Fu Manchu e o Beijo da Morte

If you read the plot synopsis of "Blood Of Fu Manchu" it sounds like exploitation gold, but don't get your hopes up: it doesn't make the most of its premise (to put it kindly). Despite noted smut peddler Jess Franco in the director's chair, it is quite tame, and despite being part of the Fu Manchu series, a stereotypically fat, unshaven, cackling bandit has by far the most screen time (Shirley Eaton fans will also be disappointed; her part is a 2-minute cameo). Location filming in Brazil and Christopher Lee's commanding (even if unconvincing) performance are pretty much its only assets. ** out of 4.

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.

This solid, sumptuous adaptation the Fu Manchu series (the director's first of two) is further evidence of both Christopher Lee's tremendous character acting and that Spanish director Jess Franco actually did make some good movies. This movie is not "perfect" by any means, but Franco milks the meager budget for every dime and delivers maximum scale for this bizarre pulp epic. He delivers on all the sex, violence, and the macabre you would expect from a Franco flick and also manages to create a sense of dignity and responsibility about the whole thing (with much help from Lee's focused performance). Anyway, good stuff. Especially if you are in to adventure serials and/ or jungle exploitation films. Don't miss out on a newly discovered classic. Blue-Underground's DVD of the uncut, beautifully rendered remastering should revert many of the film's most passionate critics into true believers.

Christopher Lee returns in this fourth chapter as the evil Fu Manchu , this time has designed a fantastic gadget injecting gorgeous girls (Leni Von Friedl, among others) a venomous poison which reacts in a killing kiss . The beautiful girls are sent to seduce Nayland Smith (Richard Greene replaced Douglas Wilmer) and world leaders . When Nayland Smith is kissed by a death-kiss and he then strolls completely blinded , letting his assistant Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford) takes the center of attention . A blind Nayland Smith enlists the help an adventurer named Jansen (Gotz George) and an attractive woman (Maria Rhom, married to producer Harry Allan Towers) .

This is a bizarre blending of adventures , thriller and Spaghetti Western . This exciting picture is full of Chinese killers , British adventurers , and Cangaiceiros dressed in Mexican bandits-alike . Weak performance by Richard Greene as Nyland Smith who in previous episodes was best interpreted by Nigel Green and Douglas Wilmer . The villain T Sai Chin stands out as Fu Manchu's daughter and the murderous bandit Ricardo Palacios overacting as a sympathetic chief Cangaicero . This is the beginning of collaborating between Jesus Franco or ¨Uncle Jess¨ and the producer Harry Allan Towers and to be continued in several movies . Filmed in Madrid and Rio De Janeiro and well photographed by Manuel Merino . Atmospheric musical score by Daniel White , Jess Frank's usual.

Most critics felt this outing was one of the weakest entries along with ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨ also directed by Jess Frank with similar casting , plenty of stock-shots and a Z-series style . Christopher Lee (Dr. Fu Manchu), Tsai Chin (Lin Tang) and Howard Marion-Crawford (Dr. Petrie) are the only actors to appear in all five Harry Allan Towers/Fu Manchu films . The best installments resulted to be ¨Face of Fu Manchu (1965, Don Sharp)¨ , and ¨Brides of Fu Manchu (1966, Don Sharp)¨ and the inferior ¨Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967 , Jeremy Summers) ¨.

In spite of the fact that this is the 4th (I think) entry in Christopher Lee's Fu Manchu "series" (I'm assuming they don't all follow on from each other), it's the first one I've seen and if the rest of them are anything like this; I hope it's the last! I can't profess to know a great deal about this series having only seen one film in it; though I am familiar with the character Fu Manchu after having seen the 1932 Boris Karloff film. Christopher Lee is a great actor, but here he looks like he couldn't really be bothered; for a start, Fu Manchu is meant to be an oriental character, and Lee doesn't even try to put on an oriental accent! The plot follows Fu Manchu's quest for world domination and focuses on his bright idea of filling up a load of women with poison and using them to seduce ten of the most powerful men in the world. It actually doesn't sound like that bad a springboard for a decent film, adding in the jungle setting and a super villain, you'd really be forgiven for thinking that this film is going to be a lot better. Jess Franco takes the directors chair and it seems, as is often the case, he cared more about his paycheck than the film as it lacks suspense and excitement, the characters are mostly dull and the situation is not made the best of. Overall, this film may do something for fans of the series; but personally it hasn't made me want to see more of these films!