The Face Of Fu Manchu (1965)

[billy bentley]

Had never seriously considered re-visiting a Fu-Manchu flick, but this thread has got me thinking the "Face Of" is worth watching. I assume the origins of the series are from pulp novels, penny dreadfulls, or something similar, am I wrong ?

[will.15]

The Sax Rohmer novels are not technically pulp novels. They didn't appear in pulp magazines. They are better written than real pulp novels like The Shadow and Doc Savage. But in terms of plots, yeah, you could say the're pulpish. It's not War and Peace.



http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rohmer.htm

[billy bentley]

Just because something "isn't War and Peace" i.e. Classical Literature does not mean it is not of significant merit. I consider Graham Greene's best work to be his "Entertainments". Are we talking Raymond Chandler, or Ed McBain, or Mickey Spillane ?

[will.15]

Better than Mickey Spillane. I would say it's no worse than Ian Fleming.

[billy bentley]

Is there a preferred story or book ? As we all know the first one is not always the best one !

[billy bentley]

I now realise this thread is essentially about the '60's Fu Manchu flicks, any opinions on the earlier ones anyone ? There's a Boris Karlof and Myrna Loy one I know, and probably a few others.

[will.15]

I only read the first one. On my post #22, I put a link there you can click with some good information. It says the best stories are from the 1930's, but you should read the first one first, then skip to the 1930 ones, if you want, because it introduces the characters.



The Boris Karloff one is very good, with Myrna Loy, of all people, playing his daughter. There is a Republic serial, which I haven't seen, but has a good reputation called The Drums of Fu Manchu. There was a one season TV series from the 1950's. By the standards of it's era, it's fun on a serial adventure level (Willian Whitney who directed the Republic serial directed half the episodes). Prior to the Boris Karloff, a pre Warner Oland Charlie Chan appeared in very early talkies as Fu Manchu. There is someone on ebay selling copies last time I checked, but I don't think he has the legal right to. Early talkies (1929-1930) can be a real chore to watch, so I decided not to purchase. Parts of the Karloff Fu Manchu is available on youtube.



Here is another link that has extensive information on all the Fu Manchu films, going back to the silent era, which are lost films. The description of the first Warner Oland one is very interesting as it gives Fu Manchu a strong and understandable motive for his hatred of the British. I'm not sure if he had that motive in the novels.



Part One - The Movies of Fu Manchu

[billy bentley]

You've been really helpful will, which is what Britmovie for me is all about. Cheers billy

[will.15]

I was still typing an update while you put up your last post, so I think I have a link there and info you may not have seen.

[doojeen]

SAX ROHMER (1883-1959)



http://www.njedge.net/~knapp/FuManchu.htm



Prolific English mystery writer Sax Rohmer, best known for the master criminal Dr.Fu Manchu, was born Arthur Henry Ward in Birmingham of Irish parents, who later moved to London. His mother was Margaret Mary Furey, a native of Athlone - Ward also used the pseudonym "Michael Furey". Young Sax Rohmer received no formal schooling until he was nine or ten years old, but his father William Ward probably taught him to read. Rohmer adopted "Sarsfield" as a middle name at the age of 18, impressed by his mother's claims of being descended from the famous 17th-century Irish general Patrick Sarsfield. He later explained that the pen name Sax Rohmer came from 'sax' which was Saxon for 'blade' and 'rohmer' which meant 'roamer'.



After finishing his schooling, Rohmer worked in odd jobs, but even as a child he had dreamed of becoming a writer. He was briefly a bank clerk in Threadneedle Street, London, then a clerk in a gas company and an errand boy for a small local newspaper, and started his writing career as a reporter. "My earliest interests," he later said, "were centered on Ancient Egypt and I accumulated a large library on Egyptology and occult literature." In 1903 Rohmer's first short story "The Mysterious Mummy" appeared in Pearson's Weekly. He made a short trip to the Continent and on his return started to make his way in the literary and theatrical worlds.



In 1909 he married Rose Elizabeth Knox, whose father had been a well-known comedian in his youth. When Rose Knox met Rohmer, she was performing in a juggling act with her brother Bill. For almost two years they kept the marriage a secret from Rose's family - she lived with her sister and Rohmer with his father.



