The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu

Perhaps it's just me, but although I love the idea of an international criminal genius like Fu Manchu, most of the stuff I've seen hasn't been all that good. I liked the old Boris Karloff film. It wasn't great but it did entertain. The Christopher Lee films of the 1960s were, on the other hand, embarrassingly bad--especially as the progressed. Now, with the 1950s TV show, I was once again only moderately interest and nothing more. And, considering the idea for the show, it should have been great.

Like all the other Fu Manchus, this one is unfortunately played by some white guy who squints a lot and sounds a bit like Charlie Chan...a very BAD Charlie Chan. Oddly, one of the shows even had Keye Luke in a supporting role--though he would have been PERFECT in the lead. He was Asian, a fine actor and had a great screen presence. Instead, Glen Gordon does an acceptable but not particularly distinguished job as the baddie. The show is supposed to take place throughout the world--partly places like Macau and Hong Kong. But, like most 1950s TV, it was films on a cramped stage and stock footage of exteriors. SO, it only had adequate production values and looked pretty cheap. As for the scripts and acting, it was all very flat...okay, but no more. The show could have used a strong injection of energy, locales and more inspired acting--and I can see why the series was short-lived. If you are interested, Alpha Video has some of the episodes on DVD.