Christopher Lee's first outing as the Oriental villain is probably the best of the bunch and serves as another memorable role for his huge CV. Taking over the mantle from Boris Karloff - who had played Manchu in the 1930s - Lee's Manchu films would always be cheaper, less entertaining affairs, but still served up enough action and twists in the plot to keep things moving along nicely.All of the staples of the adventure genre are there: people being tied up to chairs and freeing themselves, people being whipped, glass tanks filling with water and drowning people, and most of all the heroes fighting off villains. I loved the fight scenes in these films. Nayland Smith attacks one of his friends and fights in a laboratory, for what seems like an eternity. After the little scrap neither men are bleeding! Of course, Chinese people are the ones getting beaten up and stabbed (in a variety of PG certificate ways) along the way, which does make the film seem a little racist in today's society. Nigel Green is memorably stern-faced and proud in his one-off role as Manchu's chief adversary, Nayland Smith, while Tsai Chin is also wickedly evil as Manchu's daughter. She would return in later entries in the series. Lee, however carries the film on his shoulders and is excellent as the soft-spoken super villain with the long moustache and funny costume. Very typical of the FLASH GORDON-type serials of the '30s, with the emphasis on plot twists, explosions, kidnapping and escape, and fighting, THE FACE OF FU MANCHU is a hugely enjoyable yarn to be enjoyed by old and new alike. As Lee himself says "the world shall hear from me again".

The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)** 1/2 (out of 4)The first in a five film series starts off with the evil Dr. Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee) being executed by having his head chopped off. Scotland Yard Inspector Nayland Smith (Nigel Green) believes that the evil has come to an end but before long he realizes that Fu Manchu is actually alive and with the help of his daughter Lin Lang (Tsai Chin) he plans to kill millions with toxic gas.To date, 1932's THE MASK OF FU MANCHU remains the best film to have the historic character but I think a strong argument could be made that this here is the second best. With that said, while there are plenty of good things on display here, there's no question that this is still a film with plenty of flaws, which is really too bad because with a little editing this here could have been much, much better than it is.There's no doubt that the highlight of the picture (and the series) is the performance of Lee who really does a nice job with the role. This is certainly the type of role that many actors would have just taken the check and sleepwalked through but Lee manages to be very effective here simply because of his body movements. I say that because there's really not too much dialogue for him to work with and instead of screaming his way through the part, Lee must use his eyes and gestures to tell the viewer everything they need to know. I really love how still Lee is and this here just adds an evil quality to the role. The supporting players are also good in their parts with Smith making for the perfect hero to go up against Fu Manchu and there's no doubt that Chin brings a nice sexuality to her role.The film has a pretty good story and I thought the cat and mouse games between the Inspector and Fu Manchu were good. The film also benefits from a pretty good look and there's no doubt that director Don Sharp handles the material well. With that said, the biggest flaw is that the film simply runs a bit too long and I think some editing would have made for a nicer pace. I'd also say that hang more Fu Manchu would have been a major plus since Lee and the character are certainly the highlights. THE FACE OF FU MANCHU kicked off a five film series and it certainly went downhill after this film but this one remains entertaining in a Saturday-matinée type of way.

Since 1923, Sax Rohmer's arch-villain Fu Manchu had been brought from the novels to the screen again and again, the most famous interpretation probably created by Boris Karloff in 1932. Between 1965-68, Christopher Lee starred in 5 more Fu Manchu movies. The German co-producers often added stars from the Edgar Wallace series, such as Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Dor when the new series opened with "The Face of Fu Manchu". Strangely enough, it begins as if it was a sequel to something, describing Fu Manchu faking his execution while Nayland Smith watches, although we are not told how they got into this situation. Anyway, Fu Manchu comes to London with a weapon of mass destruction, while Smith tries to stop him. Smith had a „feeling" from the beginning that he was cheated at the execution, but it was not completely reasonable for a man like him, since the first hints at new activities were vague. So I thought he might have been be a bit more surprised when he actually meets the criminal mastermind. The last third of the movie is a bit rushed, especially the scenes in Tibet. It is not a perfect movie because it has a few holes, but it was a good start for the new series. I voted 7/8/5/7/4 for the five movies.

In the light of its considerable reputation, this is a big disappointment. It's the old tale of Fu Manchu, the Yellow Peril, trying to take over the world. The racism of this is so self-evident it's probably not worth mentioning, although the blazing red whenever the Chinese are around, and the worker-like garb of Manchu's henchmen, suggest some sort of allegory of Communism - or is this story of a megalomaniacal, world-domination-lusting, Chinaman a parody of such portentousness?I really wanted to like this film, but there's so much wrong with it. It's been called a spoof, but if so, the joke's on me. The 1920s setting is somewhat rudimentary - a few contemporary cars and hats in what looks like a very 1960s London (although the reviewer below suggests it is in fact Dublin). Far from camp, the plot is played so straight as to be unenjoyable. Every absurdity and implausibility, rather than hurtling us into the giddy realms of fantasy, rather lumbers us in a plot of cliched hackery.The acting is abysmal - I've never gotten the point of Christopher Lee (he never had Peter Cushing's middle-aged anguish), although his plummy English tones in the supposed role of a fiendish Chinaman, offers some amusement, as does his daft moustache; worst of all is Nigel Green as the oaklike hero, Nayland Smith - a man so unexpressive and graceless should be funny, but here is dull, slowing down the film at every turn. Only FU Manchu's very sexy daughter, Tsai Chin, enthralls, her subservience to her father suggesting perverse depths of sado-masochism.This is all the more frustrating in that the film has merit in abundance. The colour schemes, costumes, set-designs and compositions are frequently gorgeous, if sometimes let down by leaden direction; the afoementioned incestuous undertones in the relationship between Fu and daughter; a splendid ironising, despite the racism, of the noble West - Nayland Smith is quite clearly insane, and with his Chinese ladyservant, and death mask ornaments, seems more of a mirror image than a foil for Fu Manchu (there is also something wrong with chemists that research into a concoction that can wipe out whole peoples - there is a RIVER KWAI-like frisson in the plight of the Professor who ironically, and enthusiastically, aids his captor); there is a splendidly directed and designed car chase, reminiscent, as Tom Milne notes, of silent serials.Best of all is the setting of this grotesque potboiler in placid England. This discrepancy gives the film an AVENGERS-like chill on occasion, especially the amazing scene where Fu Manchu first exercises his power, and wipes out an entire village - spinetingling, chilling, and much more frightening than a similar scene in GOLDFINGER.