The Vengeance of Fu Manchu

Alternate titles : The Devil's Daughter of Fu Manchu, Dr. Fu Manchu's Revenge.

Tagline : "There's No Vengeance on Earth Like..."

It seems that Fu Manchu survived the previous film again (no surprises there) and has retreated to his native China for this third film in the series, where he is busy cooking up his next diabolical plot with his Daughter Lin Tang (with Christopher Lee and Tsai Chin reprising their roles from the previous films).

This time, his primary goal is to eliminate his nemesis, Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard (with Douglas Wilmer returning from the previous film), in which he intends to disgrace him, before having him killed.

So when Nayland Smith seems to suffer some sort of breakdown, then murders his housekeeper, no-one, including his friend and assistant Dr Petrie (Howard Marion-Crawford), can believe it's actually him.

So when they discover that Fu-Manchu is somehow behind this, a group of intrepid Interpol agents set out to his hideout to put an end to his nefarious activities and find out what he's done to Nayland Smith. Leading to another series of fights, gun battles and rather nasty death scenes.

Filmed at the legendary Shaw Brothers studios in Hong Kong, this one was clearly aimed at a slightly more mature audience this time. Featuring more graphic death scenes and stronger language, which is arguably the best of the first 3 films.

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Director Jeremy Summers, was a actually a prolific TV Director, who worked on various cult TV shows during the 60s and 70s. Including The Saint, The Protectors, Randal and Hopkirk Deceased, Jason King and UFO, as well as directing numerous dramas and soap operas during the 80s and 90s, such as Howards Way, The Bill, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks.
• Filmed back to back with the crime thriller "Five Golden Dragons" on the Shaw Brothers set in Hong Kong. Which was also Directed by Jeremy Summers and produced by Harry Alan Towers and featured Christopher Lee and Maria Rohm among the cast.
• Douglas Wilmer, who played Nayland Smith in this and the previous film, was not a fan of the Fu Manchu films and regarded them as "dross".
• Nayland Smith makes several reference to INTERPOL, however in the 1920s they were called The International Criminal Police Commission. They didn't adopt the name INTERPOL until the 1950s. Similarly, another character is supposedly from the FBI. However, they didn't start calling themselves that until the 1930s. Prior to that, they were simply called "The Bureau" and were part of the police. They certainly didn't send agents abroad.
• Many cinemas in the US were given Black and White prints of the film to screen, as the distributors didn't think it would sell well on its own, so it was marketted as a Black and White B-movie.
• John Franklyn, who plays one of the INTERPOL agents, also played the morgue attendant in the first film.
• Ursula's (Maria Rohm) singing voice was dubbed by British singer Samantha Jones.
• Released to UK cinemas on a double bill with another Harry Alan Towers production "Sumuru", which was also adapted from a Sax Rohmer story.
• After filming had finished, Christopher Lee informed his fan club that this would probably be his last appearance as Fu Manchu, as he felt the films were a wasted opportunity, due to "bad scripts, faulty production and inadequte promotion" and that the overall presentation of the films was "quite pathetic". But as we know, he did in fact appear in 2 further films.

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