The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) User Reviews

Dry ice, Rosco fog, and blood.

[monoceros4 · 3/10 · 3 May 2009]

It boggles the mind that anyone could possibly defend this movie as some sort of lost classic or claim that people only say it's bad because it was on "Mystery Science Theater". When *two* lengthy scenes in a movie consist largely of footage borrowed from better movies, and when both of those scenes could be removed without anyone noticing the break, you know that the director's aim was to exert himself as little as possible to get the required length of film in the can. Anyone here with a burning zeal to uphold the reputation of THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU against its boorish detractors is almost certainly exerting more effort on the movie's behalf than Jess Franco ever did.

Nevertheless, the film is not among the all-time worst. Roger Ebert is correct when he says, "There's probably a level of competence beneath which bad directors cannot fall....they've got to come up with something that can at least be advertised as a motion picture, released and forgotten." It can be safely conjectured that this was just what Jess Franco wanted. The dialogue is passable, the acting (what little is needed) is serviceable, and occasionally the editing actually drums up something like tension.

So if no one aspect of THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU is really *that* bad, why is watching the whole film such a chore? A bad movie can be difficult to watch, but an *aggressively* mediocre one can be worse. When Roger Corman cranked out his listless, paint-by-numbers adventures and fantasy movies, at least he had the excuses of working with zero budget, a cast of third-stringers, and shooting schedules permitting him maybe a week's use of a sound stage. I'm guessing that Franco's budget was scarcely greater, but he had a decent cast and enough freedom for location shooting in more than one country. Yet he produced a movie as uninspired and perfunctory as Corman did at his worst. What was Franco thinking?

The plot seems almost to go out of its way to abandon consistency. Fu Manchu kidnaps Prof. Heracles and then his doctor because he needs help to make the magic freezing crystals in quantity (crystals, by the way, which also perform the totally unrelated duty of a knockout gas), but then even though we see Heracles at the end refuse to help Fu Manchu, his refusal doesn't even slow Fu Manchu down, who initiates his freezing plan without apparent need for Heracles's assistance. We *had* seen Fu Manchu demanding a ransom earlier one (without bothering to name terms) but any idea of actually collecting on the ransom never comes up. Fortunately for the world Nayland-Smith shows up to foil his plot to freeze the ocean, although Franco can't be bothered to show us how he foils it. We see him beating up some flunkies and trying to contact London by radio, then suddenly there's a loud report and soon Fu Manchu is watching helplessly as everything blows up around him. I'm used to villain's fortresses improbably blowing up because the hero fires one well-placed shot or smashes one control panel, but THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU gives us the only case of a villain's fortress exploding merely because the hero makes a long-distance phone call.

It's not as though Franco didn't have enough screen time to fill these plot holes. It's just that he decided to fill that time with lengthy establishing shots, walking, and creeping around dark corridors and tunnels. He also directs his actors to speak as slowly as possible and pause whenever possible. They have excuses, I suppose. Fu Manchu is "inscrutable", being an offensive Oriental stereotype, and Omar Pasha is probably stoned out of his mind on opium half the time. The police chief in Istanbul simply doesn't care and spends a good deal of his screen time sulking and telling people not to bother him. And why should he bother doing his job? He's played by Jess Franco, after all.

With so little actually happening in THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU, we have to be content with watching the scenery. There are some beautiful background shots in the film, to be sure. Mostly, though, Franco traps us in Fu Manchu's lair. The quarter-hours slip by as the "action" takes us from one room or chamber to another and another, none of them very well lit, while Christopher Lee sits and looks smug, or stands up and looks smug, or even speaks while looking smug. Eventually a lot of people die and Fu Manchu disappears into the billowing fake smoke. Dry ice, Rosco fog, and blood, indeed.

Fu Manchu -Christopher Lee's last entry lousily directed by Jess Frank or Jesus Franco

[ma-cortes · 3/10 · 2 September 2010]

Final outing in Fu Manchu-Christopher Lee series set in Turkey and based on Sax Rohmer's characters . Christopher Lee returns in this fifth chapter as the evil genius Fu Manchu who doesn't give up easily, and is out to destroy world or bent on conquering it . This time has designed a fantastic gadget to fleece water on oceans and he threatens world leaders by forcing a ransom . The baddies are Jose Luis Martin a Spanish actor usually playing the villain-role in Spaghetti Western and Christopher Lee, as always acting as a magnificent evil-doer . Nayland Smith-Richard Greene his perennial adversary and arch-nemesis takes the center of attention when is assigned the dangerous mission . Howard Marion Crawford of Britain's Home Office is the assistant of Nayland Smith , a Watson-alike . And of course, the Fu Manchu's daughter , habitually played by T Sai Chin, acting perfectly as a nasty murderous.

