Film Review
The enormous popularity of Sax Rohner's
Fu Manchu novels - published
between 1913 and 1959 - resulted in several of these being adapted for
cinema in the early era of sound, the best known being
The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), which
starred Boris Karloff. It would be three decades before the
Oriental crime lord returned to the big screen, with Christopher Lee
once more stepping into Karloff's shoes (as he had previously done as
The Monster in Hammer's
The Curse of Frankenstein
(1957)), in the first of a series of lowish budget features produced by
Harry Alan Towers. Rohmer's now dated adventure novels were given
a new lease of life after the success of the first James Bond movie
Dr No
(1962), whose central villain was a direct homage to Rohmer's criminal
mastermind. Towers sought to capitalise on the popularity of the
Bond films by offering up an Edwardian equivalent in which the
principal good guy, Nayland Smith, would be every bit as tough,
resilient and charismatic as Sean Connery's agent 007.
With its action set-pieces (including a protracted cross-country car
chase involving vintage cars) and stylish production values,
The Face of Fu Manchu looks as if
it owes more to Ian Fleming than it does to Sax Rohmer, although it is
by far the best of the five
Fu Manchu
films made by Towers. After this impressive opener there came two
fairly respectable sequels -
The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)
and
The Vengeance of Fu Manchu
(1967) - but the series ended in a less than spectacular vein when
exploitation director Jesus Franco came on board and finished it off
for good with the risible
The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)
and
The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969).
The Face of Fu Manchu's main
asset is the casting of Nigel Green in the role of Fu Manchu's nemesis,
Sir Denis Nayland Smith. With his imposing physique and
commanding voice, Green had an arresting screen presence that meant he
was as well-suited as the opponent to the über-charismatic Lee as
Peter Cushing had been in Hammer's
Dracula films. Dour and
determined, Green's portrayal of Nayland Smith looks as if it may have
been closely modelled on Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, an
impression that can only be reinforced by Howard Marion-Crawford's Dr
Petrie, a stumbling sidekick who is struggles to be more than a second
rate Dr Watson. Despite being perfect for the part, Green refused
to reprise the role of Nayland Smith in the subsequent
Fu Manchu films and so it fell on
the less impressive shoulders of Douglas Wilmer and Richard Greene -
one of many reasons why the later
Fu
Manchu films produced by Towers fail to hold a candle to the
first.
The Face of Fu Manchu not only
boasts a strong cast (Joachim Fuchsberger is excellent as the tormented
captured scientist Jannsen and James Robertson Justice makes a
memorable appearance), it is also superbly directed by Don Sharp, whose
work here surpasses his impressive Hammer horror outings,
The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) and
Rasputin, the Mad Monk
(1966). The attention to period detail is apparent in every scene
and this adds to the film's gritty realism, whilst the photography and
music contribute an aura of expectant dread throughout, lending a
Mabuse-like power to Lee's chillingly sadistic villain. The
opening sequence depicting the apparent execution of Fu Manchu is
hauntingly eerie and sets the tone brilliantly for the grim
good-versus-evil confrontation that ensues. If only the film's
producer had been able to retain Nigel Green's services for its sequels
we might have had a series of British adventure-thriller films to rival
the popularity of the Bond movies, rather than an ignominious descent
into bargain basement absurdity.
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
In the early 1900s, Sir Dennis Nayland Smith, a senior British police
commissioner, attends the formal execution of arch-criminal Fu Manchu
in China. Not long after his return to London, Nayland Smith has
reason to think that the criminal mastermind is still in action and
preparing his next dastardly scheme for world domination. An
eminent biochemist, Professor Ernst Muller, is abducted and forced
against his will to distil a deadly poison from the Black Hill poppy, a
plant that grows only in Tibet. At present, the poison is
effective only at sub-zero temperatures. Operating from his
underground base on the River Thames, Fu Manchu intends stealing a
formula known only to the Tibetan monks that will render it deadly at
any temperature. As a demonstration of his intent, he wipes out
an entire village in Essex. Nayland Smith realises that he has
only hours to save the world from its most ruthless and formidable
adversary. As the redoubtable police commissioner searches for
his opponent's secret lair, Fu Manchu savours victory, knowing that he
will soon have in his hands the means to fulfil his great
ambition. But first, it is time for Nayland Smith to
die...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.