No, Lenzi didn't direct "Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave"

[VHS/Japan/English dub/Japanese subs]
[click scan for bigger size]

In Fred's comments to the "The ONLY real Bruce Le" post he asked about an Umberto Lenzi "directed" Bruceploitation film. The film in question is BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM THE GRAVE (aka Bruce Lee Fights Back From Grave) and I thought I might as well post about it and dismiss the rumours/wrong info once and for all (and obviously because of the wide spread recognition of this blog every little fan will now stop calling it a Lenzi film).

In fact BRUCE LEE FIGHTS BACK FROM GRAVE is really a Korean film entitled VISITOR TO AMERICA from 1976 which was directed by Doo Yong-lee. According to Dvdmaniacs member James Lee it was US distributor Aquarius who spliced in the "Bruce Lee" opening where he returns from the grave. Btw, it doesn't actually star Bruce Le but Bruce K.L. Lea! One of the other Bruce Lee clones, haha.

I posted about the film over at Dvdmaniacs forum a couple of years back and one member (incidentally me mate in Valby, Copenhagen; Diabolik aka Hans-Jørn, collector extraordinaire of Danish ex-rental video tapes) dismissed the Lenzi connection. Hans-Jørn posted this (which I sincerely hope is alright to post here as well):

By Diabolik/Hans-Jørn [first posted on Dvdmaniacs forum]

A few years back I was corresponding with Alberto Farina (Son of Corrado 'Baba Yaga' Farina) regarding an interview with his father... I'd just found the 'Bruce Lee'-film in a secondhand shop and was puzzled by the Bert Lenzi-credit and the missing 'Lenzi-touch'... So I wrote to Alberto asking if he knew anything about this film... Being such a nice fella', he phoned Lenzi;

[...]OK, the first results of my research is that you can definitely rule out this title from Lenzi's filmography. I just had a brief phone chat with Mr. Lenzi himself and he denies any involvement with this title.

He said he'd heard about it already - I was not the first to ask.
However, although he has shot movies within almost EVERY movie genre that ever existed, he has never directed any karate movie. He only mentioned the movie he shot in the far East -"Il paese del sesso selvaggio", shot in Thailand (the working title was "L'uomo del fiume profondo") which, in his words, "would later spawn the cannibal subgenre", in which, I may add, Lenzi himself would have feasted in the 80's.

"Bert Lenzi" never existed as a Lenzi pseudo. He thinks it must have been one of those tricks played by ruthless video distributors to cash on his popularity.[...]

/HJ

For the original thread go here.

PS: Incidentally, there is also a HK movie entitled KUNG FU FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE. XD