At the film there are action, adventures, thrills, sadism and exotic outdoors filmed in Estudios Cinematográficos Balcázar (Spanish producers are Alfonso and Jaime Jesus Balcazar), Esplugues De Llobregat, Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain (studio), Istanbul, Turkey and Parque Güell, Parque De Ciutdadella , Barcelona , Cataluña , Spain.

Fifth in Christopher Lee's Manchu series several pegs below his predecessors ; it is a bizarre blending of adventures, thriller and action with low budget . This exciting picture is full of Chinese killers , British adventurers, and nasty drug dealers . Weak performance by Richard Greene working below capabilities as Nyland Smith who in former episodes was best interpreted by Nigel Green , and Douglas Wilmer . The villain T Sai Chin stand out as Fu Manchu's daughter named Li Tang and the smuggler Jose Luis Martin overacting as an ominous bandit , furthermore turns up Burt Kwouk, Pink Panther-Sellers series's usual , in a brief appearance . The beautiful girls are two Eurotrash Goddeses as Maria Perschy and Rosalba Neri . This is the second collaboration between Jesus Franco and the producer Harry Alan Towers ( producer of the Fu Manchu's five movies ) and to be continued in several films . Well photographed by Manuel Merino , being recently fine remastering , though previous versions were awfully photographed.

Most critics felt this outing was one of the weakest entries along with ¨The blood of Fu Manchu¨ also directed by Jess Frank with similar casting , plenty of stock-shots , zooms and a Z-series style . The best installments were ¨Face of Fu Manchu(1965, Don Sharp)¨, and ¨Brides of Fu Manch( 1966, Don Sharp)¨ and the inferior ¨Vengeance of Fu Manchu(1967) . Only for completist , the outcome is one of the worst Fu Manchu movie ever made . Rating : Bottom of barrel , below average .

Appallingly awful!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 27 October 2008]

This film is a total hack job--cheap throughout, dull and slapped together with no regard for the pain inflicted on the poor audience. Despite being a truly terribly movie, it's also apparent that there is a group of people out there (probably Christopher Lee fans) who have slammed all the understandably negative reviews with gobs of "not helpfuls". Take a look--see what I mean. Many films that scored it 2 or 3 (which it clearly deserved) are slapped with many such appellations. Yet, considering how almost all the reviews are this negative (or worse) and the overall score just above 2 (that's pathetic), idiots think they are showing loyalty to their odd little cult by slamming the reviews! Get a grip, folks.

The film is a terrible mess and it's obvious in the first five minutes. When you see footage taken from A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (a black and white film) and it's spliced into new color footage, it just looks sloppy. Plus, the lab scene with Bert Kwouk seems to be lacking all context as well as common sense. Just after Fu Manchu explains the system's failsafe mechanism to prevent explosion, he then goes on to completely ignore it--with very predictable results. He also later threatens the world with extortion even though he hasn't worked out all the details of his plan--including obtaining the important formula that only one very, very sickly man knows--and he'd rather die than help Manchu!! In fact, Fu is a total idiot throughout the film--killing off allies, needlessly wasting minions and soldiers, ignoring all advice and being the complete embodiment of all the dumb clichés about super-villains. Every stupid mistake made by the Blofelds, Scaramangas, Dr. Evils, etc. of the world are all made by this moron in one film!! Yet, despite having the IQ of a tomato, the audience is expected to believe he's a threat to mankind!? Maybe Fu should have consulted the Evil Ovelord web site (at www.eviloverlord.com) to avoid making all these mistakes.

As for the rest of the film, apart from lifting footage from A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, footage at the end of the film is very sloppily added from other films as well. The action is also dull and the film slogs along to a very pathetic and anticlimactic conclusion. Considering that the film had Christopher Lee (at about 6'6"--an interesting choice to play a Chinese criminal) and that the previous films in the series had been reasonably engaging, it's no wonder this final pathetic film marked the end to this series. Avoid like the plague--a truly sloppy and unengaging film.

"With this I can control all things...and all men."

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 27 June 2019]

Dastardly Chinese super-villain Fu Manchu (Sir Christopher Lee) is at it once more. Again focused on the worlds' destruction, his plan this time is to freeze its oceans solid using some sort of "crystal". However, he needs the expertise of a professor named Heracles (Gustavo Re), whom he's holding prisoner. But the good professor is dying, and Fu also abducts a doctor (Gunther Stoll) who can pull off a heart transplant. The intrepid Home Office inspector Nayland Smith (Richard Greene), Fu's persistent nemesis, must save the day once again.

A lack of action and a not particularly interesting plot hamper this final entry in the series, which tanked both commercially and critically. Cult favourite director Jess Franco directs without much zeal; you feel that most people involved are just going through the motions by this point. That said, the movie is not without *some* pleasures, such as the gorgeous female cast members Tsai Chin (as Lin Tang, Fu's nefarious daughter), Rosalba Neri (as Lisa), and Maria Perschy (as Ingrid, the doctors' young companion). The location shooting in Spain and Istanbul definitely adds some flavour and atmosphere. Charles Camilleri composed the score for the English language version, and it's suitably rousing.

