Christopher Lee is Fu Manchu, an oriental megalomaniac searching for a poison made from the black hill poppy grown in Tibet, in this drama (not a comedy, like the namesakes with Peter Sellers) set in prewar Britain.
Its an adaption of a series of cheap newspaper stand novels of the "yellow peril" variety written before WW2, which were themselves, like the similar "Sexton Blake" novels, inspired by a Sherlock Holmes story by Conan Doyle.
There's a nice vintage car chase, although in an early scene contemporary postwar vehicles (including an Austin A30) are shown in a street. A scientist, apparently wealthy and owning a telephone, lives in what looks like a very shabby and derelict house – possibly a house due for demolition used by the film crew. The mistakes seem odd, as the car chase appears quite expensive and despite being a "second movie at the drive-in" its been made into colour (although by a rather poor process with a lack of blue).
Its an adaption of a series of cheap newspaper stand novels of the "yellow peril" variety written before WW2, which were themselves, like the similar "Sexton Blake" novels, inspired by a Sherlock Holmes story by Conan Doyle.
There's a nice vintage car chase, although in an early scene contemporary postwar vehicles (including an Austin A30) are shown in a street. A scientist, apparently wealthy and owning a telephone, lives in what looks like a very shabby and derelict house – possibly a house due for demolition used by the film crew. The mistakes seem odd, as the car chase appears quite expensive and despite being a "second movie at the drive-in" its been made into colour (although by a rather poor process with a lack of blue).