THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU! (1968)

Dir. by Jess Franco
Star. Christopher Lee

The fifth and final entry in producer Harry Alan Towers’ Fu-Manchu series (which must have been politically incorrect even 40 years ago!) is actually the only watchable film in the entire bunch! A few of the earlier films were directed by Don Sharp, a generally good, workmanlike director, but the scripts were so lousy and the budgets so low that they smelled like that 3 month old carton of General Tso’s chicken stuck way in the back of your refrigerator! Throw that puppy out!

Of course, they’re all based on the popular Sax Rhomer novels of the 1920’s which were based on American paranoia about a Chinese or Japanese invasion of the mainland, but they actually read like early Ian Fleming novels, with Nayland Smith playing the James Bond role.

By this entry, Christopher Lee, as Dr. Fu-Manchu, is basically sleep-walking through the role, with his Fu-Manchu moustache and his Chinese finger puzzle on his fifth finger, but co-star Richard Greene actually conveys some excitement and the photography and sets (supposedly shot on location in Portugal and Spain, but actually lensed in Brazil) are mesmerizing.

In this one, Fu has kidnapped some eminent British scientist and has forced him to develop some crystals that freeze huge bodies of water. Thus, Fu can create huge icebergs near whatever ships he wants to sink and he pretty much does a “Titanic” on them. He also threatens to turn every ocean in the world into skating rinks unless the Western countries pay him a huge sum of loot.

Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard (played by Richard Greene, by then in his mid-50s, but still jumping, kicking, and boxing away with Chinese assasins) is called in to solve the mess and put an end to the evil doctor. Unfortunately, Fu and his army are holed up in a Portuguese (i.e. Brazilian) castle which has been rigged with all kinds of booby traps which dump tons of ice water on any chump silly enough to try to escape.

First off, forget about the plot. It’s silly and probably didn’t even make sense when these books were written almost 80 years ago! “The Castle of Fu-Manchu” is a genuine hoot and the credit goes to the always unpredictable, uneven, cult horror/Euro-Trash director, Jess Franco.

Franco, who made his name with “The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock” series in the early 1960s and has been making virtually incoherent direct-to-video features for the last two decades (the budgets of Franco’s “films” from the late ‘80s onward make Ed Wood’s movies look like “Gone With The Wind”), really delivers the goods in this movie, making it look far more expensive than it is, and keeping the action (pedantic as it may be) going at a lightning pace.

Franco takes the plot and themes of the film completely seriously (no camp whatsoever) and his gambit pays off!

The DVD which I saw was on a small label which also had interviews with Chris Lee, Franco, and producer Towers. Jess commented that he was paid about five times his normal salary to do “Fu Manchu” so he was upbeat from the start. Towers, looking uncomfortable in a typical English living room, seems begrudgingly respectful of Franco’s direction, but also says that Franco did the impossible—he finally killed Fu Manchu (this was the last film of the series). That’s probably due far more to growing political sensitivity, more sophisticated audiences not being interested in a hysterical villain from the ‘20s, and extremely poor distribution for the later movies, none of which reasons were Franco’s fault.

Additionally, Towers claims that his Fu Manchu series was the only one to ever make money. Huh???? What about the extremely successful big-budget 1930s films starring Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu and Myrna Loy as his evil daughter? I think those pictures made more in a week than all 5 of Towers’ Fu Manchu pictures added together! And with all due respect to Lee, Karloff is the actor people associate with the role.

Lee seems, as always, a bit grouchy as an interviewee, and doesn’t really say anything positive about anybody, while acknowledging that he sort of remembers the film and thinks it’s the last Fu movie. That interview and a quarter will buy you a phone call.

Forget about the dyspeptic and hysterical politics of the film, and just enjoy it for the wonderful sets and exuberant acting (by Greene) and Franco’s superb and puzzlingly effective direction. And don't believe Fu when he says "I Will Return!" He didn't.