{"id":8761,"date":"2009-07-31T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2009-07-31T19:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=8761"},"modified":"2020-12-12T00:11:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T07:11:53","slug":"face-of-fu-manchu-the-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=8761","title":{"rendered":"Face of Fu Manchu, The (1965)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;He&#8217;s cruel, callous, and brilliant &#8212; and the most evil and dangerous man in the world.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Face-of-Fu-Manchu-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Face-of-Fu-Manchu-Poster-197x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-57264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Face-of-Fu-Manchu-Poster-197x300.png 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Face-of-Fu-Manchu-Poster-673x1024.png 673w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Face-of-Fu-Manchu-Poster-84x128.png 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Face-of-Fu-Manchu-Poster-177x270.png 177w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Face-of-Fu-Manchu-Poster.png 731w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA British detective (Nigel Green) attempts to track down evil Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee), who has kidnapped a scientist (Joachim Fuchsberger) capable of creating a lethal potion from poppy plants.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Christopher Lee Films<\/li>\n<li>Detectives and Private Eyes<\/li>\n<li>Kidnapping<\/li>\n<li>Scientists<\/li>\n<li>World Domination<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this film marked the return of &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fu_manchu\">Sax Rohmer&#8217;s diabolical Chinese villain<\/a> to the screen after a 33-year hiatus&#8221; (Boris Karloff last played Fu Manchu in 1932&#8217;s <em>The Mask of Fu Manchu<\/em>). It&#8217;s a surprisingly well-made genre flick in many ways, with &#8220;believable twenties flavor, fun [if unexceptional] performances by Lee and Green&#8230;, and an interesting storyline&#8221;. The set designs (full of colorful &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chinoiserie\">chinoiserie<\/a>&#8221; and period artifacts) are vibrant, and the story is appropriately nerve-wracking, given that Manchu and his equally fiendish daughter (played with intense sincerity by Tsai Chin) pose a truly frightening threat to the state of the world &#8212; as evidenced in a sequence demonstrating their ability to wipe out an entire town within seconds (the parallels with nuclear devastation are unmistakable). Indeed, Manchu&#8217;s ability to literally escape death &#8212; he&#8217;s &#8220;shown&#8221; beheaded in the film&#8217;s opening sequence, though we quickly learn this was someone else hypnotized to take his place &#8212; makes him one of the most frightening <em>earthly<\/em> villains in cinematic history. Note: Those easily offended by racial stereotypes should definitely stay away, as Manchu and his clan are clearly posited as a &#8220;yellow peril&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Impressive set designs<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/face-fu-manchu-sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/face-fu-manchu-sets.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8765\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Several exciting sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/face-fu-manchu-exciting.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/face-fu-manchu-exciting.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"272\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8766\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s fun fare if you&#8217;re in the right mood. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0059162\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=3067&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/sciencefiction\/face-of-fu-manchu-1965.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/the-face-of-fu-manchu\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s cruel, callous, and brilliant &#8212; and the most evil and dangerous man in the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8761"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57265,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8761\/revisions\/57265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}