Sir Christopher (one of those performers who could entertain this viewer just by reading from the phone book) is a delight, as always. He does seem to be having some fun, which definitely helps matters.

Considered by cinephiles to be the worst in the series, it's actually not all that bad. It's just not that good. But it does deliver some amusing, schlocky entertainment in the B movie tradition.

Copious footage is cribbed from both "A Night to Remember" (the ocean liner sinking) and "Campbell's Kingdom" (the dam cracking).

Five out of 10.

On a technical level, this film barely achieves the level of the average home movie!

[bella-6 · 8 March 1999]

The film that was to be the final entry in the new Fu Manchu series from international quickie film financier Harry Alan Towers made its belated theatrical appearance four years after it was made. In the USA, it played the bottom of the bill on the drive-in theater circuits. It crept into theaters sheepishly, victim of the commercial and critical thrashing given to its predecessor. The word in fan circles was that "Castle of Fu Manchu" was a new low, even worse than what had come before. It would be years before many of these same fans were able to see the film, which rapidly disappeared into obscurity until resurrected from its public domain limbo by the home video market. This film's non-performance at the world's box offices effectively killed the series: the contracted sixth Fu manchu film was never made.

On a technical level, "Castle" is a notch below even the low standards established by its predecessor. The shadows of the camera crew are visible in some scenes. Director Jess Franco's chronic zoom photography is more annoying and lazy here. Parts of the film are so technically shoddy, they barely achieve the level of the average home movie. The most professional scene in the film is a dolly shot of Maria Perschy crossing a Madrid street, and this was filmed by the second unit!

However, because its script is slightly better, this film can arguably be ranked above "Blood of Fu Manchu", although few fans would risk their credibility defending either film. At least "Castle" is concerned with Fu Manchu's current plot to conquer the world and does not pad out its running time with irrelevant subplots. What it does use for padding is stock footage. For its opening sequence, "Castle" lifts the entire climax of "Brides of Fu Manchu" and, incredibly, extends this sequence with footage of the Titanic from the 1958 film "A Night to Remember"! Using stock footage to supplement stock footage is either brashly clever or establishes a new standard of cheapness.

Perhaps the ultimate snub to the film came from the producer himself, who kept his wife Maria Rohm out of the cast.

Spoilers follow ...

[parry_na · 5/10 · 8 June 2017]

After the roundly derided 'Blood of Fu Manchu', director Jess Franco once again tackles Sax Rohmer's indomitable moustache twirling super villain. Richard Greene 'guest stars' as sleuth Nayland Smith, and Howard Marion Crawford, in his last performance, plays second hand man, silly old Professor Petrie.

As Fu, Christopher Lee is exactly as you would expect – clipped, precise and cool. Under impressive oriental make-up, he conveys moments of anger, complacency and effective degrees of evil. His relationship with far more interesting daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin) is slightly more focused than previously, but the most interesting character here is Lisa (Rosalba Meri), 1971's 'Lady Frankenstein'. Lisa is a duplicitous and beautiful creation, often dressed in a suit ("She fights like a man") – and yet, like everyone else here, she is fearfully underwritten and little more than a cypher.

Added to that, much of the stock footage that provides the more spectacular moments is generously scooped from other productions, notably a dam-busting scene from 'Campbell's Kingdom' from twelve years earlier.

Despite a strong start, this soon dissolves into the kind of muddled plotting that blighted 'Blood…' previously. Although I actually found this slightly more entertaining than that previous film, it is still difficult to maintain interest in events when both storyline and characters are so sketchy.

A further entry into the Fu Manchu series was contracted, but due to the drubbing 'Castle…' received both critically and commercially, Fu's promise that 'the world will hear from me again' remains unfulfilled. With a fairly generous budget (most likely due to the further involvement of Harry Alan Towers) and a good cast, it seems to me that Franco just wasn't interested in telling a story about Fu Manchu – and subsequently, the audience felt the same way about paying to watch it.

"The crystallisation process is too slow"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 1 May 2021]

Fu Manchu gains the power to turn water into ice on a grand scale by using extracts from the opium plant, an idea as confusing as most of the film which moves slowly as a glacier. Not much excitement here. On the plus side is has picturesque location shooting and the castle itself looked fine but the interior shooting was unmemorable. Even Fu Manchu's lair was meh.

Christopher Lee was still capable as Fu but Tsai Chin as his daughter Lin Tang was hardly in it. Yes she stabbed someone in the back and beheaded someone else but she has always been the most interesting character in all the Fu films produced by the ever game Harry Alan Towers and was wasted here. She outshone all the other routine leading ladies in these films. Shame there was never a series with Tsai Chin as Lin Tang behaving wickedly or perhaps as Sax Rohmer's Sumuru. Oh well, our loss.

