The Young Bruce Lee is one of the more puzzling knock-off productions. It compiles footage of the real thing (culled from films he made as a child and trailers for his adult films) and combines it with footage of Lee imitator Bruce Le. The film itself is of some interest for showing the very young Lee acting in films like Kid Cheung.

The main problem with The Young Bruce Lee is a technical one. The audio and video are so incredibly poor that the film is basically unwatchable. It's hard to imagine that any self-respecting company could let this disc out the door without feeling a bit of guilt. It's possible that better materials aren't available but that doesn't excuse this release.

As for the film itself, it is really only of interest to Bruce Lee fanatics. The early footage is interesting for about one minute. After that it becomes very repetitive. If someone wanted to release these early films on their own then perhaps viewers could get into them but chopped up here they really say nothing. And the imitation fights are mostly very weak. None of Bruce Lee's loose style or wit is evident in Le's clumsy moves. Viewers would definitely be better of checking out Return of the Dragon, The Chinese Connection or Enter the Dragon.

VIDEO:
This non-anamorphic pseudo widescreen (is it really widescreen when there are dark blurry blobs at the top and bottom of the screen?) is among the worst I've ever seen. Indistinct images, highly damaged film elements, video dropouts, compression problems and just about every other problem you can have with video are evident here. Just awful.

AUDIO:
The audio is equally horrendous. The English narration is indecipherable and the dubbed English soundtrack for the film clips is garbled. I could rarely tell what anyone was saying.

EXTRAS:
Oddly, the disc is jam-packed with extras, although they mostly suffer from the same problems. The first is a totally garbled commentary from Lee's first student, Jesse Glover. Unlistenable.

There's an interview with another Lee student, Leo Fong, which is clearer and is pretty interesting.

Something that's billed as an early television kung fu demonstration is actually an appearance by Lee in Kato character for a Green Horney spoof skit. A fun extra, if typically low quality.

"Remembering Bruce: A Tour of Seattle" is hosted by Jesse Glover and is basically a home video. It's a nice look at where Bruce's early American experiences took place but could definitely have been produced more professionally with minimal effort.

There's a piece on Lee's ancestral village where the modest Bruce Lee museum was the first step to reclaiming the man as a national treasure. It's interesting to note that for all the years that Lee was a huge international star tight cultural control in China kept him virtually unknown.

A short piece called "In The Dragon's Footsteps," shows Tommy Carruthers, a Scottish martial artist who Lee student Jesse Glover feels has the abilities of the master. The narration is once again garbled to the point of oblivion.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you're a real Bruce Lee fan and you're prepared to deal with below-par picture and audio then you might want to check this out. With a better film I'd be willing to overlook the poor technicals and at least suggest a rental, but the material here seems to be as weak as the presentation. With as huge a star as Bruce Lee you'd think someone might take up the task of restoring his early work. We'll see if that ever happens.