the owl (?) is a mysterious character, who steals and kidnaps, then holds an annual auction where a select group of people get to bid on his spoils. one year, someone is't too impressed with his offerings and says that he wants the king's 36th concubine to be available at the next auction. never one to turn down a challenge, the owl swiftly obliges and whisks her from the palace. after an lacklustre search, the king turns to one of his most trusted royal guards for help; unfortunately, he's dead, so he sends his son, fan shik ling (david chiang), in his place...

fan then turns to two men his father told him that he could always count on, only to discover that they have retired, but their sons, hsiao li (barry chan) and shark (eric tsang) reluctantly agree to join him. and so their quest begins...

watching this, it seems strange that david chiang, who has starred in many, many films, wasn't more prolific behind the camera. on the evidence of this (and 'double fattiness', which i also remember enjoying) he seems to have quite a good hand, when it comes to directing comedy. for 1981, even if it does steal a couple of jokes directly from 'airplane', it's a pretty slick production; the use of music is handled really well and the mixture of physical, visual and dialogue gags works well. chiang, chan and tsang also have a good onscreen rapport and there's even some decent action as well as the more slapstick fare on offer.

good stuff...