The Vengeance of Fu Manchu

In the 60's series of five Fu Manchu movies made by Cristhoper Lee as the Chinese fiend, this is the one in the middle, without the direction of Don Sharp (replaced by Jeremy Summers) who made the better two entries. It's still an interesting movie, Fu Manchu tries to ruin his enemy reputation by replacing him with a killer lookalike (done with a complicated facial surgery) and, as usual, planning world domination as the boss of a new international organization. Douglas Wilmer shines as Nayland Smith or the zombie-like killer, Lee is perfect as usual and the always reliable Howard Marion Crawford as Dr. Petrie (a character clearly inspired by Conan Doyle's Dr. Watson) got some good moments too. Sadly, after "Vengeance" trashy Spanish director Jesus Franco took the series for the last two film, the less interesting entries by far.

This is the third film in the revived Fu Manchu series from hit-and-run international film financier Harry Alan Towers. It represents yet another step down in this steadily deteriorating series. Towers' first mistake was in replacing director Don Sharp with Jeremy Summers, a TV-director whose only other theatrical credit was Gerry & the Pacemakers' feature "Ferry Cross the Mersey". His next mistake was filming in less-than ideal international locations, a characteristic of most of Towers' subsequent productions.

Filmed in Hong Kong, the film manages to pass up every opportunity for location flavor; the cramped film could have been made on any soundstage in the world. For reasons unknown, Summers chose to shoot with live sound on Hong Kong's non-soundproofed stages and, in the sceneof a delicate medical operation conducted, supposedly, in the bowels of a Tibetan temple, construction noises and traffic sounds are clearly audible.

The part of nominal star Christopher Lee is essentially an extended cameo. Instead, the film highlights Maria Rohm, Towers' German-born wife, who has never made a film for anyone but her husband. Here, she has one of her showiest roles as a nightclub singer, wearing a variety of glamorous costumes and lip syncing two awful songs performed on the soundtrack by Samantha Jones.

Ironically, this would be the only film in the series given USA release through a major distributor: Warner Brothers. But they held it low regard: a number of release prints were struck in black and white and it played on the bottom half of a double bill with "The Shuttered Room".

Lin Tang doesn't sit at the feet of Fu Manchu anymore - she got promoted and takes a throne at his side now. Can't say that the movie moves up a level, though, if I compare it to its predecessors. The 3rd one of the series was the first one not directed by Don Sharp, it was most likely not made with the same production time and budget, and the story is, mildly put, simple. Fu Manchu wants revenge on his personal enemy Nayland Smith, and afterwards achieve world domination, of course. Some unnecessary things are stretching the story to 80+ minutes, such as the tavern brawl with the sailors or the introduction of Horst Frank as an additional villain. Fu Manchu asks him to do the torturing for one day as if he thought he must give this character something to do. Peter Carsten gets a better role as a gangster who is joining the good guys after his downfall. Although it is impressive to see the impersonator of Nayland Smith become a murderer under Fu Manchu's command, showing absolutely no emotion and not saying a word during his trial, one can't help wondering why the judge and lawyers didn't think he might be hypnotized or something like that. Did they just think he must be the shy type of guy who doesn't talk much? The green misty hills of Ireland are posing successfully for China again, compliments for the choice of locations. Voted 7/8/5/7/4 for the five movies.

After THE FACE OF FU MANCHU (1965), the first and best of the 5 film series devoted to Sax Rohmer's Oriental villain and produced by Harry Alan Towers, my second favorite is the third film in the series, THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU (1967). Unlike the first two which were directed by Brit B movie auteur Don Sharp, this film was helmed by Brit TV veteran Jeremy Summers who that same year directed Vincent Price in HOUSE OF 1000 DOLLS and Bob Cummings in 5 GOLDEN DRAGONS.

Summers brings a TV director's pacing and no-nonsense approach to the material which is a real plus when the script is less than it should be. As an old theatre director I worked with used to say... "If you can't be good, be fast". VENGEANCE also benefits from the location shooting in Hong Kong which helps to lend an air of authenticity to the proceedings. Also the use of predominantly Asian actors as Fu's minions (not the case with the other titles in this series) adds an extra element of credibility.

Douglas Wilmer returns as Fu's nemesis Nayland Smith having replaced Nigel Green after the first film. This time around he has very little to do as he is mostly catatonic throughout most of the movie. That's because he's actually someone else who has been surgically altered to look like Nayland Smith and is programmed to kill his Chinese housekeeper and then shut down. He is arrested for murder and convicted and sentenced to be executed. Throughout the proceedings he does nothing to defend himself, leaving his friends baffled.

This one aspect of the plot seems to bother most people concerning this film (surely Dr Petrie could spot him as a fake) but logic is hardly a primary component in a Fu Manchu story and so it didn't bother me. A few years earlier a similar plot was used on THE OUTER LIMITS. I just went where the movie took me which is how I watch films whether they are good or bad. In the end, of course, good triumphs over evil and Fu is left uttering his famous line "The World Shall Hear From Me Again."

This Warner Archive DVD-R looks very good for a non-restoration and the soundtrack is loud and clear. The one disadvantage of a Warner DVD-R is that there are no subtitles which are always a great help in understanding what is going on and for picking up dialogue that you might have missed. For those concerned with political correctness, if you're watching a Fu Manchu movie then you have no business complaining about Asian stereotyping or Christopher Lee as the Oriental arch-villain. It's Saturday Matinee time and that's all this movie was ever meant to be...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

This is an exciting and suspenseful , though mediocre Fu Manchu movie , but still enjoyable . It's a little boring , but is better than following entries , the low-budgeted and lackluster Jess Frank movies : ¨Kiss of the dead¨ and ¨The castle of Fumanchu¨ which most critics felt were the weakest of the series .

The co-protagonist is Nyland Smith , finely played by Douglas Wilmer -character also interpreted by Nigel Green and Richard Greene- ; he's a good English actor , usually playing in secondary roles -El Cid- , here he is the starring and is very well . The baddies are Horst Frank , a German actor usually playing as the villain-role and Christopher Lee , as always acting as a magnificent evil-doer . As usual , there appears Howard Marion Crawford who is the assistant of Nyland Smith , a Watson-alike . And of course , the Fu Manchu's daughter , habitually played by T Sai Chin , acting perfectly as a nasty murderous.

In the film there are action , adventures , thriller , sadism and exotic outdoors filmed in China , because being produced by the Chinese Shaw Brothers and Harry Allan Towers (producer of the Fu Manchu's five movies) . The movie will appeal those have seen the different entries and Christopher Lee fans ; the best installments are directed by Don Sharp : ¨Face of Fu Manchu (1965)¨ and ¨Brides of Fu Manchu(1966)¨. Rating : Average but entertaining .