After THE FACE OF FU MANCHU (1965), the first and best of the 5 film series devoted to Sax Rohmer’s Oriental villain and produced by Harry Alan Towers, my second favorite is the third film in the series, THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU (1967). Unlike the first two which were directed by Brit B movie auteur Don Sharp, this film was helmed by Brit TV veteran Jeremy Summers who that same year directed Vincent Price in HOUSE OF 1000 DOLLS and Bob Cummings in 5 GOLDEN DRAGONS.
Summers brings a TV director’s pacing and no-nonsense approach to the material which is a real plus when the script is less than it should be. As an old theatre director I worked with used to say… “If you can’t be good, be fast”. VENGEANCE also benefits from the location shooting in Hong Kong which helps to lend an air of authenticity to the proceedings. Also the use of predominantly Asian actors as Fu’s minions (not the case with the other titles in this series) adds an extra element of credibility.
Douglas Wilmer returns as Fu’s nemesis Nayland Smith having replaced Nigel Green after the first film. This time around he has very little to do as he is mostly catatonic throughout most of the movie. That’s because he’s actually someone else who has been surgically altered to look like Nayland Smith and is programmed to kill his Chinese housekeeper and then shut down. He is arrested for murder and convicted and sentenced to be executed. Throughout the proceedings he does nothing to defend himself, leaving his friends baffled.
This one aspect of the plot seems to bother most people concerning this film (surely Dr Petrie could spot him as a fake) but logic is hardly a primary component in a Fu Manchu story and so it didn’t bother me. A few years earlier a similar plot was used on THE OUTER LIMITS. I just went where the movie took me which is how I watch films whether they are good or bad. In the end, of course, good triumphs over evil and Fu is left uttering his famous line “The World Shall Hear From Me Again.”
This Warner Archive DVD-R looks very good for a non-restoration and the soundtrack is loud and clear. The one disadvantage of a Warner DVD-R is that there are no subtitles which are always a great help in understanding what is going on and for picking up dialogue that you might have missed. For those concerned with political correctness, if you’re watching a Fu Manchu movie then you have no business complaining about Asian stereotyping or Christopher Lee as the Oriental arch-villain. It’s Saturday Matinee time and that’s all this movie was ever meant to be.
The Capsule Critic 