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The Castle Of Fu Manchu
[Blue Underground]
1969; color
Directed by Jess Franco
Starring: Christopher Lee, Richard Greene, Howard Marion-Crawford, Günther Stoll, Rosalba Neri, Maria Perschy, José Manuel Martín, Werner Abrolat & Tsai Chin
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I have to admit I know much more about Fu Manchu the band than I do the Sax Rohmer short story that inspired the book series, or the series of films inspired by them. (The former is soon to change, I suppose, since the Kommandant recently thrifted 11 of the 13 Rohmer books a couple weekends ago; in perfectly dusty well-read paperback format, natch. I guess the latter is about to change as well since, after we watched this, he added whichever other Fu Manchu movies were available on Green Cine to our queue.) In retrospect I don't think knowledge of the character is necessary to enjoy The Castle Of Fu Manchu, although an interest in crime or spy flicks and an ability to set aside logic and reason for the sake of cinema would likely be helpful. Again, although I don't know too much about the character and this is my first foray into the movies, I imagine the general idea of each of the five Harry Alan Towers produced Fu films - as well as the books themselves - are pretty much along the same lines, i.e.: the maniacal Manchu weaves some sort of elaborate and treacherous plot, follows this up by putting said plan into action and executing it to a certain extent, only to be ultimately thwarted by the man / his arch nemesis, and then only temporarily. In this, the last of the series starring Christopher Lee in the lead role, the plot involves a fiendish plan to freeze the world's oceans with ancillary ventures into the areas of kidnapping, murder by medical procedure and castle over-taking in order to control the world's opium trade. (The ice making device, you see, is fueled by the narcotic. Not meaning the machine smokes it or anything - although that would have been awesome - the machine, like, synthesizes the opium into some sort of ice making material. Or something like that. PS: This is one of the parts where it's better to not think it out too much.) Of course Fu's arch nemesis, Scotland Yard's Nayland Smith, is not going to let this happen on his watch and, of course, he succeeds in his thwarting Manchu's evil doings before any major ocean gets iced. He does get away with sinking that black and white ocean liner early in the film but those poor color deprived folks really only lived in another movie anyway (Franco "borrowed" the footage from a '58 Titanic inspired film A Night To Remember) so why should Interpol care about them. The Castle Of Fu Manchu is definitely a little tame by general Franco standards, both sex wise and in terms of general kookiness. (I don't think there was any nudity to speak of and only the briefest use of odd camera angles or the oft used zoom lens.) Fortunately what it lacks in those areas is balanced out by the cool lighting and sets and, my personal favorite aspect of the film, Rosalba Neri looking surprisingly hot while sporting an unusually ridiculous array of menswear ensembles. (That she looks hot is not surprising but the fact anyone could make an ill fitting white polyester suit and fez look sexy.) Rounding out the package is a fun but brief featurette, "The Fall Of Fu Manchu," and the more standard array of extras: liner notes, still gallery, bios, etc.
—Bunny
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