Since 1923, Sax Rohmer's arch-villain Fu Manchu had been brought from the novels to the screen again and again, the most famous interpretation probably created by Boris Karloff in 1932. Between 1965-68, Christopher Lee starred in 5 more Fu Manchu movies. The German co-producers often added stars from the Edgar Wallace series, such as Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Dor when the new series opened with "The Face of Fu Manchu". Strangely enough, it begins as if it was a sequel to something, describing Fu Manchu faking his execution while Nayland Smith watches, although we are not told how they got into this situation. Anyway, Fu Manchu comes to London with a weapon of mass destruction, while Smith tries to stop him. Smith had a feeling" from the beginning that he was cheated at the execution, but it was not completely reasonable for a man like him, since the first hints at new activities were vague. So I thought he might have been be a bit more surprised when he actually meets the criminal mastermind. The last third of the movie is a bit rushed, especially the scenes in Tibet. It is not a perfect movie because it has a few holes, but it was a good start for the new series. I voted 7/8/5/7/4 for the five movies.
Review of The Face of Fu Manchu
