The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)

The ultra-prolific Christopher Lee managed to find time in the 60's to appear in a series of films based around the Chinese master criminal Fu Manchu. I have seen all of them aside from The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967) and have to say that I have found them to be a disappointingly dull series of movies. In fact, the only one I actually enjoyed was the Jess Franco directed entry The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969), which seems to have the reputation as the worst but which I inexplicably found to be the best! This no doubt says more about me than anything but there you go. Anyway, The Face of Fu Manchu seems to have been the one which got the ball rolling and could therefore be considered the template entry of the 60's strand of these films. It opens in China where we witness Fu Manchu being executed. Needless to say he re-appears later on (was anyone really surprised about this) and captures a scientist and his daughter, he uses the latter to coerce the former into developing a deadly poisonous gas which he intends to use to nefarious effect in the UK. And somehow this will lead on to him ruling the world or something.The production values here are not too bad for a low budget effort. The period detail sort of hides the cheapness to some extent even if it still sort of feels like it's really the 60's more than the 20's in this one. The main issue though is that it is all just a little too routine and by-the-numbers. Nothing surprising ever really happens and it does become increasingly tedious as it progresses. It's still one of the better 60's Fu Manchu movies though, although given the less than stellar competition I don't think this can be taken as a fully endorsed recommendation.

Sax Rohmer's fiendish menace from the Orient, the diabolical Dr. Fu Manchu, springs to life on the silver screen embodied by the decidedly European Christopher Lee in this, the first of five fiendish flicks of fright.I find it very hard to take these films seriously, coming back to them after Steve Coogan and Mark Gatiss' superb parody in "Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible". I almost expected the legendary Mr. Lee to come out with lines like 'Something has happened to my Woo-Woo', or indeed 'You have walked into my trap, and now the time has come for me to shut my trap'. However, Lee is superb as always, with able support from the lovely Tsai Chin as Lin Tang, deadly daughter of Fu Manchu. These menaces from the East are ranged against Nigel Green as Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard, and Howard Marion Crawford as his stalwart sidekick Dr. Petrie, who must stop their plan to distil the deadly poison of the Tibetan black hill poppy.Despite an obvious limited budget, with Dublin standing in for 1920s Limehouse, the film holds up well. Co-production cash from Germany means we get a decidedly Teutonic supporting cast (including the gorgeous Karin Dor, probably best known as Helga Brandt in "You Only Live Twice" - costarring Tsai Chin, funnily enough). One of the biggest distractions for me, however, was the sight of Jim Norton, Bishop Brennan of "Father Ted", in the small role of the professor's driver.All good pulpy fun, from the days when it was acceptable to "yellow up" a white actor to play an Asian. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

There's a long winded list of Fu Manchu films going back to the 1920s up until 1980, but director Don Sharp and producer/writer Harry Alan Towers' 1965 matinée crime mystery adventure "The Face of Fu Manchu" starring Nigel Green and Christopher Lee in the title role happened to be my first encounter of the callous mastermind Fu Manchu. Quite a low-budget fare, but what makes it a fun outing is Sharp's precisely lean direction makes good use of the detailed location work and moves at a cracking pace (since the chase between nemesis's is a race against the clock) blending together the unpredictable nature of the unfolding narrative/tough action rather well, while upfront actor Nigel Green gives a stellar performance as the persistent detective Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard. Green breathes confidence, and the hearty script ably compels and allows for the strong performances. Lee fits in the calculative role of Manchu and the likes of Tsai Chin and Howard Marion Crawford are durable in their roles. The venturesome tone is bathed in a comic book frame, but I found the music score to be intrusively cued and the conclusion to be somewhat anticlimactic to the actual build-up.

Bought this film for 5 bucks so I was expecting to be disappointed. Pleasantly surprised however!! I recommend that if you watch this film you should view Fu Manchu as the hero and Smith the villain, they're both as mad as hatters anyway! And Manchu as the hero makes the film much more entertaining and watchable! You'll find yourself rooting for him! Don't believe me? Try it!! Christopher Lee is a weird choice to play a Chinese criminal mastermind (or is he a genius?) but considering the era the film was made, who else could they have cast? An actual Chinese? Not bloody likely!!! We're British!!!