Casting Caucasian actors in ethnic roles was a pretty common practice in the early days of cinema. It’s certainly a bizarre practice, but it’s a part of history. In today’s climate, it’s something that would appall the masses. The character of super villain Dr. Fu Manchu has traditionally been played by Caucasian actors like Bela Lugosi, Walter Orland, and Christopher Lee. Lee portrayed the character in five films between 1965 and 1969. The final two entries, The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968) and The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969), were both directed by sleaze auteur Jess Franco and are now making their 4K Blu-ray debut courtesy of Blue Underground.
The Blood of Fu Manchu takes place in the heart of the South American jungle, where the sinister Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee) and his cruel daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin) prepare to unleash a horrifying new plan for global conquest. Their twisted strategy involves ten mesmerizing women, each carrying a lethal, ancient toxin—one kiss is all it takes to kill and spark a worldwide plague.
With humanity on the brink of disaster, Fu Manchu’s longtime foe, Nayland Smith (Richard Greene), is forced into a brutal race for a cure, navigating a lawless wilderness steeped in violence, depravity, and unspeakable evil to do so.
The Castle of Fu Manchu pairs the world’s most diabolical villain (Christopher Lee) alongside his wicked daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin) once again as they cook up a twisted new weapon: a chemical doomsday device that’ll turn the oceans into solid blocks of ice, choking the planet in a death grip of cold-blooded terror. But as cities crumble and governments fall, only one man dares to chase Fu Manchu into the heart of madness, his old nemesis, Nayland Smith (Richard Greene).
Following a trail of kidnappings, brutal murders, and globe-smashing destruction, Smith finds himself trapped inside Fu Manchu’s dungeon of torture, where no one escapes alive.
These two entries are considered the low points of the series, and it’s understandable. Both films were either shot simultaneously or back-to-back; the budgets seemed to have shrunk, and the scripts were just cobbled together. To the average viewer, it’s most likely a deal breaker, but not for me.
As a long-time Franco fan, I know what to expect, and I wasn’t disappointed. As long as I stay entertained, then I call it a win, and these films were fun for me. They’re not nearly as wild as some of his other work; in fact, they’re pretty tame, but Lee is fun to watch. The rest of the cast is quite enjoyable, especially Tsai Chin as his daughter.
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For some, these films might not have warranted the 4K treatment. Still, I haven’t revisited these films since the VHS days, and the transfers were quite impressive and vibrant. Both discs feature a wide array of bonus features, old and new, like RiffTrax versions, audio commentaries, photo galleries, interviews, trailers, and more.
Blue Underground has given the same treatment to several other Franco titles, and both of these fall in line with what was previously released. I enjoyed those as well, so it’s no surprise I enjoyed these. Maybe they’re not worth upgrading if you have them already, but these are great additions to the ever-growing library of Franco titles being given the premium treatment, and I hope there are more to come.
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