A real challenge

[mstomaso · 1/10 · 1 May 2005]

It is 1969. Your on your way back to your car at the drive-inn, where your fiancé is happily sleeping off her double shift at the diner and you are about half-way through a film - Folterkammer des Dr. Fu Man Chu, Die (or the Castle of Fu Manchu) - which has already put you through two bags of popcorn and 3 cokes because the popcorn is just so much more interesting, and the worst happens - you can't find your car. Nightmares flash through your mind - maybe your fiancé was so annoyed by the cruelty of your decision to force her into a late night drive-inn triple feature full of Sax Rohmer films so she drove off, or maybe the film got her so upset that she drove off the nearest bridge. Trying to get a hold of yourself, you look up to the screen to verify that you're at the right part of the drive in. No help, all you can see is a smear of dark blue and dark red shadow across the lower part of the screen. After a minute or so, the lighting crew finds the on-switch and some out of focus people show up on the screen. They appear to be three Shriners sneaking up on an Imam who has just begun his afternoon prayer. Still no help. You resign yourself to the fate natural selection has accorded you. You , after all, decided to see this film with your intended reproductive partner, and that choice has probably ruined your opportunity to allow your genetic material to be carried on in the next generation of humans. So you decide to move to California to buy that house on the side of hill overlooking the San Andreas fault where you always wanted to live, and to pursue your dream to rekindle the Fu Manchu series this film killed. More power to you.

To be fair, I did not see the touted Blue underground DVD version of the film. Supposedly, this pressing is so much better than what I saw that it is incomparable.

Even my television objected to this film. It kept trying to turn itself off, switch channels, etc. It even unplugged the cable converter for a few minutes. Whoever it was that decided that Sax Rohmer's various B-grade stories ought to be made into movies, should be forced to watch all of them in a row - at least once. As they say, garbage in, garbage out. These films are a decidedly acquired taste. And this one is even more difficult to acquire a taste for than Sumuru... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061976/usercomments-8

Peruse the IMDb reviews - you will notice that most of the people who write positive reviews for this film do not describe the plot. There are two interrelated reasons for this - (1) there isn't one to be described and (2) they've never seen the film, and simply get a perverse pleasure believing that their opinions might be taken seriously enough to convince people to see the film (a poor assumption, at best).

Christopher Lee plays Fu Manchu - an inexplicably powerful meanie who wants something from all of the world's governments (we are never privileged with the knowledge of what in particular he wants, but I couldn't care less anyway), and is threatening to freeze the world's oceans to get it. The technology he is using has been developed by a dying scientist who he has kidnapped, and soon he finds himself having to kidnap a surgeon in order to arrange a heart transplant as well. There are various fight scenes which don't appear to be related to the film and may indeed have been found on a cutting room floor somewhere in the Middle East, or even reused from a previous Rohmer feature (I really expected Sumuru, some of her army of Amazon ninjas, or even Frankie Avalon to show up at one point). There are also a few scenes with Lee standing around looking ominous and using that great voice of his. I am not sure he knew what was going on in the rest of the film, and indeed with that voice it doesn't matter, but these scenes are, nonetheless, the ONLY remotely entertaining aspect of the film. And OH YES lest I forget, there are a few inept 007s who were likely rejected from the extras audition for Casino Royal making some roughly British sounding noises and taking all of this way too seriously.

I didn't think it was possible, but this film was even more difficult to get through than Manos: Hands of Fate, and quite possibly should replace it as the worst film of all time. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060666/usercomments-419

To state what, in particular is wrong with TCODFM is an easy task - EVERYTHING. The acting is mediocre, the plot is idiotic, the cinematography and editing are so bad that I don't believe TRYING to make a hideous mess of a film would net you anything worse. You'll either laugh hysterically or stare at your screen until you start drooling, unless you take my advice and avoid this.

Why did I watch it? I enjoy challenges.

It really isn't that bad, I'm surprised by the current 2.9/10 score

[Stevieboy666 · 5/10 · 23 February 2021]

Evil Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee) has devised a way of freezing vast amounts of water and plans to use it in his quest for world domination. To be honest the plot is as mad as a box of frogs but it does help make it fun. Director Jess Franco is best known for his X rated horror movies so it is a nice change to see him make a film that is rated PG and your kids can watch. As usual he appears the other side of the camera too, this time playing a police detective. Horror legend Lee plays Fu Manchu, the make-up department did an OK job of making him look Oriental, however he plays the role straight and I couldn't help but chuckle a few times, such a contrast from playing say Dracula. We are also treated to the inclusion of two beautiful actresses, Rosalba Neri and Maria Perschy, both familiar faces to fans of Euro horror and erotica. The movie's locations include Spain and Istanbul, some great scenery. I also liked Fu's dungeon and laboratory, the various colours (red, green, blue, etc) make it look really good. Fu's arch enemy Nayland Smith is back and it is laughable how easily he is able to break into and moved around fiend Manchu's castle despite being fortified by the latter's small army. The special effects include a cruise liner sinking and a dam bursting, not bad at all. The Castle of Fu Manchu is certainly no classic but I found it fun and colourful, plus I am a fan of both Lee and Franco.

