In The Line of Duty 1 - 4 : Disc 1 - In the Line of Duty: Royal Warriors (1986); Disc 2 - In the Line of Duty 2: Yes, Madam! (1985);
Disc 3 - In the Line of Duty 3 (1988); Disc 4 - In the Line of Duty 4 (1989)

Disc 1. In the Line of Duty 1 : Royal Warriors (1986) Direction: David Chung

In the fun intro of the film Michelle Yeoh can be seen as Hong Kong cop Michelle "Big Sis" Yip and where she,
on a holiday in Tokyo, Japan has to beat up some yakuza gangsters in a park when out for some sightseeing.
On the plane home she expects an uneventful and quiet flight, but NO .... She's seated next to Michael Wong, a plane
security officer and there are two policemen who's about to escort the Hong Kong criminal Tiger out of Japan.
Also, there's the Japanese ex-cop Yamamoto who's on his way to Hong Kong to bring his wife and kid back to Japan.
Suddenly an armed gangster, Crazy Chicken, shoots the two cops and frees Tiger and when they hijack the plane
there's time for Michelle, Yamamoto and Wong to do something about it. What follows is an amazing action sequence
with a take on the old Gert Froebe incident in the 1964 "Goldfinger". Great Fun.

Above: Reversible sleeve

The Heroic Trio kill the gangsters/terrorists and on return to Hong Kong they are met as Heroes and "Big Sis" Michelle is the
pride of the Hong Kong Police. But, there are two criminals and killers that are hell bent on avenging the death of their 2 crime
buddies, Tiger and Crazy Chicken. Yamamoto (Hiroyuki Sanada) is married to Yukiko (Reiko Niwa) and they've a little kid and
the first avenger, criminal no.3 - Mad Dog kills both Yamamoto's wife and kid in a car bomb explosion. Yamamoto goes loose
cannon vigilante to kill Mad Dog, and Mad Dog is about to kill also Michelle and Michael. What follows is a gruesome night
club shootout massacre, a car chase through Hong Kong and the bad news is that there's also an avenger No. 4 waiting.

There's an end fight in a Quarry with i.a. a chainsaw fight between Michelle and No. 4, and the place looks like the one used
in some other trash Hong Kong movies (I Love Maria and Robotrix perhaps) but the guys doing the audio commentary doesn't
mention it. Anyway, the film is one of the finest HK action films from the Golden Era.

Above: The old Hong Kong Universe early 2000's DVD edition letterbox ratio 5.1 cantonese dub with english subtitles

The Mystery of the Coffin: At first when Michael Wong is buried the name plate on the coffin says "Micheal" but at
the end of the film in Michelle's flashback the name plate has changed to "Michael". The commentators doesn't mention
this either. Before the end fight in the quarry, Michelle Yip visits something called "Yip Laboratories" to get an armored
car, and i wonder if her relatives owns the firm ?

The Mystery of which films should be included in the series, and in which order ? Essays could probably be written about
this and it's a mess. There are parallell series and a whole bunch of other In the Line of Duty films to confuse.
But regarding this 4 films box collection, for some reason Royal Warriors made in 1986 are called In the Line of Duty 1
when Yes, Madam! made in 1985 are called In the Line of Duty 2 ?

The film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and with cantonese audio mono Theatrical mix or Alternate mix, or english
classic mono dub, or New english dub 5.1, and with english subtitles (chosen from remote and not from Meny).
Region A release. Extras: An audio commentary by Frank Djeng, Missing Airplane inserts, Cantonese and English
trailer and an english credits sequence

 

Disc 2. In the Line of Duty 2: Yes, Madam! (Huang jia shi jie, 1985) Direction: Corey Yuen Kwai

This is the Stuff that Dreams are made of ! Michelle Yeoh in her first action movie and Cynthia, The Goddess of
Martial arts, in her film debut. The film that caused a sensation in Hong Kong and kick-started the Female Fighters
Girls with Guns action genre (we've had women fighting before as legendary Angela Mao but now guns were
added to the brew). An action comedy classic from future international action maestro Corey Yuen and with the agile
Malaysian ex-ballet dancer and beauty queen Michelle Yeoh showing she could do martial arts too, and with The
Queen of Martial Arts, the in her late twenties US female world champion Cynthia Rothrock.
Cynthia just explodes onto the screen as the ultra-tough Interpol cop Carrie Morris in the legendary airport scene
and she will make a deadly duo together with Michelle's also tough crime cop, Ng "Big Sis" Lok-Sai.
In the intro Michelle stops (= kills) a gang of bankrobbers, and just as in Royal Warriors Big Sis gets a lot of flowers
from her police colleagues, being the pride of the Police force.

