(1965)
Dir - Don Sharp
Overall: MEH
Ignoring the ever present whitewashing that many films in typically Anglo Saxon countries produced during this time, (only one actual Asian speaking main character is actually Asian here), The Face of Fu Manchu has Christopher Lee as the fictitious, evil criminal mastermind and because it is Christopher Lee, it is therefor certainly watchable. Thankfully, the legendary actor had enough class and good sense to not put on a fake Chinese accent to go along with the fake Chinese makeup, (though he would unfortunately hint more at that in later installments), but his title character is written as generically boring as they get despite how competently Lee portrays him. The plot is so simple that much of the action seems forced and barely warrants much more than a complacent shrug from the audience. The general lack of creativity in the script department unfortunately permeates the whole, which throws in a lot of drawn-out fist fights to make the film appear more exciting than it is, with said fist fights being just as lackluster as anything else transpiring. Four more films immediately followed this one, (each one emerging a year apart as to effectively wear-out the franchise), but unfortunately things were already off to a very mediocre start to begin with here.
(1966)
Dir - Don Sharp
Overall: MEH
Once again Fu Manchu is up to his old tricks which in installment two is already starting to wear thin. Handled again by one of Hammer's second tier directors Don Sharp, (The Kiss of the Vampire, Rasputin, the Mad Monk), this would be Sharp's last in the Fu Manchu series before he was replaced by Jeremy Summers the next go-round. The role of Scottland Yard detective/Fu Manchu's arch enemy Nayland Smith was switched from Nigel Green to Douglas Wilmer, but besides that, The Brides of Fu Manchu is an almost identical run-through as the previous year's Face of. Daughters of prominent scientists and political figures, (who all seem to conveniently be around their mid twenties and attractive), are gathered up by the Asian-by-way-of-Christopher-Lee tyrant to use as leverage to get his next doomsday weapon operational. He thwarts the authorities hunting him every step of the way through the exact same means, (misleading them with disguises, red herrings, and announcing dates and locations of his attacks by way of the airwaves), until he does not anymore, then getting his headquarters blown up only to have him ominously threaten in voice-over that he will of course be back to fight another day. Lee gets a little more screen time and we pretty much jump right into him back in action with no set up, but the retreaded story elements are so precise that it barely if all all warrants its existence in the first place.
(1967)
Dir - Jeremy Summers
Overall: MEH
Switching directors with Jeremy Summers, (House of 1,000 Dolls), for round three in the Constantin Film produced Fu Manchu series, thankfully the villainous, title-character overlord at last changes up his world domination scheme. Though he still cannot help but to kidnap somebody's daughter and torture them to get what he wants. The man has an itch he seems incapable of not scratching. The Vengeance of Fu Manchu is appropriately titled as the story focuses near exclusively on the would-be undoing of his arch enemy Nayland Smith, which up until a point is showcased somewhat interestingly. We are given a rather large thematic-leap pill to swallow for the plot to gain momentum, but this is forgivable as the pace is kept up even though most of the action set pieces yet again seem to be padded on to fatten the fist fight quota. There are also some very unmemorable side characters with rushed-to-non-existent backstories, two entirely pointless musical segments, and everything is more clumsy than clever in that Smith's at-long-last capture is depicted entirely off-screen. The biggest flub though is in the ending which appears to have been improvised after they forgot to write one. At this point it is assuredly laughable that no one ever bothers to check the recently blown-up remains of Fu Manchu's hideout to see if he is actually dead, instead just continually shrugging and literally proclaiming that they will probably hear from him again. With two more sequels on the way, their very predictable prediction would prove correct.
(1968)
Dir - Jesús Franco
Overall: WOOF
Well, bringing Jess Franco on board to helm the fourth Fu Manchu excursion noticeably changes a few aspects, none of which in a good way. The first three films in the franchise being relatively competent if somewhat lifeless in many parts, The Blood of Fu Manchu is the first one to aggressively insult the viewer's intelligence. To pit all of the blame on Franco would probably be unfair as most of the observable directorial choices he makes are innocent enough quirky camera angles, zooms, and more nudity and sadism than was previously on display. Yet he also very jarringly inserted footage from another movie, (The Girl from Rio), and somebody somewhere made some dubious editing choices. Lady Manchu Lin Tang, (Tsai Chin), now has randomly generic Eastern mystic powers for the first and only time, (for one scene), and has a brief moment of her cackling on her throne, which is also out of character. The schlock level is jacked-up elsewhere as well with the worst character in the series, (some fat bandit pendejo called Sancho Lopez), getting way too much screen time and Dr. Petrie badly attempting comic relief about how cold his tea is getting while he is suffering in a dungeon. It is the plot though that takes the most jabs at our intellect as Fu Manchu gets a bunch of kidnapped girls, (yes, more of that), to get bitten by a snake and then sends them all over the world to kiss and poison his enemies which will miraculously kill all of them at the exact same moment six weeks later when the moon is full. When the heroes dash in at the last minute to save the day, do they unleash a stream of bullets anywhere near Manchu or his daughter who are just standing there watching? Why would they do that when they can instead easily pick off all his no-name henchmen and for the forth straight time blow up his hideout and admit that he is probably going to return again later. As Mr. Charles Brown would say, "Good grief".
(1969)
Dir - Jesús Franco
Overall: WOOF
Well the "movie" that finally brought the Fu Manchu franchise to a mercy killing end is powerfully awful enough to have had the potential to end everyone's career involved, let alone the titular villain's fictional legacy. After watching it, one can be at a complete understanding as to why it caused the cast of MST3K to break down into tears of agony. Right out of the gate, the signs are pointing towards doom as footage from two different movies, (the earlier The Brides of Fu Manchu and inexplicably the Titanic film A Night to Remember), are spliced together to make up the opening scene. In fact nearly all of the effect shots are taken from stock footage and other films, (including a moment where a dam gets demolished for absolutely no plot-worthy reason). So there are assuredly budget problems here. Things get increasingly muddled to the point of incomprehensibility and also wearisome as the running time clocks down, making the majority of The Castle of Fu Manchu the kind of bad cinema that is more boring than funny. For a few moments sprinkled throughout and certainly all of the last twenty minutes though, the bets are all off. Characters easily escape as Fu Manchu watches them escape, characters whose names we do not even remember fall in love with absolutely no build up, a woman drowns in waste high water, a prisoner is declared to have no further use only to have further use in the next scene, a doctor easily bests several trained guards at unarmed combat, a scientist who can speak just fine is given a heart transplant in order to continue to speak just fine and when he is asked again to divulge a secret formula and simply says "no", Fu Mahchu gets it anyway on a piece of paper that someone nonchalantly hands him, and well, this will go on for about another thousand words if we are to list everything atrociously wrong here.
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