Subtle and insidious torture

[angelynx · 1/10 · 30 December 1998]

Handsome but utterly incoherent nonsense. Nice locations and sets and Lee looks really impressive in those Mandarin robes, but cripes, it's got about 30 extraneous characters, a vague and torturous plot, and a nonexistent ending. Bad in a way cheaper movies can't be; you can't help thinking it *must* have a plot because it *looks* well-made, so you end up blaming yourself for not getting it and you feel wretched and vaguely ill...agh. Took a grave toll on the Satellite of Love's morale and it will on yours.

The buck stops here

[theskylabadventure · 3/10 · 14 November 2016]

The fifth and final of Christopher Lee's Fu-Manchu outings – a planned sixth film was cancelled due to its overwhelmingly poor critical and commercial reception - and the second to be directed by schlockmeister Jess Franco. Played as a parody, 'Castle' might actually have been quite fun. Fu-Manchu is essentially reduced to a poor knock-off of a Blofeld (though I'm not sure he was ever much else). Lee actually brings his A-game here, having phoned it in previously in the series, lifting the ludicrous dialogue to the point where it's almost palatable, but everything else about the film seems to be mocking itself without knowing it. The production design is so camp it makes The Ipcress File look like The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. The action and violence is again tepid and clumsy (lest we forgot this is a Jess Franco film) and the plot manages to be confusing in spite of being threadbare. There are some babes thrown in, but this is a PG movie so, again, Franco fans expecting anything resembling titillation will be thoroughly disappointed. Unlike its predecessor, which is by far the more insipid and dreary of the two, 'Castle' has a handful of things going for it. One is Jess Franco in a supporting role, wearing a fez and dubbed to sound like… I don't really know. The score is totally derivative but actually rather nice. The wacky production design and multi-coloured fluorescent lighting add a lot of hammy fun. The attempt at seamless in-scene cutting between the various, disparate filming locations is endlessly amusing. Some of the dialogue is hilariously quotable, and played to the hilt by everyone involved. Frankly, though, the two high points of the show are the sizeable inserts from A Night To Remember and Campbell's Kingdom. While definitely a cut above its predecessor in some ways, I'm still struggling to give this any kind of recommendation.

The world didn't hear from him again!

[mido505 · 8/10 · 1 July 2005]

What a difference a decent transfer makes. For ages only viewable in muddy, heavily cut, nearly unwatchable prints, The Castle of Fu Manchu is now available, thanks to Blue Underground, in all of its colorful, zoom-laden glory. The last of producer Harry Alan Towers' five-film Fu Manchu series, and generally considered to be the worst, The Castle of Fu Manchu is actually a fun, trashy time waster, and far better than the previous film in the series, The Blood of Fu Manchu, which was burdened by a tedious bandito sub plot that dragged the film to a grinding halt. Directed with a certain pulpy vitality by the highly erratic but occasionally brilliant Jess Franco, Castle has a tacky comic book verve that is hard to resist, and that is certainly more entertaining than many of the expensive, highly touted bombs that Hollywood has been dropping lately. Contrary to what others have reported on this site, Christopher Lee is in excellent form, delivering his lines with distinctive aplomb and offering a stunning, iconographic series of facial expressions as he attempts to overact under the restrictive 'Oriental' make-up. The great Tsai Chin (soon to be seen as 'Auntie' in Memoirs of a Geisha), as Fu's devoted, sadistic daughter, Lin Tang, is terrific as always, and looks particularly fetching in her white Hejab. Best of all, Rosalba Neri shows up as a tough, Fez-topped lesbian, of whom Fu says "Keep her alive. She might be useful to us. She fights like a man." Peter Welbeck's screenplay may be incomprehensible rubbish, but they don't write lines like that anymore.

Hey, I liked it!

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 16 March 2014]

I really feel very out of step with regards to this one because scanning through the other IMDb reviews it became quite obvious that everybody else hated it! I don't really understand the universal dislike though, as this one really didn't seem to warrant this level of abuse. Don't get me wrong, it has problems. The script being a pretty obvious one. The story was very difficult to comprehend. It involved the master criminal Fu Manchu devising a method of turning the oceans into ice by using opium or something. And by way of this he would take over the world. Okay, whatever you say! Yeah, so admittedly, the narrative is a bit senseless.

