JohnHowardReid Producer: Harry Alan Towers. Executive producer: Oliver A. Unger. A Hallam Production, released in the U.K. by Anglo-Amalgamated (16 December 1966), in the U.S.A. by Seven Arts (14 December 1966). No New York opening. Registered: August, 1966. 94 minutes (U.S.A.); 91 minutes (U.K.). Sydney opening at the Capitol (a weekly change, first- release cinema): 2 June 1967.COMMENT: Made by almost exactly the same team as The Face of Fu Manchu, it is pleasing to report that this second venture is equally as good — although in a different way.What strikes you about this film is the subtle use of color. From the first entrance of Fu Manchu wearing a green tunic against a background of reddish statuary to the climax of exploding machinery with a red light blinking in the gloom and a red handle shaking in its slot, the film is always visually striking. The director keeps the story moving at a fast clip and the action scenes are convincingly handled. The only jarring element is some unfortunate back projection in the outdoor scenes at the climax.The cast, however, is little more than adequate. One misses Nigel Green who played Nayland Smith in the first film and who then achieved such acclaim for his portrayal in The Ipcress File, that he has now priced himself out of this film's budget. See my review of "The Face of Fu Manchu" on IMDb for an account of this series. ("Brides" is available on a very good quality Momentum DVD).

BA_Harrison Christopher Lee dons silk robes, eyeliner and droopy moustache to return as the most evil criminal master mind in the world, yellow peril Fu Manchu, who this time plans world domination by kidnapping the wives and daughters of top industrialists and scientists, forcing their menfolk to build a highly destructive weapon that operates via radio waves. And when he has no more use for the women, into the snake-pit they go...A little bit James Bond and a little bit Sherlock Holmes, assistant commissioner from Scotland Yard Nayland Smith (Douglas Wilmer) is the man tasked with tracking down the evil Asian before he can put his dastardly plot to control the world into action.I thought I was settling down to yet another Jess Franco film when I pressed play on this film, so was rather relieved to see that it was directed by Don Sharp, who made the rather excellent Rasputin The Mad Monk for Hammer Studios. But while this film is nowhere near as bad as your average Franco film, it isn't all that great either, the tedious plot providing dull intrigue, little suspense and lots of repetitive fisticuffs between our brave heroes and their despicable enemies, all of which gets rather boring after a while. About the only thing that prevented me from dozing off at times was the fact that all of the kidnapped women are very attractive and wear revealing dresses. Now what are the chances of that?

MartinHafer The Fu Manchu series starring Christopher Lee was a very frustrating set of five films. That's because although the story idea overall was pretty cool--but the films were highly uneven and sometimes pretty dreadful. I think that the films suffered from two main problems. First, a 6'5" English actor is not the best person to play a fiendish Chinese man--this is obvious to everyone but the producers. Second, the film makers decided, after a few promising outings, to let lemurs write the rest of the series. I kid you not....LEMURS! The final two films were, to put it bluntly, complete rubbish.The second film, "The Brides of Fu Manchu", begins with a brief summary of events from the first film--showing clips of the highlights and letting the viewer see that the evil Fu Manchu did NOT die in the last film--even though it sure looked like he had! It seems that the plot is very familiar--one that was used in some of the other Manchu films. The evil dude needs the help of a scientist so he does what you'd expect--kidnap, torment and threaten scientists' families to get their cooperation. And, once again, the hero, Sir Nayland Smith (Douglas Wilmer) is out to thwart the evil plan.While this film is a lot like later films in the series, it is pretty good. However, like I noticed in many of the other Fu films, there really isn't that much of the bad guy in the film. Often you see his underlings or daughter. If I had Christopher Lee on hand, I sure would have put him in the movie a lot more! Overall, watchable and reasonably well made--even with its silly emphasis on hypnosis--the sort that NEVER could happen in real life. However, while it's pretty mediocre, just wait...the series will start to fizzle in just two more films!

ma-cortes Second entry in Fu Manchu-Christopher Lee series set in London and based on Sax Rohmer's characters . At the film there are action, adventures, thrills, sadism and atmospheric outdoors filmed in London . Produced , as always, in average budget by Harry Allan Towers and also written under pseudonym of Peter Breck . Christopher Lee returns in this second 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 , kidnapping scientific's daughters (Marie Versini , Carole Gray , among others) forcing them to develop a deadly ray gun . The beautiful girls are tortured by Fumanchu and his nasty daughter . Inspector Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard Nayland is his perennial adversary and arch-nemesis , he takes the center of attention when undergoes the dangerous mission. When Nayland Smith is assigned the case along with his assistant Dr. Petrie(Howard Marion Crawford) go into the action . Nayland Smith enlists the help a German scientist named Franz (Heinz Drache) against evil-doer emperor Fu.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 scientists 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 . Not as nice as ¨Face of Fumanchu¨-also by Don Sharp- still amusing and entertaining. Good performance by Douglas Wilmer as Nyland Smith who in previous and subsequent episodes was interpreted by Nigel Green , and Richard Greene , as always supported by Dr. Petri from ministry of Interior played by Howard Marion Crawford . The villain T Sai Chin stand out as Fu Manchu's daughter . International and cosmopolitan cast formed by European actors from diverse countries as British as Douglas Wilmer ,Rupert Davies , Carole Gray ; German as Heinz Drache , Haralz Leipnitz ; French as Marie Versini , Roger Hanin ; Chinese as Eric Young and Burt Kwouk who played the Peter Sellers's contender in Pink Panther series.The best installments were ¨Face of Fu Manchu(1965, Don Sharp)¨, and ¨Brides of Fu Manchu( 1966, Don Sharp)¨ , followed by the inferior ¨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 : 5,5 , average .