The Invisible Swordsman

[Finch]

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
High-Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original lossless Japanese mono audio
Optional newly translated English subtitles
Brand new audio commentary from author and Asian culture expert Jonathan Clements
The Invisible People, a brand new interview with film critic Kim Newman on the history of invisibility in cinema
Phantom Fighter, a brand new interview with film critic and Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jolyon Yates

[Maltic]

Sure, we already had Newman's take on invisible men (88 Films' Hollow Man and Arrow's The Invisible Man Appears), but this time he'll tackle invisibility per se.

[Orlac]

I wonder if this inspired the Shaw Brothers SHADOW GIRL?

[pzadvance]

This has 5 views on Letterboxd, one of the smallest view counts I’ve ever seen on there! Anybody seen this before?

[colinr0380]

According to Arrow's blurb, the film is being "released for the very first time in the home video market outside of Japan" with this release, so that might explain its low profile at the moment. Glad to see Jonathan Clements is finally succeeding in getting a commentary track onto a disc, after his Gunbuster commentaries failed to make it a year or two back!

[Maltic]

Clements is an Arrow regular at this point. Did Fist of Fury, Return of the Street Fighter, Heroes of the East etc.

[Grand Wazoo]

Even accepting this is a B-movie programmer aimed at children, it's an interminable slog at 78 minutes. A "comedy" duo (think Japanese Franco y Ciccio) is given extensive screentime and almost made me shut off the film. Outside of a few very brief fun floating effects, the invisibility conceit is barely played with beyond the obvious gags. Everyone is slumming it, and it's a shame as I thoroughly enjoyed Yoshiyuki Kuroda's Yokai Monster films which were similarly goofy but endlessly inventive. I'm fairly certain I know why this went undiscovered for so long outside of Japan. Whaddyagonnado.