But the thing is, I've seen a lot of Jess Franco movies and I thought this was quite coherent by his standards! In fact, it was from a period in Franco's career where he had more production value at his disposal, so again when people say this is ultra-cheap, I'm thinking it's quite big budget for Jess. I mean, he has even managed to hire Christopher Lee for the title role – I thought he was pretty imposing and well suited to the character to be fair. We also have Rosalba Neri as a gangster chick and she is always worth watching, so again, this is a good thing. Even the blatant lifts from other movies were entertaining enough, such as the whole opening scene that utilises scenes taken wholesale from A Night to Remember. Maybe the pacing could have been better perhaps but this is a constant Franco fault and in here it's no worse than usual. But overall, the film, while being often senseless, did have enough action and Euro cult value to keep me watching. Ultimately, I am probably the idiot for liking this but I guess I'll just have to live with that.

The 'Yellow Peril' strikes again

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 17 February 2021]

Christopher Lee returns as the evil oriental genius and symbol of the yellow peril Fu Manchu and he's got a can't miss scheme now. Lee has developed a formula for freezing large quantities of water and he tries it out in the tropical Caribbean when a cruise ship hits an iceberg and goes down far quicker than the Titanic.

Of course Scotland Yard puts their best Fu Manchu expert on the job Sir Dennis Nayland Smith played by Richard Greene making his second appearance in the part. Greene was getting a bit long in the tooth for su7ch derring do. A younger player should have carried the action scenes.

Anyway Lee's scheme hinges on getting a sick scientist with a bad heart to help and in the course of the film a surgical procedure that would be pioneered inm real life and very soon. Life imitating heart.

This film is kind of like the Japanese monster flicks only not half the fun of seeing those monsters making Japan a continual candidate for urban renewal. As for Fu Manchu he's like a Batman villain ho is down, but never out. He always returns with a new scheme.

The stories of Sax Rohmer are from a racist past where a great fear among occidentals was the 'yellow peril' where the great populations of the east only needed a charismatic leader to rise and takeover. Today the stories and films made therein should be handled with care.

Great sequel!

[kossity1 · 23 June 1999]

Despite bad reviews and a low box-office success, this film must be considered a classic among movies. With a very low budget, it achieves what a lot of big-budget flicks never did: being interesting and funny to watch. With the acclaimed performance of Christopher Lee, his master counterpart, and some good directing, this film is a must-see.

More Christopher Lee in Yellowface

[JoeB131 · 3/10 · 25 January 2021]

The sad thing to remember about the late, great Christopher Lee is that for every classic performance he put in on a Hammer Horror film, he did a lot of European Schlock movies on the cheap because he needed to pay the bills. The Fu Manchu series in in this vein, where he phoned in his performances between insertions of stock footage culled from other movies.

So the plot is that Fu has created a ice making machine to destroy shipping unless the world gives in to his demands.. Except the technology is unreliable and he needs a doctor to perform a heart transplant on a scientist to make it work. The movie has a lot of padding.

Something else I found out was that the woman who plays his daughter had a whole career playing Asian grandmothers and aunties from the 1990's on.

The Crap Hole of Fu Manchu

[Oosterhartbabe · 1/10 · 30 November 2005]

dreadful. This total mess of a movie makes as little sense as our modern tax code, and is as hard to pick your way through.

Basically, we have Christopher Lee doing some of his worst work ever, dressed in Chinese drag and a terrible make-up job that doesn't make him look oriental but does make him look pretty gay. He drones on in a monotone as the dreadfully evil Fu Manchu, sucking the air out of the room in every scene he's in. The only thing I can think that is oriental about him is the obvious opium addiction, because he must have been high on SOMETHING to help him get through this stinker. Plus, his eyes are pretty glazed. That could be just boredom, however. Couldn't blame him if it was.

The plot, such as can be made out of it, is that ol' Fu has acquired a way to turn the world's oceans to ice, and is using that as his threat to make the world's government's kowtow to him a la Dr. Evil. Unfortunately, this scientist with the silly name who's the only one who can help him make this device has a heart problem and is at the edge of death. So Fu kidnaps an English heart specialist and makes him perform the world's first heart transplant. They never show on screen whether there was any tissue typing of any kind, so the scientist could easily have rejected the (unwilling) donor heart. Oh, wait, that would require the plot to make sense and be coherent, and it's not having anything to do with that, no sirree.

In the meantime, Fu's killed the governor of a province in Turkey(I think) and stolen his castle, with the aid of a girl who he promptly locks up in the dungeon. I was never sure about her role in this film, but like so many other things it was a loose end that never really got resolved. It might have been Turkey, or it might have been a huge Shriner's convention, I can't be sure.

To convince the English heart doctor to go through with the surgery, Fu obliquely threatens his girlfriend by blowing up a dam. A pretty puzzling way to carry out a death threat, but o.k. This scene, like so many of the others in this movie, was unnecessarily long and tedious. They should have called it the Sleep Aid of Fu Manchu, that would have been closer to the actual substance of the film.

