EDITOR’S NOTE: The Face of Fu Manchu was on the CBS Late Movie on August 6, 1974 and July 31, 1975.
Directed by Don Sharp and produced by the notorious Harry Alan Towers, this British-West German co-production kicked off a five-part cinematic franchise. Starring Christopher Lee as the devilish mastermind and Nigel Green as his relentless Scotland Yard shadow, this starts in China with the public beheading of Dr. Fu Manchu, witnessed firsthand by his arch-rival, Nayland Smith. But back in London, Smith (now a Scotland Yard assistant commissioner) realizes the devil is still in the details, and the mastermind is very much alive, having substituted a hypnotized actor for his own execution.
Fu Manchu wastes no time executing a sinister plot by abducting Professor Muller, whose research holds the key to an ancient Tibetan legend. The goal? To extract a lethal poison from the rare Blackhill poppy that’s strong enough to wipe out every living soul in London. When Muller refuses to cooperate, Fu Manchu kidnaps his daughter, Maria, forcing the professor to work with him. With the help of the Younghusband expedition papers stolen from the Museum of Oriental Studies, Muller and Professor Gaskel translate the secrets of stabilizing the poison at room temperature.
Learning that the Essex village of Fleetwick is experiencing freezing temperatures ideal for the poppy’s potency, Fu Manchu sprays the town from a plane, brutally slaughtering 3,000 villagers and the soldiers sent to protect them. After a daring raid by Smith floods the villain’s Thames hideout, Fu Manchu retreats to a Tibetan monastery. Just as the mastermind thinks he’s won, Smith reveals a hidden masterstroke: a detonator concealed beneath the poppy seeds. As Smith and his allies ride away, the monastery explodes in a cataclysmic ball of fire.
The film closes on an iconic, chilling note: a medium close-up of Fu Manchu fades over the fiery wreckage, vowing, “The world shall hear from me again…”
Producer Harry Alan Towers bought the film rights from Sax Rohmer’s widow for $70,000, calling Fu Manchu “the best damn villain ever created.” Interestingly, Rohmer’s widow later told Christopher Lee that he physically resembled the exact tall, imposing oriental man her husband once saw stepping out of a Rolls-Royce in foggy Limehouse, which originally inspired the books.
It better have been! Lee’s transformation into the villain was an ordeal. It required two and a half hours in the makeup chair and left his features virtually immobile. His eyelids were pinned so he couldn’t even blink, leaving him to act entirely through his piercing eyes.
The film was shot on location in County Dublin, Ireland, taking advantage of tax shelters and British quotas. However, conditions were miserable. Lee recalled that the cast and crew constantly battled the flu in dilapidated, freezing, drafty set locations. The elderly Walter Rilla (Professor Muller) nearly died from the harsh weather. And in his memoirs, Sharp said that Towers had to pay off members of the IRA just to secure filming permissions at Kilmainham Gaol.
This was a massive commercial success, spawning four sequels, though Lee himself famously noted that The Face of Fu Manchu should have been the last, as it was easily the strongest of the lot. Lee, Tsai Chin (Lin Tang) and Howard Marion-Crawford (Dr. Petrie) are the only actors to appear in all five movies. Towers also had Lee tour European countries, choosing a national beauty contest winner from each one, with the prize being a part in the movie. However, despite their appearance in Fu Manchu’s cave headquarters, none of these beauties was allowed to speak. They’d have to be paid union rates if they did.
To promote the U.S.- run “Fu Manchu for Mayor” campaign, posters were done up and distributed in New York City during the mayoral election.
