El rostro de Fu Manchú

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.

...Death to Fu-Manchu!

And so begins this great movie! Well, maybe its not so great overall, but the opening sequence of this film rivals any other in intensity. After all, would you lay down face up for your own beheading? The fun thing about this movie is that every character, regardless of age or sex, avidly fist fights several times throughout the picture. Bottom line is... great fun to watch, just don't take it too seriously.

First outing about the terrifying exploits of the mystic Fu Manchu. Sax Rohmer's fiendish 'Yellow Peril' revived and performed straight in a beautifully designed, competently paced and genuinely exciting thriller. At the film there are adventures, action, thrills, sadism and atmospheric outdoors filmed in London and country exteriors. Produced , as usual, in medium budget by Harry Allan Towers and also written under pseudonym of Peter Breck . Christopher Lee excels in this first chapter as the evil powerful Fu Manchu , the ominous genius who doesn't give up easily, and is out to destroy world or bent on conquering it. This time has designed a fantastic scheme , he returns with a plot to contaminate the River Thames with a powerful toxin extracted from Tibetan poppies. Along the way, abducted people and beautiful girls are tortured by Fumanchu and his nasty daughter (T Sai Chin) . Inspector Nayland Smith (an excelently imperturbable Nigel Green) of Scotland Yard is his perennial adversary and arch-nemesis , he takes the center of attention when undergoes the dangerous mission. Nayland Smith is assigned the case along with his assistant Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford) and helped by Carl Jannsen (Joachim Fuchsberger), all of them go into the action . The most evil man the world has ever known! Fiendish! Fantastic! Frightening! The sinister minister of fear is here! Who dares look into The Face of Fu Manchu?. Obey Fu Manchu... or every living thing will die!

This is a bizarre blending of thriller, suspense, action , intrigue and fantastic adventure . This exciting, diverting picture is full of Chinese killers, British adventurers , abducted scientist and megalomaniac villains . Christopher Lee with his usual stoic acting as Fu displays efficiently his abilities and killing mercilessly people. Fine 1920s atmosphere with good sets and old vehicles. Chinoiserie sets are notable, even better are the locations, so carefully chosen for their twenties' period, like the great chase with rattletrap cars speeding along cobbled alleys while the pilot of a pursuing aeroplane leans, entrancingly, over the side to drop his squat, fin-tailed bombs by hand. Good performance by Nigel Green as Nyland Smith who in subsequent episodes was interpreted by Douglas Wilmer, and, Richard Greene, as always supported by Dr. Petri from ministry of Interior played by Howard Marion Crawford. The villain T Sai Chin stands out as Fu Manchu's daughter. International and cosmopolitan support cast formed by European actors from diverse countries, such as: Joachim Fuchsberger, James Robertson Justice, Tsai Chin , Ric Young, Walter Rilla and gorgeous Karin Dor who was the wife of producer Harry Allan Towers.

Fu Manchu-Christopher Lee series usually set in London and loosely based on Sax Rohmer's characters were the following: The best installments were ¨Face of Fu Manchu (1965, Don Sharp)¨, and ¨Brides of Fu Manchu ( 1966, Don Sharp)¨, the latter not as nice as ¨Face of Fumanchu¨-also by Don Sharp- but is still amusing and entertaining. And followed by the very inferior sequels: ¨Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967 by Jeremy Summers ) and most critics felt the outing ¨Blood of Fumanchu¨ was one of the weakest entries along with ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨, both of them directed by Jess Frank with similar casting , plenty of stock-shots and a Z-series style. Rating The Face of Fu Manchu (1965) : 6/10, acceptable. A witty, fun, stylish, and a treat to watch first installment.

Hit and run independent film financier Harry Alan Towers made his bid for the big time in 1965. Spending more money than he ever had (or would) again, scouting attractive international locations, hiring respected craftsmen and actors and launching a multi-million dollar publicity campaign to promote his pet project. "The Face of Fu Manchu", the unlikely recipient of all this attention, represents a plateau to which Towers would never aspire again.

After publicly purchasing the pulp adventure novels of Sax Rohmer, Towers signed horror film icon Christopher Lee to a six-picture deal as the title menace. As director, Towers hired Don Sharp, maker of numerous elegant, effective horror films and probably the most talented director to put his name on a Towers contract. Writing the script himself under his nom de cinema Peter Welbeck, Towers ignored the plots of all the Rohmer novels and concocted his own. The film wisely retains the period setting of early-twentieth century London (which required shooting in Dublin, for the sake of authenticity), but alters the deductive tone of the books in favor of action sequences in the style of the James Bond films, which were then in their first flush of international success.

The finished film is beautiful to see, filmed in technicolor and cinemascope, it truly looks more expensive than it is. Encouraged, Towers launched an expensive international publicity campaign whose most notable stunt was wallpapering election-year New York City with oversized "Fu Manchu For Mayor" posters

In the end, "Face" failed to return enough money to justify the huge outlay spent in making and promoting it. The film seemed to please no one: fans of the series were outraged by the James Bondian gunplay, fights and car chases, while Bond fans were alienated by the period trappings (1920s cars just don't go that fast!). More likely, this type of film just did not have the potential to reach the mainstream audience needed to make it a success.

Although Towers continued the series, the films would steadily decline in quality, from the high point of "Face" to the home-movie calibre of the final entry, "Castle of Fu Manchu".

The legendary Boris Karloff played the fiendish Dr. Fu Manchu back in 1932. Who else than Christopher Lee would be able to bring this notorious screen-villain back to life? Karloff and Lee both have an amazing charisma and disguised in many evil characters before…The Yellow Peril Dr. Fu Manchu surely is one that speaks most to the imagination. In this first film of the new series, Dr. Fu Manchu hypnotized a look-alike of his and this person was decapitated. While everybody initially believes Fu Manchu is dead, vicious events start to happen again. The clever archenemy of Fu Manchu, Scotland Yard's Nayland Smith, once again opens the hunt for this diabolical doctor.

The Face of Dr. Fu Manchu isn't a very suspenseful film and the script (written by the legendary producer Harry Alan Towers) hasn't got any compelling aspects to offer. Yet, it's enormous fun to see Lee act at his fiendish best and horror fans will enjoy watching all his terrific torturing-tricks! Director Don Sharp (also known for his brilliantly insane film `Psychomania') makes great use of the ominous locations and the scenery and all the rest is up to Lee and a surprisingly good performance by Nigel Green! The Face of Fu Manchu meant the start of a new series of film, all starring Lee as the abominable Dr. Four sequels followed, of which the last two were directed by Jess `Godfather of Sleaze' Franco. Every single film is worth watching only because they're so much fun! Don't ever expect a masterpiece, though! If you do desire to stumble upon a masterpiece, track down `The Mask of Fu Manchu' starring Boris Karloff.