Tweekums In a remote corner of China the diabolical criminal mastermind Fu Manchu has dynamited the pass leading to the province and sent word to the authorities suggesting there was an earthquake. Free from outside interference he plots his revenge against his nemesis; Assistant Commissioner Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard. This scheme is inevitably devious; he has kidnapped a doctor and his daughter and forced him to perform plastic surgery on a man to change his appearance so that he looks like Nayland Smith. He then arranges for the real Nayland Smith to be kidnapped and replaced while on holiday in Ireland. While the real policeman is put in a crate bound for China the imposter commits murder and is put on trial… killing Nayland Smith won't be enough for Fu Manchu; first he must be thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the world. Meanwhile it emerges that a senior member of the American criminal underworld is heading to China to talk to a potential leader of world crime.I first watched the Fu Manchu films as a child in the seventies and this is the first one of the series that I've watched since then. Watching again it is clear that this is far from a classic film but it is rather fun. In this day and age it would be unacceptable to have a European playing a Chinese character but Christopher Lee does do a fine job as the diabolical Fu Manchu; thankfully he doesn't attempt a dodgy 'Chinese' accent. Douglas Wilmer does a solid job as Nayland Smith, and his doppelganger, although the real policeman spends much of the time in captivity and the copy is unspeaking and emotionless. Tsai Chin impresses as Fu Manchu's daughter, a character who is clearly a chip off the old block. The story is pretty silly… but then it wouldn't have been interesting if Fu Manchu had done the obvious thing and just had Nayland Smith disposed of. The action scenes are decent in a fairly bloodless way; certainly not too violent for younger viewers. Overall it is a bit dated but I rather enjoyed it; perhaps for nostalgic reasons but also because it was rather fun.

Leofwine_draca The third outing for Christopher Lee's oriental tyrant (following on from THE FACE OF FU MANCHU and THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU) is starting to wear a bit thin even in my tolerant expectations as the plot is simply rehashed again from the first two films (and there are still another two to go in the series!). I mean how many times can we go through the same old 'kidnapped scientist' scenario? Still there are a few minor thrills and chuckles to be had for those of us who are fans of this kind of '60s wackiness, and of course the nostalgia to be had from any of the items from this jam-packed decade of cinematic obscurities.This time around the comic book style is even more apparent than normal, with a bare minimum of plot merely serving as a basis for a series of fights, scraps, and one or two huge brawls. Once again these fight scenes are a lot of fun, but there are lots of other familiar ingredients in the film to enjoy too. These include strangulation, hypnotism, a fairly explicit decapitation, some torture (the rack and branding irons are brought into play) and much, much more. Obviously the changing, more liberal attitudes of the decade are evident here in the increased violence content, and now evil Chinese minions are stabbed on screen instead of off.The acting is all up to standard, and if the characters are clichéd, at least they're fun. Douglas Wilmer reprises his role as the heroic Nayland Smith, this time with grey hair after his tiring skirmishes with the yellow peril, and his wooden acting is spot on when he has to play a mindless double of his real self. Tsai Chin is wicked as Fu Manchu's daughter, while Christopher Lee has better makeup this time around (his slanted eyes are far more prominent) and is fun as always. Any film which has a character replaced by an evil double deserves to be watched, in my book at least.

sergio choren 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.

ma-cortes 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 .