Fu's enemy is a bland English guy with zero charm and a habit of blending into any background like a chameleon. I wasn't even totally sure of his name throughout most of the film. James Bland, I think it was.

Anyhoo, Fu's plan is foiled and his castle blown up(I was never sure how or by who,the editing's pretty bad at the end). The doctor and his girlfriend escape through the sewers, which couldn't stink more than this movie. The boring hero type drags the heart patient scientist out the front way, and the movie comes to its incoherent end with no idea on the part of the viewer about what was going on for the last hour and a half. There aren't words enough to describe how bad this film was, at least not in the English language. Maybe in Mandarin? We should ask Fu Manchu, eh? Oh, wait, he probably doesn't speak any Chinese dialects, being British and all..

If Hoover and Eureka did brain surgery....

[Manus Hand · 1/10 · 3 February 1999]

...it would be by making movies like this. There are bad movies and then there are BAD movies. And then -- only THEN -- there's The Castle of Fu Manchu. Any attempt to find a plot will leave you exhausted after only the first few camera shots. But strangely, you find yourself thinking, "well, I must have missed something" or "well, I'm sure I'll catch on here in a minute" or "well, I'm sure this all comes clear in the end somehow." By the time you have sat through the whole thing, you could clean carpets by dragging your head across the floor. Some films are hilariously bad. Some are disturbingly bad. This one is just vacuously bad. This mass of completely wasted celluloid has got to be the worst movie from the third category of bad that you could ever find. My hope, for those of you who haven't yet seen it, is that you never never find yourself face to screen with it. You don't know how lucky you are and how very much I envy you.

Bad, bad, bad!

[Anthony-44 · 1/10 · 12 January 2000]

I normally love to watch bad movies, but this sure is the worst of them all! No plot, no interesting characters, just a few shots put together. I cannot imagine that there were actually people working seriously on this project. I heard there were six Fu Manchu movies contracted, lets be thankful that this 5th was the last!

Stop the torture!!!

[Coventry · 2/10 · 10 May 2005]

I was glad when the film was over…and, correct me if I'm wrong, but that can't really be the point now, can it? Christopher Lee is a true icon of horror cinema but his name equally is inevitably linked to a couple real stinkers, and this "Castle of Fu Manchu" is without a doubt the smelliest one! The previous Fu Manchu installment (also directed by Jess Franco) already was a dire film but this one is even worse! Franco makes the exact same mistakes here as in did in "The Blood of Fu Manchu": far too many characters, too much wannabe-intelligent nonsense and an enormous lack of action. This time, the evil Chinese criminal attempts to realize his pretty retarded dream of world domination by turning ocean water into ice. He therefore kidnapped a brilliant scientist who developed a formula, but the poor guy suffers from a heart disease so Fu has to kidnap another scientist in order to perform the world's first heart-transplant! Meanwhile, good old Nayland Smith starts to chase his nemesis, as well as a powerful community of Istanbul opium-addicts! The screenplay is incredibly dumb and the film contains some of the cheesiest moments in history. Like the ludicrous intro in which Fu makes an enormous Caribbean cruise-ship sink to the bottom of the South Atlantic Ocean. If I didn't know any better, I would think that Franco rips off "Titanic" 30 years before it was made! The acting is weak (poor Christopher is very uninterested), there's no sleaze and not even a bit of humor. Jess Franco honored himself by playing an insignificant supporting role while he can't even handle the directing properly. This film is so bad that even the exhilarating-sounding titles are fake! The Castle of Fu Manchu?? Technically, it's not even his castle! And what about "The Torture Chamber of Fu Manchu"?? Did anyone see a torture device? I sure didn't… Avoid this one at all costs!

For $1.99 at local video store

[InzyWimzy · 2/10 · 12 December 2000]

Ah, to be privileged to see this film finally. It wasn't as bad as I expected. of course, my system went through several blackouts, epileptic seizures, and I felt mass confusion, even worse than trying to get the square piece into the round hole back in kindergarten.

But I kid...this is one of the worst movies out there. SO bad, Fu Manchu isn't even Chinese, but another white guy with silly putty to convey the Asian appearance. very laughable fight scenes happen, you have no idea who anyone is, and death scenes harmlessly bounce off you like zeta rays. Felt really bad for Paulie who spends most of the movie lying down (no wonder he's so crabby in Rocky). Also, there's romance, guys wearing fezs, and inexplicable ending. But it ended, so thanks for that!

Best Brains put in for vacation after viewing this one....

MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!!!

[LiteLord · 1/10 · 18 June 1999]

This is, without a doubt, the worst movie I have ever seen. Bad acting. Bad editing. Bad casting. Bad audio. Bad lighting. Bad special effects. And a plot so convoluted that it defines the word "incoherent".

