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The Blood of Fu Manchu

"Let him wait like an ant upon an anvil, never knowing when the hammer blow will strike."
Starring: Christopher Lee, Richard Greene, Howard Marion Crawford, Maria Rohm
Rating: 7/10
Directed By: Jesus Franco
Runtime: 94 minutes

In 1913, Sax Rohmer published The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, a rousing adventure in which the titular character attempts, through a wide variety of diabolical plots, to bend the world to his dominance whilst the Holmesian Nayland Smith and Watsonian Dr. Petrie (or Bart Kerrigan or Tony McKay or Peter Wellingham...) attempt to stop him at every turn. The book turned out to be such a world-wide success that thirteen Fu Manchu books were published, the last in 1959. Of course, Hollywood had to cash in too so several Fu Manchu movies were made, the most notable being 1932's Mask of Fu Manchu starring Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy. Fu has also been played by such luminaries as Warner Oland and Peter Sellers.

I absolutely love the Sax Rohmer stories and have all thirteen novels and a few short stories said not to exist, so it's natural I would gravitate toward a Fu Manchu film and one with Christopher Lee as Fu was one I was not going to miss. Imagine my surprise when I see Jess Franco's name on the box as director. Jess Franco! (For those not in the know, check out Franco's 1969 film Venus in Furs or 1971's Vamipros Lesbos for a taste of the auteur's work). Turns out, Franco (according to the fifteen minute documentary included) is a huge mark for Sax Rohmer as well and practically leapt at the chance to bring Rohmer's vision to the big screen. Producer/writer Harry Alan Towers had other ideas. He rejected the books and churned out his own tales. As Christopher Lee himself states, "What I didn't ever understand was why he bought the rights to all these great stories... then proceeded to write his own stories and scripts." It was with some excitement and trepidation that I sat down to view Blood of Fu Manchu (1968).

I had a hard time accepting Franco as the director until the opening when ten hot chicks chained at the neck are led before Fu. Oh, this is a Franco film! The credits roll and when we come back the girls are chained arms above heads and dressed in what look like gunny sacks. A girl is selected and Fu's dacoit forces a snake to bite her, transmitting a powerful venom to which only women are immune. Fu's malevolent plan is to send these ten venomed-up servants of evil out to kiss ten enemies of the Si-Fan and thus significantly decrease Fu's opposition to power. Insidious! Even worse, Nayland Smith (Richard Greene) is first on the hit list!

Greene's Smith, upon introduction, seems a trifle out of character. He's just chillin' at his pad until Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford) drops in. In the novels, Smith never chills. He's always on the go and it is almost always he, back from some international intrigue, that busts in on Petrie or Kerrigan or whomever and drags them off to stop another Si-Fan plot. We do get around to that as Smith gets tipped off to the fact that he's got the finger and "the game's afoot!" Just like in Rohmer, Smith tells a "legend" of the "kiss of death;" an Inca myth about certain priestesses who were immunized against the poison of a Black Cobra, then sent out to kiss victims who go blind and die. Fu is renowned throughout the novels for his exotic poisons and bizarre genetic experiments and this is just the type of thing Rohmer would concoct.

Meanwhile, Fu's daughter (Tsai Chin) makes our ten girls take it bad with some naked torture ("You are frightened." Smack, smack. "You will be more frightened.") and even imports a hooded dude to distribute more pain while a pointless sub-plot begins featuring the comedy/terror of Bandit King Lopez (Ricardo Palacios) raping and pillaging a small town (shot Franco-style behind wrought iron railings, utilizing a tilted camera and sweeping pans). Though as the booze flows the pillaging seems rather consensual. Fu sees this as horning in on his territory and sends a poisoned Yuma (Isaura de Oliveria) to take him out. Yuma's pretty much topless sensual dance utilizes every Franco trademark from vivid color to crane shots to cut-aways to other coupling to heighten the sexuality of the dance. Oh, and some Ursula chick (Maria Rohm) is in town to meet her dead uncle Dr. Wagner (so needless he's not credited).

Fu is serious about the territory thing as he sends his dacoits to kill Lopez's dudes and capture the Bandit King himself, forcing him under the Si-Fan yolk. A word about Fu. Like in any good Rohmer, Lee-Manchu only shows up strategically but his evil machinations are clearly visible even when he's off screen. However, unlike Rohmer, Blood of Fu Manchu doesn't have twenty crazy smaller plans all leading up to one monumental goal. The sub-plots with Lopez and the pointless Dr. Wagner serve more as a distraction and the goal is pretty obvious - poison your way to the top. Some good news: sometimes being bit by the snake means being topless. Sometimes the guy attacking with the snake cracks up as well. Good news for Fu as well. Smith, of course, cannot resist a pretty girl and he gets poisoned. Going blind, it's up to Petrie to save the day against the one evil man who holds the antidote, and the fate of the free world, in his clawed hand!

Towers and Franco turn in a solid Fu Manchu adventure in Blood of Fu Manchu. Christopher Lee plays Fu with great dignity and the seeming omnipresent knowledge his literary character demands. Greene's Smith is less pro-active (and waaay more blind) but Crawford's Petrie is pretty much as pessimistic as his counterpart and he is not afraid to act when the situation demands it. The dacoits in the novels are far more formidable and there exist no choads in hoods, but Tsai Chin turns in a performance just below Myrna Loy in terms of tortuous glee. Fu Manchu would vow "The world shall hear from me again," and this film is no different. If a headlining villain bent on world domination is your thing, be sure to check out Blood of Fu Manchu.