The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1972)

Plot Outline: In his remote Asian hideaway, Fu Manchu plots to discredit and kill his arch enemy, Inspector Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard, in the first step to becoming the leader of the world's most dangerous criminals.

The Review: Fu Manchu is back again (how I don't know but this is the movies) but it's not for the best as the series takes another nosedive. It's not that it's a bad film - until one has seen the likes of The Nostril Picker and Raiders of the Living Dead then no one can really call any film bad - it's just that it's a lot less punchier than it's predecessors. There isn't as much plot as there was before and what little there is to grab hold of is all over the place. Yes the main motive of the film is vengeance but the way in which Fu Manchu wants to extract is a little drawn out. Creating a double of Nayland Smith via plastic surgery is good - but it's too far advanced for the time period of the film, especially when the surgeon is working in a remote Chinese village and seems to do an almost impeccable job of recreating Nayland Smith. There are other major plot elements which take a lot of explaining such as the fact no one even considers the fact that Nayland Smith has been replaced when he doesn't say a word, has grown a few inches and is a lot paler in the face. Even Lee's Fu Manchu isn't given a great deal to do barring stand there in his yellow make-up. He is still the best part of the film but isn't as menacing as he was before and seems to be a bit of a muppet at times when he can't make up schemes which actually work. Douglas Wilmer adds respectable beef to the role of Nayland Smith once again and there are also returning roles from Tsai Chin and Howard Marion-Crawford, both of whom have little to do at all but at least show up to add continuity to the series.

Final Verdict: The Vengeance of Fu Manchu is an OK crime thriller which is reasonably entertaining and well-made but it's not a patch on the earlier two films and it's got a lot of problems which obviously weren't addressed by the writers beforehand.

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