I was first exposed to this monstrosity through MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000. It was so awful that Joel and the bots were weeping after the first hour. I've heard other folks claim that the worst movie ever done on MST3K was MANOS. In my opinion, MANOS was a pleasure compared to this turkey.

It's not as bad as most people say. I've seen lots worse!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 8 October 2017]

Associate producer: Jaime Jesus Balcazar. Producer: Harry Alan Towers. A Terra Filmkunst (Berlin)/Balcazar Productions (Barcelona)/Italian International (Rome) in association with Towers of London (London) co-production, filmed on locations in Spain and Istanbul. An Anglo- EMI presentation, released through M-G-M. The film was made in 1968. No release dates recorded, but U. S. release would have been in 1970, U.K. around January 1972. No theatrical release in Australia. 8,280 feet. 92 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: By courtesy of stock footage from "A Night To Remember", the bad old doctor sinks a cruise ship. Unfortunately, he runs out of stock footage, and is forced to kidnap a scientist. Very unfortunately, the scientist has a bad ticker. So Fu is also forced to kidnap his doctors. Even more unfortunately, the bungling kidnappers carry out their work under the very nose of Nayland- Smith. This draws Fu's castle hide- out close to discovery. (Available on passable Optimum and excellent Blue Underground DVDs).

NOTES: Although the evil genius vows to return and fight yet another round with Nayland-Smith as the end titles roll, he failed to keep this appointment. "Castle of Fu Manchu" turned out to be the last of the five Lee/Manchu pictures. See my review of "Face of Manchu" for a complete overview of the series.

COMMENT: While admittedly a long way from the peaks of Face, Castle isn't all that bad a picture. Mind you, it starts off very poorly, utilizing scads of obvious stock footage from "Night To Remember". But with the credit titles and their change of scene, the visual aspect of the movie improves dramatically. Indeed the real locations in Spain and exotic Istanbul, are the film's best feature. Away from the garish studio sets, Manuel Merlino's cinematography shines.

The story rates as okay — a few slow passages here and there — and the dubbing (as usual) is none too hot, but the girls are attractive, the locations fresh, and director Franco manages to muster up just enough pictorial pizazz to offset both occasionally inept scripting and all-over dubbing deficiencies — plus a brace of somewhat forced (Marion Crawford particularly) and/or stale (Richard Greene) performances.

Chris Lee needed work

[[e-mail] · 2/10 · 24 February 2006]

This little nothing was really bad. As a struggling law student, I often watch horrible films because I don't need to pay attention or even care for the damn thing. This film, however, was a total waste of time. Christopher Lee, shame on you for playing Fu Manchu in this. Even though I have a lot of respect for Christopher Lee, this was definitely not one of his finer performances. The whole thing was really awful.

The plot is that Fu Manchu is trying to take over the world using a machine fueled with opium that freezes water and creates ice bergs. That's really about it. I don't think that I can elaborate on it much (at least in any way that would make sense).

The cast is mediocre (again, Chris Lee was their shining star), the script was a crime (the dialogue was pretty bad), and despite there being some talent the whole thing was totally sub-par. What really got me was how they casted Spainish or Latin American guys as Chinese soldiers. AAAARRRUUUUGGGGHHH. Did they think that we wouldn't notice? This was bad, but not quite so bad as something like "Manos the Hands of Fate." Don't bother with it.

The Fifth and Final of the Series

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2011]

Castle of FuManchu, The (1968)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The fifth and final film in Christopher Lee's FuManchu series is considered by many to be the worst but I personally found it so bad that I was able to have a little fun with it. The film has FuManchu (Lee) once again trying to take over the world and by now you might be asking when the guy is just going to give up and go home. Anyway, this time he plans on freezing all the oceans in the world so he kidnaps a doctor to perform an operation on the one man who knows how to do such a thing. THE CASTLE OF FUMANCHU isn't a good movie so you shouldn't go into the film expecting anything other that pure silliness. There's no question this is a bad movie but thankfully it's bad enough to be mildly entertaining but I'm sure most people will be smart enough to hit the eject button by the thirty-minute mark. Once again Lee appears to have only enough energy to cash a paycheck as he's obviously not too thrilled about doing this picture. As in the previous film, Lee pretty much just sleepwalks through the film and offers up very little energy. The supporting cast includes Gunther Stoll playing the doctor, Jose Manuel Martin as an opium dealer and cult favorite Rosalba Neri playing an assassin. These supporting players are certainly one of the few good things in the film. The film has a bigger budget than most Franco pictures but that's not saying too much because we still get all sorts of cheapness including some stock footage from the Titanic picture A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, which certainly doesn't mix well with any of the new footage. The film does have some decent cinematography but there's just not enough here to make it worth viewing. Fans of Lee, Franco or FuManchu are bound to be disappointed with this film, which turned out to be the last in the series.