Blue Underground: Circle of Iron (1978) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Blue Underground

Blue Underground in recent months have begun branching out into the exclusive limited 4K steelbook arena starting with Ralph Bakshi’s 1983 animated medieval fantasy epic Fire and Ice and now appropriately continuing the subgenre theme with The Silent Flute aka Circle of Iron.  Originally conceived as a story by Bruce Lee with James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant in 1969 before Lee’s death in 1973 with Stanley Mann stepping in to finish the screenplay with the role originally intended for Lee taken over by then Kung Fu Tv star David Carradine, it is a fantasy adventure odyssey with traces of Enter the Dragon or Game of Death in theory which unfortunately play out in practice closer to Yor, the Hunter from the Future or Ator, the Fighting Eagle. 

 
Featuring Christopher Lee, Eli Wallach and Roddy McDowall in supporting roles that don’t do a whole lot to prop up our leading man heroic stereotype played by Jeff Cooper, Circle of Iron opened to largely negative reviews and poor box office returns before being forgotten.  That is until Bill Lustig and Blue Underground who previously kicked out an overproduced 7.1 surround mixed Blu-ray of the film in 2009 decided to go back and not only do it over again this time in 4K with an Atmos bump but in steelbook form with a limited lenticular slipcover.  Touted on MVD Shop’s site as a webstore exclusive, the two-disc set ports over many of the extras from the 2009 release along with many newly discovered and rendered supplements including a new audio commentary with Frank Djeng and Chris Poggiali.  As an avid collector of Blue Underground titles I feel conflicted about this release which is beautifully packaged and prepared but consists of more or less a middling misfire that wasn’t good then and still isn’t now.

 
Following a martial arts tournament, a hotheaded barbarian named Cord (Jeff Cooper) makes quick and easy work of all his competitors dishonorably in an effort to challenge Zetan (Christopher Lee) the wizard housing the book of enlightenment.  Disqualified with the seemingly battered and bruised Morthond (Anthony De Longis) taking the honor, Cord decides to trail his opponent which leads him to crossing paths with a blind flutist who seemingly does away with adversaries in a superhuman manner with skill and grace.  The flutist only known as the Blind Man (David Carradine) sends Cord on a series of trials beginning with defeating the Monkeyman (also Carradine in an ape costume) before encountering a man half submerged in a cauldron of oil played by Eli Wallach.  Eventually Cord’s journey leads him into the arms of Tara (Erica Creer), one of traveling master Chang-Sha’s (Carradine again) many wives for the obligatory sex and nudity montages. 

 
From Academy Award winning cinematographer Richard Moore who won the Oscar in 1959 for developing the MGM Camera 65 process used to shoot Ben-Hur of all things, Circle of Iron represents Moore’s sole directorial effort.  Supposedly originally intended by Lee to be directed by Roman Polanski who wanted to shoot the film in India and abandoned the project when that didn’t happen, the film is mostly remembered for David Carradine’s many costumes, contact lenses and the trademark flute which the actor sported once again in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 as a tribute.  A movie which curiously gave its principal cast members debilitating injuries which doesn’t really come out on the screen in spite of the choreography and somewhat washed out 1.85:1 cinematography by, again, an Oscar winner with Gandhi winner Ronnie Taylor coupled with a generic score by otherwise legendary Picnic at Hanging Rock composer Bruce Smeaton, Circle of Iron starts and proceeds without ever really getting going. 

 
Released in 1978 to entirely negative reviews and weak box office returns of around $2.6 million, The Silent Flute aka Circle of Iron did not go over well when it initially came out but has since garnered something of a cult following among Bruce Lee completists as a curiosity of what might’ve been.  Blue Underground’s souped up Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision HDR encoded disc looks and sounds nice especially in scenes where the blind flutist is whacking adversaries upside the head with his musical instrument but otherwise mostly sounds like blown out mono.  Extras are plentiful with many carrying over from the 2009 Blu-ray while some new items have come about in this new 2026 reissue. 

 
Though limited to 4,000 copies and billed as an epic dream project of Bruce Lee’s he never lived to see, something tells me this will neither sell out nor live up to the promise associated with having Bruce Lee’s name on the credits.  It represents a nice package and Blue Underground have gone out of their way to produce a beautiful and stylish looking package but the film itself is a dud.  Sorry, it is.  The disparity between the sleeve design and the product itself indeed has me a bit wary of Bill Lustig’s boutique label.  Here’s hoping their next steelbook package is a lot better in terms of content and cult interest.  For the murderer’s row of talent involved on and offscreen, this should’ve been a success rather than a curiosity. 

--Andrew Kotwicki