Rohmer wrote comedy sketches for entertainers and continued to produce stories and serials for the newspaper and magazine markets. These early writings were later gathered in collections. Rohmer's first book, PAUSE! appeared in 1910, and his first Fu Manchu novel, THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU-MANCHU, three years later. It gained an immediate success. In bioographical writings, Rohmer claims that Fu Manchu was born in the years following the Boxer Rebellion, when he was working as a reporter in London. He had a fascination with London's Chinatown and spent a good deal of time there. Through his contacts, he was heard of a mysterious "Mr. King" who, allegedly, controlled all gambling games, drug traffic, and secret societies in Chinatown. The area police had never seen him and the local Chinese reacted in fear when his name was mentioned. One informant did let it slip, however, the Mr. King had a house on a certain street and that he was in London at the time. Rohmer went to the address one night, a car pulled up and he saw a "tall and very dignified man alight, Chinese, but unlike any Chinese I had ever met." Whether this was the mysterious Mr. King was never determined, but this viewing moved Rohmer's fertile imagination to create over the course of many months, Dr. Fu Manchu. In the character of the seemingly deathless Fu Manchu, Rohmer expressed racist fears, which had produced the concept of the "Yellow Peril" - according to which the Chinese community in Limehouse, East London were mandarin warlords and opium den keepers . However, the sociologist Virginia Berridge has estimated that the ethnic Chinese population in London's East End, in the period from 1900 through to the Second World War, numbered only a few hundred. The majority of the community worked in such professions as cooking and laundering clothes.



Fu Manchu first appeared in the story THE ZAYAT KISS in October 1912 issue of the British magazine The Story-Teller. Fu Manchu had green eyes, "an emanation of Hell", as Rohmer wrote. Sir Denis Nayland Smith, a spymaster, Burmese Commissioner, and controller of the CID and the British Secret Service, was the opponent of the diabolically ingenious villain for more than a quarter of a century. During the following years the stories were published in collections, but at the end of the third book THE SI-FAN MYSTERIES (1917), Fu Manchu is dead, and another villain has taken his place.



In 1915 Rohmer invented detective character Gaston Max, who appeared first in THE YELLOW CLAW. Another interesting series characters was the occult detective Morris Klaw, who solved his cases by using his own dreams and visions. Sumuru was a female master plotter, whom Rohmer abandoned after five published volumes. The detective Paul Harley was the hero of FIRE-TONGUE (1921) and BAT-WING (1921). Chief Inspector Red Kerry solved crimes in DOPE (1919) and other stories.



For periods during the 1920s and 1930s, Rohmer was one of the most widely read and most highly paid magazine writers in the English language. He also produced works for the stage, and created tunes to several of his songs by humming them and having them transcribed by a collaborator. Rohmer's interest in mysticism and occult caused him to join the occult organization The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Its other members included Aleister Crowley and W.B.Yeats. Rohmer's supernatural stories include BROOD OF THE WITCH QUEEN (1918), in which an Egyptian mummy is revived to practice ancient sorcery in the modern world, and GREY FACE (1924), in which a supposed reincarnation of Cagliostro causes much havoc. THE GREEN EYES OF BÂST (1920) was an occult detective tale about the mysteries of ancient Egypt.



Success brought Rohmer financial security - for a short time. He travelled with his wife in the Near East, and built a country house called Little Gatton in the Surrey countryside. But the money went as fast as it come - Rohmer's business instincts were not good and he gambled much of his earnings at Monte Carlo. In 1955 Rohmer was said to have sold the film, television and radio rights in his books for more than four million dollars.



The Fu Manchu series started again after years of silence in DAUGHTER OF FU MANCHU (1931). In THE ISLAND OF FU MANCHU (1941) Sir Lioner Barton, the greatest Orientalist in Europe, says that Fu Manchu is "an enemy whose insects, bacteria, stranglers, strange poisons, could do more harm in a week than Hitler's army could do in a year."



After the World War II the Rohmers moved to New York City. From New York they moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, before finally settling in White Plains, New York. Among Rohmer's later works are HANGOVER HOUSE (1949), based on an unproduced play from the late 1930s, and the Sumuru series, five paperback novels published between 1950 and 1956. During the Korean War period, Rohmer declared that Dr. Fu Manchu was "still an enemy to be reckoned with and as menacing as ever, but he has changed with the times. Now he is against the Chinese Communists and, indeed, Communists everywhere, and a friend of the American people." Sax Rohmer died on June 1, 1959. EMPEROR FU MANCHU (1959) was his last work of fiction.



The golden age of the Fu Manchu stories - and also the peak of Sax Rohmer's career - was in the 1930s, although the Chinese super-criminal was revived again in 1957. Rohmer's villain has inspired radio adaptations and a Marvel comic (The Hands of Shang-Chi), the tv series [purple]The Adventures of Fu Manchu [/purple](1955-56), starring Glenn Gordon as Fu Manchu and Lester Matthews as Nayland Smith, and numerous films, starring amongst others Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, and Peter Sellers (in his last film [purple]The Fiendish Plot of Dr Fu Manchu [/purple]in 1980). John Carradine and Sir Cedric Hardwicke played Fu Manchu and Nyland Smith in a television pilot directed by William Cameron Mezies.



