Image quality is relatively fantastic for an indie flick. As original distrib Richard Ellman tells it, the source print was just sitting in his garage for thirty plus years. But you'd never know it. There is some degradation including minor pops, scratches and warping. But Image has cleaned up the print, removed most signs of aging and put it in a slick anamorphic presentation. The result is a crisp picture with vibrant colors that blows most DVD releases of its kind out of the water.

The original English-dubbed audio track has been digitally remastered, yet hasn't been noticeably altered.

Extras: The main bonus feature is something old school kung fu movie fans and anyone curious about the history of movie distribution MUST hear. It is an audio commentary by Richard Ellman, the original independent distributor of the movie and Dick Brummer, the original editor of the U.S. version. These guys are highly experienced industry professionals and offer enormous insight into the distribution of grind house-style movies during the 1970s, even though the only one they ever released was Fearless Fighters.

Their experience may have differed from more prolific distributors like Ocean Shores, but their comments still open wide many aspects of the world's first kung fu movie boom that few people know about today. They discuss everything from purchasing the film and receiving its elements to working in the studio with a small crew (including character actor James Hong as a voice actor) to make sense of the original translation, reedit and rewrite the movie, and dub it into English. Brummer goes into great detail on the editing process, while Ellman talks at length about the film's subsequent distribution in drive-in theaters and its box office successes.

Once the duo get most of the history out of the way in the first hour, they settle down to focus more on the onscreen action, while adding occasional insight. They're both laid back and entertaining to listen to. Their are periods of comfortable silence now and again, but its just their way of waiting for something of interest to say. Every now and then their memory fails them or they stray away from what they know best to fall into making uneducated assumptions about the wuxia genre for instance, of which they obviously know very little. But they possess such an honest love for the film, the genre and their work, of which they know a lot, that it's easy to forgive any mistakes. It's just important that listeners take their opinions about the significance of Fearless Fighters, especially with regard to modern wuxia films, with a grain of salt.

After listening to the entire commentary, I truly wish Ellman had released more martial arts movies back in the day. I'm also struck by the challenges distributors had in getting these movies released overseas. I now have a better appreciation for the work that's been done to make them not just marketable to Western audiences, but more entertaining than they might have been originally. The combination of this enjoyable movie and the comments of Ellman and Brummer just might be enough to make purists who think that Chinese martial arts movies should only be seen uncut and in their original language think twice.

As an added bonus, Ellman and Brummer also provide commentary on a collection of original U.S. trailers and TV spots that play together.