Like the Christopher Lee-starring Fu Manchu films that Harry Alan Towers produced concurrently in the ’60s, The Million Eyes of Sumuru features a character torn from the pages of the novels of Sax Rohmer. Sumuru (Goldfinger Bond girl Shirley Eaton) is a dastardly yet sexy mastermind who is hell bent on world domination by systematically replacing all the men at the head of the world powers with her very flexible and very deadly army of femme fatales. It is up to the wisecracking wiles of Nic West (aging B-movie star George Nader) and Tommy Carter (teen heartthrob Frankie Avalon) to head to Hong Kong and stop Sumuru before she can bring her earth-shattering plans to fruition.

You’re enjoyment of The Million Eyes of Sumuru will largely depend on how much you dig the far out sights and sounds of the sexy, swinging sixties. The camp levels are through the roof here. Between the hammy acting from Nader and Avalon to the neck-cracking thighs of the lady libertines, not to mention a ludicrously over-the-top Klaus Kinski in a smaller role as the leader of Hong Kong President Boong, this film is about as far from subtle as you can get. Shirley Eaton is having a ball as the titular madwoman which is a good thing since Nader and Avalon are about as electric as a block of soggy wood. Director Lindsay Shonteff (who made several spy films over the course of his career) is fully in his element here, making the most of pretty thin material, keeping the focus on the skimpily dressed women and keeping the pace light and breezy, certainly more than the darker and more murder-y Fu Manchu movies. It does flag a bit at times, particularly when Nader and Avalon are trying to work their stale mojo on some ditzy dames, but there’s always another fun set piece around the next corner.

Blue Underground gives us another wonderful UHD transfer taken from the original negative, this time in an extended edition with ten additional minutes. Sumuru is a brightly colored film and the 4K transfer really pops with vibrant colors and very solid, consistent black levels. The film’s grain levels are generally nicely balanced with little to no noticeable scratches or damage to the source. BU gives the option of viewing the film in either Dolby Vision or the more standard HDR, and it looks phenomenal either way (although Dolby Vision definitely looks clearer and more lifelike). The audio track provided is a nice clean mono source that represents the snazzy score and cheesy dialogue nicely with no distortion or hiss. As usual with these deluxe edition 4K releases, Blue Underground has stacked this set with lots of great extras. First we have two audio commentaries, one with film historians David Del Valle and Dan Marino, the other with film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth. They are both chocked full of info about the film, Harry Allan Towers, Lindsay Shonteff and the ’60s spy fad in general. There is some overlap between the two, but really you could just pick your favorite film scholars and you’ll get a great track to listen to either way. Additionally, the disc includes a feature-length documentary England’s Unknown Exploitation Film Eccentric: The Schlock-Cinema Legacy of Lindsay Shonteff, and it is an excellent overview of an underserved cult director’s film career. Shonteff’s horror film Devil Doll is a fun pulpy flick that doesn’t get enough love and his heist flick The Fast Kill (which is actually not discussed much in the documentary) is a great one that is criminally under seen. I absolutely love these kinds of extras that go the extra mile to build meaningful content to sink your teeth into. On top of all that, those beautiful bastards at BU have also included the hilarious Rifftrax version of the film. I absolutely love Rifftrax, and any disc that includes the riffed version of the movie is pretty much an instant buy for me.

With The Million Eyes of Sumuru, Blue Underground has graced us with another winning UHD upgrade, giving us this delightfully campy pulp romp of the swinging sixties with a heaping dollop of fantastic extras that should tide us over until the next great release they put out.