! provides no real technical information on the transfer, but one assumes all three of the films in this set are part of the massive restoration project undertaken by Celestial Pictures of the Shaw Brothers catalog. I'd rate this as the "middle child" of the three in Eureka!'s set in terms of overall quality, though this presentation looked soft and somewhat filtered to me at times. The palette is nicely vivid almost all of the time, though arguably maybe just a bit faded and brown so that true reds tend to skew a bit toward orange. The fun midcentury production design offers good opportunities for both pop in the palette and at least occasionally commendable fine detail levels.

The Singing Thief Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Singing Thief features LPCM 2.0 Mono in the original Mandarin. Despite the typical brashness on the high end during the Shaw Brothers masthead fanfare, this is a nicely full bodied track that handles the music side of things reasonably well, though alert listeners may catch just the slightest whiff of a slightly phased quality in those selfsame higher registers, as well as some frankly inartful sound editing, where songs can just kind of lurch between sections. Dialogue and the often goofy sound effects are all presented without any issues. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Singing Thief Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Eureka! Entertainment has packaged The Golden Buddha and Angel with the Iron Fists together on one disc, with The Singing Thief on the other, with the following supplements:

Disc One

• Commentary on The Golden Buddha by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema


• Commentary on Angel with the Iron Fists by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema

Disc Two

• Commentary on The Singing Thief by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema


• From Hong Kong with Love (HD; 16:43) is an overview of spy films from the Shaw Brothers.


• International Super Spies (HD; 21:51) looks at the global Bond phenomenon.

Additionally, Eureka! provides a very nicely appointed insert booklet, with cast information on all three films and an essay by Iain Robert Smith. Packaging features a slipcover. The score above is for the set's supplements as a whole.

The Singing Thief Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While I wouldn't claim that The Singing Thief is any kind of undiscovered masterpiece, kind of hilariously given this set's perceived emphasis, I think I enjoyed this film the best of the three in Eureka!'s collection, despite the fact that it really isn't a spy opus in any meaningful way. Technical merits are generally solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.