Two men representing the Chinese and the Japanese face off in a duel to the death! Great fights and easily one of the best HK films to feature the Mysterious Ninja! (along with Five Element Ninjas aka Super Ninjas)

Aside from Tsui Siu Keung, I have no idea what the main cast's names are. I'll just quote from the box: Liu Sung Yen and Flora Cheong, star as the Chinese swordsman and the swordswoman. Actors who I did recognise were Casanova Wong, wearing a ridiculous grey wig and Wilson Tong in a cameo appearance as the guy who kills the puppeteer and than gets killed himself.

• Tsui Siu Keung has starred in countless films including Tiger on the Beat (w/Chow Yun Fat), Descendants of Wing Chun and Wing Chun (w/ Michelle Yeoh). For more swordsplay with Siu Keung, check out Bastard Swordsman and What Price Survival.
• The BBFC have cut the UK Made in Hong Kong release by 5 seconds.

Having never seen the movie in its entirety (I had only seen clips on Golden Harvest's Best of the Martial Arts) I eagerly purchased this dvd despite probably paying a few quid more than I should of.

Hmmm...I'm not an expert on dvd quality but I thought there were some problems in certain scenes. The print used for mastering is of an excellent quality however some scenes were overly colourful and others overly bright. This defect was very noticeable in the scenes set at night. It's not a major problem though it did annoy me quite a bit. Aside from this the movie is in its proper widescreen ratio.

Audio is in synch for all three languages. A fine job.

The trailer and four additional trailers for Magnificent Butcher, Naked Killer, Last Hurrah for Chivalry and Heroes shed no tears. Typical Hong Kong extras for 'minor' Mega Star releases.

Despite slight picture problems, this is still worth having since it's likely to be the best quality version available. If you're fan of the swordsplay genre then I highly recommend it!

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