Movie Review: The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) directed by Jesus Franco
Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee) has once again resurfaced. This time he has a plan to extort the nations of the world by freezing the oceans. He demonstrates proof of concept by creating an iceberg in the Caribbean and sinking a ship. Which works, but requires way too much power, burning out the generators in Fu Manchu’s lair. He needs a more energy efficient method and a new lair. Perhaps a castle?
As it happens, Fu Manchu has read the work of Professor Heracles (Gustavo Re), who hypothesizes that opium can be used to create crystals that when added to water create instant freezing and expansion. The largest supply of opium near a large body of water is the governor’s castle in Anatolia. Fu Manchu’s cruel daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin) convinces local crimelord Omar Pashu (Jose Manuel Martin) to lend his men to cooperate with the dacoits in taking the castle. Naturally, Fu Manchu shows his gratitude by having Omar’s men slaughtered once the castle is taken, sparing only Lisa (Rosalba Neri), Omar’s moll, for…later. Experiments begin, with the captured Professor Heracles being coerced to cooperate.
Problem! Professor Heracles has a failing heart; pushing him too hard will simply kill him. Fu Manchu has an answer for that as well. He has cardiologist Dr. Curt Kessler (Gunther Stoll) and beautiful assistant Dr. Ingrid Koch (Maria Perschy) abducted to perform a heart transplant!
Meanwhile, Fu Manchu’s nemeses, Sir Denis Nayland Smith (Richard Greene) and Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion-Crawford), are hot on his trail. Nayland Smith will have to team up with Omar Pashu if he wants a chance at infiltrating the castle, but the mob boss has his own agenda. And Nayland Smith is…present when Fu Manchu is defeated.
This was the last of the 1960s Christopher Lee Fu Manchu movies, and the budget well was running dry. This is most obvious in the special effects sequences borrowed from other movies, like A Night to Remember. Mr. Lee’s performance is low-energy, not helped by stilted dialogue and heavy makeup. Lin Tang is more energetic and Tsai Chin is enjoying her role, and Lisa is criminally underused.
Dr. Petrie is an old duffer in this version, his romantic lead position taken by Dr. Kessler, who also inexplicably becomes an action hero in the last few minutes.
The plot is confusing, but never boring.
Content note: Fu Manchu is as previously mentioned on this blog a character steeped in the racist Yellow Peril notion, and it really does not help to have him played by a white actor in painful yellowface makeup. The film itself doesn’t bother mentioning his race or national origin. The Turkish characters are also stereotypes (notably, the story is allegedly set in the 1920s, but the male characters wear fezzes, which was illegal in that country at the time, because of course Turks wear fezzes.) There’s a bit of blood. There’s tobacco smoking, but opium is only used to create crystals.
Overall: This isn’t a good movie, but an entertainingly bad one. If you can handle the racism, sit down with some popcorn and turn off your brain. Or maybe try the MST3K version.
