Say what bad things you want to about Fu Manchu.
Sure he wants world domination, blows up cities, kidnaps nubile daughters
of scientists, throws victims into snake pits and always seems to have some
people hanging in the courtyard but he is a hell of a good father. He strongly
believes in Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. And gives her some responsibilities.
In the beginning of this film four men who resisted Fu Manchu are brought
before him for their punishment. He generously and fatherly tells Lin Tang
(Tsai Chin) you chose their fate. Oh thank you daddy. Let's see. This one
should be strangled and is before her eyes. The next one annoys her more
and she has him beheaded. The next she hypnotizes into killing the fourth
man. But she has further devious plans for that third man.
These Christopher Lee Fu Manchu films are good fun so far. This being the
third. Though from 60 years in the future you wish they had been a lot more
exploitive, perverse and violent. The Chinese location shooting in this film
was done with the co-operation of Shaw Studios and it makes you wish they
had handed over the directorial reins to Chang Cheh. It would have been cool
to see Nayland Smith litter the ground with dead bodies ala Jimmy Wang-yu.
Even Lo Wei would have spiced it up some. Certainly Fu Manchu's castle would
have had better décor. Smith is played for the second time by Douglas
Wilmer who was at the time most famous for his Sherlock Holmes in a TV series
that ran from 1964 to 1965. His profile is certainly Sherlockian but his
acting is understated to a fault. At one point in the film Nayland is replaced
by a lookalike - that third man - who is somnambulant through hypnosis
and it is hard to tell the difference.
Fu Manchu isolated in his castle deep in China has come up with another dastardly
plan. Replace all the police chiefs in Europe with hypnotized men who have
been surgically made to look like them. Have them kill someone and be executed.
And kidnap the real chiefs, bring them to his castle by freighter and execute
them on the same day as the man in Europe. Hmmm. I see a few flaws in that
plan to dominate the world. Kind of slow and people may notice that the same
thing is happening all over Europe. And won't the chiefs just be replaced?
Not sure how this leads to world domination but if Fu Manchu says so, I have
to believe. Meanwhile, crime is going global and the American crime families
are organizing crime all over the world to be led not by an American, but
by Fu Manchu. In the middle of China. He is hooked up to receive news
though it first has to be inscribed on Chinese scrolls for Fu to read. Seems
to be an unnecessary step and leaves room for error.
There are some nice bits in the film though not as outlandish as I would
have liked. Torture? Check. Kidnapping? Check. Burn a village down for no
reason? Check. Capture Nayland Smith? Check. Nayland Smith escapes and foils
his plans? Check. All good stuff but best is Maria Rohm looking like a million
bucks with diamonds on top. She is part of the gang though she gets stuck
in a nightclub in Shanghai as a singer. My guess is that the men who are
there are not really there for the entertainment but for the lovely ladies
that stand about. For conversation. Most are sailors and it has been a while
since they got to talk to a woman. With her bright blond hair, stunning well
lit face and décolletage, she stands out over everyone. Except Fu
Manchu. Everybody ends up at the castle except Smith's companion Petrie who
has been left behind in London wondering why that Nayland Smith doesn't talk
to him. Interesting that the concept of the Yellow Peril came back in the
1960's with these film just as America was entering into Vietnam. The way
things are going these days - enmity with China and the covid outbreak and
anti-Asian prejudice that produced, I am glad that at least there has been
no return of Fu Manchu.