Cynthia's role Carrie Morris gets to be nick-named "The Nasty Foreign Chick" by her Hong Kong police colleagues,
or "Vicious White Hag" (depends on which edition and dub you're watching). So, why is she there, in HK?
Michelle is about to meet her friend, the British Interpol agent Mr. Norman at a hotel, but he has already been killed
by killer Ah Wei (Dick Wei, the taiwanese martial arts master that had to play baddies in almost every film he made).
He's chasing a microfilm that Norman had, and that carried a lot of devastating proofs of his boss, Tin Wai-Keung's
(James Tien) criminal activities. But petty thieves Saridon/Alvedon (Mang Hoi) and Strepsil (John Sham) already
accidently have stolen it.

Above: Reversible sleeve

A warning though as this film has a lot of often silly 1980's HK comedy in it, a lot of it, BUT the action scenes makes
up for the comedy suffering, and the epic final fight at boss Tin's mansion plus Cynthia's beating of Eddie Maher
at the airport are fantastic (Maher, a gweilo born in Macau and playing bad guys in Hong Kong movies like this).
The antics of Alvedon, Strepsil and Panadol (Tsui Hark) are a bit of annoying, admittedly.
The duo of Lok-Sai and Carrie are chasing the microfilm also and resigns, turning loose cannons to better handle
Mr. Tin Wai-Keung and everything ends in in a big showdown at Tin's mansion.

I LOVE YOU MICHELLE AND CYNTHIA, and the cantonese dubbing of Cynthia is adorable as she spouts out
her lines like a machine-gun, and when she finally gets hold of a weapon to fight with .... aaah, so beautiful.
Cynthia, today in 2023, looks better and healthier than ever (and do visit her website) and Michelle has refined her
acting and become a great actress, who won an Oscar for Best Actress in "Everything Everywhere All at Once".

The film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and with cantonese original theatrical mix audio mono, or cantonese home
video mix mono audio, or a new english dub 5.1, and with english subtitles to be turned on and off from the remote.
Region A release. Extras: An audio commentary by Frank Djeng (HK version), A Team Player: Cynthia Rothrock
on Yes, Madam! (18 minutes), Airport scene commentary with Cynthia Rothrock and Frank Djeng, an interview with
Mang Hoi (14 minutes in cantonese with english subtitles, co-action director and stunt coordinator but here also
playing the role of Alvedon), an old interview with Michelle Yeoh (15 minutes, what a sexy voice and how beautiful
she was, in an interview by .... Rick Baker, the FX guy ?), Battling Babes (10 minutes, old documentary with Yukari
Oshima, Moon Lee, Kathy Long, Cynthia Rothrock et al.), Hong Kong trailer

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The 2010-2011 Fortune Star remastered DVD edition of Yes, Madam!
widescreen 1.85:1, cantonese audio DTS, or DD 5.1 or original cantonese audio 2.0 with english subtitles
(or mandarin 5.1) Extra: original movie trailer, new edited movie trailer, movie stills photo album, photo slideshow

Early Hong Kong Universe DVD release in widescreen letterbox in cantonese audio 5.1 with english subtitles
Extras a trailer, stars file info in english, trailers for Royal Warriors and Magnificent Warriors

Disc 3. In the Line of Duty 3 (Royal Big Sister III: Male and Female Thieves, 1988)
Direction: Arthur Wong and Brandy Yuen

Taiwanese ex-ballet dancer Cynthia Khan (Yang Li Qing/Yeung Lai Ching) became one of the icons of
the Girls with Guns film wave that emanated from Hong Kong in the second half of the 1980's.
Her actor name alias is a mix of the legendary fighters Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Yeoh, and Khan
went through tough training to become The One who could supersede the Malaysian star Michelle Yeoh
in the popular "In the Line of Duty" film series. Khan works really hard and even though she's not as
agile as Yeoh she "looks" slightly stronger, more physical, maybe.

Cynthia Khan plays the Hong Kong rookie cop Yeung Lai-Ching and in the fabulous intro to the film she
stops a robber from getting away by using her martial arts moves (in "In the Line of Duty 2" Michelle
Yeoh stopped a gang of robbers). Mr. Paul Chung is the police inspector and as his unsolved cases are
starting to pile up the higher brass gives him extra help. As Lai-Ching did so well as a rookie street cop
she's assigned to the task and she's the new member of the Serious Crime unit.
But, as she's Chung's niece he always worries about her safety and he tries to hold her back all the time,
good luck with that, as a duo of japanese robbers is about to cause havoc in Hong Kong.

