The 4th of the 5 Fu Manchu movies with Christopher Lee takes the villain to a new hiding-place in Brazil. He uses a snake venom to blind and kill his enemies. Immune girls are passing on the poison to the victims by a kiss of death. Carl Jansen (Götz George) finds Fu Manchu, and Nayland Smith urgently needs help because he's been kissed already. The whole movie makes no sense at all (even the trip to Brazil isn't necessary for Nayland Smith, since the antidote was available in England from the girl who gave the kiss), but I didn't worry much about logic because it is so much fun! Just a handful of examples: Dr Petrie is unshaken by any danger, but cold tea really upsets him... A bandit steals a book, then throws it away: "No pictures, only words! Terrible!" he says with the justified wrath of the illiterate. The governor keeps Jansen prisoner for three days under false accusation - and apologizes that "good chess players are hard to find"!
Ricardo Palacios as Lopez makes a much better co-villain than Horst Frank in the previous movie because he provides such a great difference: the short, fat, sweating, ugly bandit compared to the tall, lean, stiff, ascetic mastermind. Lopez is the first one with the guts to ask: How much do you pay?", and Lee dryly replies: Freedom is not measured in terms of money..." Brilliant moments, and the camera work with its close-ups and focusing is looking much more creative than the traditional job in The Vengeance of Fu Manchu". Last not least, more sexy girls than ever before! I voted 7/8/5/7/4 for the five movies.