Sinister Oriental Fu Manchu stereotypes were feared from the turn of the last century, appearing in wide numbers in popular fiction. Among the best known doppelgangers is Dr. No from Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Dr. No (1958)



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g-mUOew6hk&feature=related"]YouTube- FU MANCHU'S WEAPON OF EVIL -Chapter One: The Broadcast Of Doom[/ame]

[billy farmer]

Some pictures of Nigel Green as Nayland Smith and Howard Marion Crawford as Dr. Petrie in The Face Of Fu Manchu (1965).















Thank you to Hummies for doing these great screencaps for me which are also on the Nigel Green Thread.

[wayshway]

Very cool movie.

[Alan]

A great movie, Lee had a sort of dry run at it with "The Terror Of The Tongs". I saw it at the pictures when I was 14. It was half of a double bill, I can't remember what the other film was.

[billy farmer]

Some screencaps featuring characters from The Face Of Fu Manchu (1965).



Nayland Smith (Nigel Green)





Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford)









Maria Muller (Karin Dor)





Nayland Smith with Karl Janssen (Joachim Fuchsberger)





Nayland Smith with Sir Charles (James Robertson Justice)





Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee) with his Daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin)





Maria Muller with her father Professor Hans Muller (Walter Rilla)









These great screencaps also appear on the Nigel Green Thread.

[billy farmer]

Here are some screencaps featuring characters and scenes from The Face Of Fu Manchu.



Nayland Smith's (Nigel Green) surprised expression after Dr. Petrie mentions Fu Manchu's name for

the first time in months









Dr. Petrie (Howard Marion Crawford)









Maria Muller (Karin Dor) and Karl Janssen (Joachim Fuchsberger)





In this scene (same as above) Nayland Smith is in Professor Muller's laboratory talking to Maria

(Professor Muller's Daughter) and Karl Janssen (Professor Muller's Assistant) following the

disappearance of Professor Muller









In this scene (same as above three) Maria and Nayland Smith are asking Karl Janssen for some vital

information

[billy farmer]

Here are some more screencaps featuring characters and scenes from The Face Of Fu Manchu.



In this scene Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee) is in his headquarters at an underground lair near The River

Thames, his Daughter Lin Tang has just told him that Nayland Smith and Karl Janssen have just visited

Hanumon's warehouse





Nayland Smith with Karl Janssen (Joachim Fuchsberger)





In this scene Lin Tang (Tsai Chin) is deciding what should be done with a traitor in her father's

headquarters





In this scene (same as below scene) Fu Manchu asks Professor Muller to distil the liquid of the black

hill poppy









Karl Janssen, Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie at The Museum Of Oriental Studies





Sir Charles (James Robertson Justice) at The Museum Of Oriental Studies discovering that the young

husband papers are missing

[billy farmer]

Here are some more screencaps featuring characters and scenes from The Face Of Fu Manchu.



In this scene Fu Manchu and his Daughter Lin Tang are in the back of a Car being chased by Nayland

Smith and Dr. Petrie (the Car Chase started at The Museum Of Oriental Studies)





Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie in the back of a Car chasing after Fu Manchu (same scene as above)





In this scene (same scene below) Fu Manchu and Lin Tang are at Professor Gaskell's house, they

kidnap him and also take the young husband papers









In this scene Lin Tang brings her father the news (in his headquarters at an underground lair near

The River Thames) that Professor Muller has distilled the liquid of the black hill poppy and also news

that the following morning the Essex marshes will be several degrees below freezing point





In this scene (same as above scene) Fu Manchu is broadcasting a message





Nayland Smith, Dr. Petrie and Karl Janssen listening to Fu Manchu broadcasting the above message

[billy farmer]

Here are some more screencaps featuring characters and scenes from The Face Of Fu Manchu.



In this scene Dr. Petrie is in a house in the Village of Fleetwick whose entire population has been wiped out by poison dropped from above by a plane





In this screencap (same scene as above) and the two screencaps below Dr. Petrie, Karl Janssen and Nayland Smith are in the same house as above in the Village

of Fleetwick listening to Fu Manchu broadcasting another message

[billy farmer]

[Nimuae]

Well - on the strength of the above posts - I have just ordered Face of Fu Manchu from Amazon ! I really admire Christopher Lee - talented actor and very sexy voice ! Never knew that he filmed Rasputin, will have to track that one down.