Above: Reversible sleeve

The japanese jewel designer Yamamoto is having a display of his latest collection in Tokyo, with not
just VIP guests but also a horde of guards. But two bestial japanese robbers and terrorists, Kazuo
Nakagawa (Stuart Ong) and Michiko Nishiwaki (played by Michiko Nishiwaki) who also both are
members of the terrorist organisation The Red Army, attacks and robs the Jewellery show. They do
so by showing inhuman violence and slaughtering a mass of guards, cops and guests. The japanese
cop Hiroshi Fujioka (played by Hiroshi Fujioka) loses his buddy cop colleague who's shot by the
perps. The robbers finances the terror organisation with the loot and Fujioka suspects Yamamoto
to be in cahoots with the robbers. Yamamoto is to powerful to arrest in Japan, so Fujioka will try and
get to him when Yamamoto returns to Hong Kong.

Above: Old Hong Kong DVD in letterbox ratio and with cantonese 5.1 audio with english subs

So back to Hong Kong where not just Yamamoto is but also the terrorist duo is hiding, and Fujioka
who's going full vigilante when he tries to avenge his dead colleague. The bloodbath continues
with bloody shootouts whereby Lai-Ching manages to kill one of the robbers, Nakagawa and now
Dick Wei turns up, another terrorist who teams up with Nishiwaki. Both of them out for revenge
on Lai-Ching and the Hong Kong police. The film is a more violent crime action than No. 1 and 2

The film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and with cantonese 2.0 mono or english mono audio.
Region A release. English subtitles to be turned on and off from the remote.
Extras: Audio commentary by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth, Interview with John Sham (in
english, 25 minutes, Hong Kong and English trailer

Disc 4. In the Line of Duty 4: Yes, Madam! (Royal Big Sister IV: Eyewitness, 1989)
Direction: Yuen Woo Ping

A great entry to the series and with almost constant action all through, shoot-outs and martial arts
fighting. A young Donnie Yen shows his stuff and impresses and Cynthia Khan have had time to
train and better her moves and skills even more. Many think this film is the best in the series.
Cynthia Khan plays Hong Kong cop Yeung Lai-Ching (again ... also in In the Line of Duty 3) on a
mission to Seattle US trailing a drug gang, and Donnie Yen plays the Seattle cop ... Donnie Yen
(maybe this has something to do with which dub you watch, i always use the cantonese audio and
maybe in the english audio dub the actors names doesn't have the same names as their real ones ?).

Please note: This film supposedly takes place in Seattle, USA and the cops wears US uniforms and
they have put US flags everywhere in the film. BUT, the film was shot in Vancouver, Canada and
not in Seattle. You even see Canadian flags at the harbour, canadian signs, buildings and the foggy
draped mountains surrounding Vancouver. Yes, there couldn't be any mistake about this and the
only Seattle pics we see would be some seconds of probably stock footage in the intro (of the tower).
So, the film takes place in Vancouver for the first part (then in HK) and it's strange that the audio
commentary doesn't mention this, and Michael Wong maybe whispers that fact (and he acted in the
film ...) but Frank Djeng doesn't budge and insists that the American action takes place in Seattle, USA.

Above: Reversible sleeve

Innocent but illegal harbour worker Luk Wan-Ting (Yat Chor Yuen) accidently gets hold of a film roll
with information about corrupt CIA agents involved with drug smuggling. The Vancouver cops .... OK,
Seattle cops xxx and Donnie also, just like Cynthia's Lai-Ching, monitors the movements of the
chinese smugglers. Somehow young hothead and violence proned cop Donnie suspects poor Luk
Wan-Ting and arrests him and beats him up on an almost torture level.
Poor Luk is chased by both the police and the drug gangsters and Luk flees to Hong Kong by boat
whereby the action moves to another location, to Hong Kong.

Luk is still chased by the drugsters who wants the film roll and to kill Luk as he witnessed the boss
bad guy killing a cop in Vanco ... eeh, Seattle, and the US cops still wants him too as a suspected drug
criminal, and Hong Kong cop Lai-Ching wants him also, to protect him.
There are a lot of amazing action done the Yuen Woo-Ping way and some Donnie Yen stuff too, and
the western underlings that are called in to stop the police are delightfully skilled in martial arts, as
John Salvitti, Michael Woods and Female kung fu world champion farlie Ruth Kokdica.
Cynthia can be seen in a daring stunt on an ambulance, in a fight in an elevator shaft against the
blonde Kokdica fighter, and Donnie i.a. in a tough roof fight against Michael Woods.

Above: Old Hong Kong Universe DVD edition

The film is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and with cantonese 2.0 mono or english mono audio.
Region A release. English subtitles to be turned on and off from the remote.
Extras: Audio commentary with Frank Djerf and Michael Worth, Archive audio commentary with
Stefan Hammond and Michael Wong, Export version with classic english dub, Archive interview
with Donnie Yen (20 minutes, in english, 2001) and an Hong Kong and English trailer