JohnHowardReid Music composed and conducted by Malcolm Lockyer. Songs: "The Real Me" and "Where are the Men", lyrics by Don Black; sung by Samantha Jones. Camera operators: Tony Spratling, Neil "Ginger" Gemmel. Producer: Harry Alan Towers. Babasdave Films. U.S. release through Warner Bros.-Seven Arts: January 1968. New York opening at the Lyric (as the lower half of a double bill with "The Shuttered Room"): 14 February 1968. U.K. release through Anglo Amalgamated: 3 December 1967. Australian release through British Empire Films: 26 July 1968. Sydney opening at the Capitol (ran one week). 7,960 feet. 89 minutes.SYNOPSIS: This time the insidious Fu plots to have all the police chiefs of the world replaced by doubles under his control.NOTES: Third of the Christopher Lee/Fu Manchu series. (Available on a very good Momentum DVD).COMMENT: This film offers good entertainment but it is a disappointing effort, when compared with the first two films in the series ("The Face of Fu Manchu" and "The Brides of Fu Manchu") of which this is the third. Lee, Wilmer, Crawford and Chin are again on hand; but on the production side, only film editor Morrison remains, together with the producer and production manager — though photographer Kotze has been promoted from 2nd to main unit, and has provided some appealing color photography. There are also some attractive sets and costumes. Fortunately, Wilmer gives a vigorous performance as the alter ego, but, beyond a brilliantly staged execution scene, director Jeremy Summers seems to have a very loose grip on the production. His direction has mostly very little punch (though there's an exciting night club brawl).Perhaps the rigors of a tighter shooting schedule and a less lavish budget all around, account for the director's general lack of inventiveness. Even Fu Manchu's black-garbed attendants are presented so flabbily, they fail to inspire the terror of their earlier appearances. The film's dispirited air even extends to its pedestrian music score. As for the songs, they also peg in as distinctly fourth rate.

Leofwine_draca The third outing for Christopher Lee's oriental tyrant (following on from THE FACE OF FU MANCHU and THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU) is starting to wear a bit thin even in my tolerant expectations as the plot is simply rehashed again from the first two films (and there are still another two to go in the series!). I mean how many times can we go through the same old 'kidnapped scientist' scenario? Still there are a few minor thrills and chuckles to be had for those of us who are fans of this kind of '60s wackiness, and of course the nostalgia to be had from any of the items from this jam-packed decade of cinematic obscurities.This time around the comic book style is even more apparent than normal, with a bare minimum of plot merely serving as a basis for a series of fights, scraps, and one or two huge brawls. Once again these fight scenes are a lot of fun, but there are lots of other familiar ingredients in the film to enjoy too. These include strangulation, hypnotism, a fairly explicit decapitation, some torture (the rack and branding irons are brought into play) and much, much more. Obviously the changing, more liberal attitudes of the decade are evident here in the increased violence content, and now evil Chinese minions are stabbed on screen instead of off.The acting is all up to standard, and if the characters are clichéd, at least they're fun. Douglas Wilmer reprises his role as the heroic Nayland Smith, this time with grey hair after his tiring skirmishes with the yellow peril, and his wooden acting is spot on when he has to play a mindless double of his real self. Tsai Chin is wicked as Fu Manchu's daughter, while Christopher Lee has better makeup this time around (his slanted eyes are far more prominent) and is fun as always. Any film which has a character replaced by an evil double deserves to be watched, in my book at least.

lost-in-limbo Try, try, try again. That should be evil super mastermind Fu Manchu's motto. After one failed attempt after another that pretty much ends up in his hideout / palace spectacularly exploding, for his credit he always returned on his quest for world domination. As each scheming plot being more diabolical than the last, but the quality of these features were also on the slide. Same formula, but well-worn. Despite Christopher Lee returning dressed up in make-up as Fu Manchu, his presence seemed lacking with a script that didn't really offer him all that much to do. "The Vengeance of Fu Manchu" would be the third film internationally produced by Harry Alan Towers, but director Don Sharp of the previous two films is replaced and it shows in the final product. "Vengeance" isn't all that bad, but it's bounded by feeble writing and lackadaisical direction for most part making it quite an uninterestingly limited and convoluted venture. The story follows Fu Manchu and his daughter return to China to his isolated palace hideaway in the hills where he plots his vengeance against his arch rival commissioner Neyland Smith of Scotland Yard, while hosting a criminal diplomat for gaining support to lead the world's criminals. While this had two sub-plots within the narrative, neither one projected much excitement with its elaborate developments and the location work felt rather stagy with less adventure and scope. The local Hong Kong locations were done through Shaw Brother studios. Director Jeremy Summers brought a crisply polished tinge, but the execution is drably projected with a less than speedy pace. Too few hardy set-pieces, but its misogynistic edge is still evident in some torture sequences. The performances are decent. Douglas Wilmer admirably acquits himself as Neyland Smith and Howard Marion-Crawford gives a fine-tuned performance as his friend Dr. Petrie. A methodical Lee is given small opportunities and so is and effective Tsai Chin's, maybe even more so minor as Manchu's sadistic daughter. Horst Frank venomously overdoes Lee in the evil stakes and a beautiful Maria Rohm flaunts around. Patchy serial comic-strip entertainment.

sergio choren In the 60's series of five Fu Manchu movies made by Cristhoper Lee as the Chinese fiend, this is the one in the middle, without the direction of Don Sharp (replaced by Jeremy Summers) who made the better two entries. It's still an interesting movie, Fu Manchu tries to ruin his enemy reputation by replacing him with a killer lookalike (done with a complicated facial surgery) and, as usual, planning world domination as the boss of a new international organization. Douglas Wilmer shines as Nayland Smith or the zombie-like killer, Lee is perfect as usual and the always reliable Howard Marion Crawford as Dr. Petrie (a character clearly inspired by Conan Doyle's Dr. Watson) got some good moments too. Sadly, after "Vengeance" trashy Spanish director Jesus Franco took the series for the last two film, the less interesting entries by far.