7.6 /10 1 Votes
89% Rotten Tomatoes Produced by Runme Shaw Music by Frankie Chan Initial release 1975 (USA) Screenplay Ni Kuang Initial DVD release 31 March 2006 (Germany) | 6.4/10 IMDb Directed by Hua Shan Written by Ni Kuang Cinematography Tadashi Nishimoto Director Shan Hua Music director Frankie Chan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Danny Lee
Wang Hsieh
Terry Lau
Yuan Man-tzu
Bruce Le
Kong Yeung
Dana Shum
Lin Wen-wei
Lu Sheng
Fanny Leung Cast Danny Lee, Hsieh Wang, Bruce Le, Hui‑Ju Liu, Man‑Tzu Yuan Similar Hong Kong movies, Martial arts movies, Science fiction movies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The super inframan 1975 shaw brothers official trailer
The Super Inframan (Chinese: 中國超人, translated literally as Chinese Superman) is a 1975 Hong Kong science fiction action film produced by Shaw Brothers Studio in 1975. Inspired by the huge success of the Japanese tokusatsu franchises such as Ultraman and Kamen Rider in Hong Kong, this film features the same type of "henshin"/transformation, monster/robot action and costumed derring-do, coupled with Chinese kung fu action.
Contents
- The super inframan 1975 shaw brothers official trailer
- Plot
- The Protagonists
- The Antagonists
- Ice Monsters
- The Powers of Inframan
- Critical reception
- References
This film also has some historical importance:
The film was directed by Hua Shan, written by science fiction writer Ni Kuang, produced by Runme Shaw and the cinematography was by Tadashi Nishimoto. There was also assistance from Japan, also; Music from Ultra Seven (1967) and Mirrorman (1971) (both composed by Toru Fuyuki) is used in this film. And the Inframan/Science Headquarters/monster costumes were provided by Ekisu Productions, which had done costumes for many Toei Superhero shows of the same period. The film also starred Danny Lee as the superhero himself, and Bruceploitation star Bruce Le in a supporting role (He still got to display some of his martial art skills in many scenes of the film).
The following year, Joseph Brenner brought this film to the US, and retitled it simply Infra-Man (or Inframan), with the advertising campaign slogan "The Man Beyond Bionics!" attempting to capitalize upon the Six Million Dollar Man's success on American network television at the time.
In 2004, the film was released on DVD in Japan and Hong Kong.
Plot
In 2015, Demon Princess Elzebub awakens from 10 million years of dormancy and plots to conquer the Earth. She destroys a few major cities in China to prove her power to a terror-stricken humanity. Returning to her lair in Inner-Earth, she awakens her army of Skeleton Ghosts and various ferocious mutant humanoids to wreak havoc on the surface.
But there is hope at the high-tech Science Headquarters, run by Professor Liu Ying-de. He has at long last completed and is prepared to use the BDX Project: In the HQ's secret laboratory, he transforms Lei Ma, a high-ranking SH officer, into the bionic kung fu superhero, Inframan. Able to perform impossible feats, as well as being equipped with death-dealing weapons, the solar-powered red & silver armored Inframan is mankind's only hope against Elzebub and her army of devils.
Once Inframan destroys the princess's various monsters, she decides to steal the professor's blueprints of Inframan in hope of discovering his weakness. Meanwhile, the professor introduces a new weapon to add to Inframan arsenal. Thunderball Fists are gloves capable of destroying any substance known to man as well as covering up Inframan's weakness. The princess decides to coerce the professor. Capturing the professor's daughter, the princess blackmails the professor into creating an Inframan for her. The professor agrees to go to Mount Devil for a meeting. When the professor refuses to make another Inframan, he and his daughter are frozen. Inframan and the science patrol decide to rescue both which leads to the climatic battle between Inframan and Princess Elzebub.
The Protagonists
The Antagonists
Ice Monsters (冰河怪獸)
The film was released on VHS under both Prism Entertainment and Goodtimes Entertainment. In the Goodtimes Home Video version of the American opening credits, an additional section was added in between the title and the cast & crew from the Prism version, giving the film the subtitle "Battles The Sci-Fi Monsters" in an attempt to appeal more to fans of that titular genre. In this additional but misleading sequence, short snippets from the film are used to introduce and inaccurately name the villains of the film.
Princess Dragon Mom is given the name WICKED DRAGON MOM, and her alternative monster form is giving a separate name of GIANT FLYING LIZARD.
Mutant Drill is given the name THE DRILLER BEAST .
Plant Monster is given the name THE MUTANT OCTOPUS .
Long-Haired Monster is given the name THE LASER HORN MONSTER.
Fire Dragon is given the name EMPEROR OF DOOM.
Iron Armor Monsters is given the name IRON-FISTS MONSTERS.
Spider Monster is given the name THE GIANT BEETLE MONSTER.
Witch-Eye/She-Demon and The Skeleton Ghosts are omitted from this sequence.
The Powers of Inframan
Lei Ma throws his arms into a Kamen Rider-like "henshin"/transforming pose, and says:
His powers & attacks are (Mandarin/Cantonese):
Critical reception
Roger Ebert, on his 7 March 1976 review for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film three stars out of four, concluding "The movie even looks good: It's a classy, slick production by the Shaw Brothers, the Hong Kong kung fu kings. When they stop making movies like Infra-Man, a little light will go out of the world."
On 30 April 1999, after Quentin Tarantino re-released Mighty Peking Man in North America, Ebert upgraded his rating for the film to three stars, explaining that "I find to my astonishment that I gave 'Infra-Man only two and a half stars when I reviewed it. That was 22 years ago, but a fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that film. I am awarding Mighty Peking Man three stars, for general goofiness and a certain level of insane genius, but I cannot in good conscience rate it higher than Infra-Man. So, in answer to those correspondents who ask if I have ever changed a rating on a movie: Yes, Infra-Man moves up to three stars."