The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)

Fu Manchu and his army of henchmen are kidnapping the daughters of prominent scientists and taking them to his remote island headquarters. Instead of asking for ransom, Fu demands that the ... See full summary »

Director:

Don Sharp

Writers:

Sax Rohmer (characters), Harry Alan Towers (screenplay) (as Peter Welbeck)

Stars:

Christopher Lee, Douglas Wilmer, Heinz Drache

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Lee	...	Fu Manchu
Douglas Wilmer	...	Nayland Smith
Heinz Drache	...	Franz Baumer
Marie Versini	...	Marie Lentz
Howard Marion-Crawford	...	Doctor Petrie (as Howard Marion Crawford)
Tsai Chin	...	Lin Tang
Rupert Davies	...	Jules Merlin
Kenneth Fortescue	...	Sergeant Spicer
Joseph Fürst	...	Otto Lentz (as Joseph Furst)
Roger Hanin	...	Inspector Pierre Grimaldi
Harald Leipnitz	...	Nikki Sheldon
Carole Gray	...	Michel Merlin
Burt Kwouk	...	Feng
Salmaan Peerzada	...	Abdul (as Salmaan Peer)
Ric Young	...	Control Assistant (as Eric Young)

Storyline

Fu Manchu and his army of henchmen are kidnapping the daughters of prominent scientists and taking them to his remote island headquarters. Instead of asking for ransom, Fu demands that the fathers help him to build a death ray, which he intends to use to take over the world. But Fu's archenemy, Sir Denis Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard, is determined not to let that happen...

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Plot Keywords:

fu manchu | kidnapping | second part | lingerie slip | wireless signal | 

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Taglines:

The master of evil takes a harem of horror!

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Genres:

Adventure | Crime

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK West Germany

Language:

English German

Release Date:

16 December 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die 13 Sklavinnen des Dr. Fu Man Chu

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Constantin Film,Fu Manchu Films,Hallam Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 81 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Douglas Wilmer replaced Nigel Green.

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Goofs

When Shiva is tied to the trap door, the two guards walk directly over the snake pit without falling in. This is confirmed when she is cut loose and slides down into the pits.

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Quotes

Sir Dennis Nayland Smith: You have nothing to celebrate, Fu Manchu. The arms conference is safe. You are beaten.
Fu Manchu: That is where you are wrong, Commissioner. In a few moments there will be no arms conference.
Sir Dennis Nayland Smith: You will release that girl now and order your men to line up over there. I will count three before I fire. One... two...
Fu Manchu: [to henchman] Send her to the snakes!

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Connections

Follows The Knocking on the Door (1923)

User Reviews

Mediocre...and for this series, that's very good!

The Fu Manchu series starring Christopher Lee was a very frustrating set of five films. That's because although the story idea overall was pretty cool--but the films were highly uneven and sometimes pretty dreadful. I think that the films suffered from two main problems. First, a 6'5" English actor is not the best person to play a fiendish Chinese man--this is obvious to everyone but the producers. Second, the film makers decided, after a few promising outings, to let lemurs write the rest of the series. I kid you not....LEMURS! The final two films were, to put it bluntly, complete rubbish.

The second film, "The Brides of Fu Manchu", begins with a brief summary of events from the first film--showing clips of the highlights and letting the viewer see that the evil Fu Manchu did NOT die in the last film--even though it sure looked like he had! It seems that the plot is very familiar--one that was used in some of the other Manchu films. The evil dude needs the help of a scientist so he does what you'd expect--kidnap, torment and threaten scientists' families to get their cooperation. And, once again, the hero, Sir Nayland Smith (Douglas Wilmer) is out to thwart the evil plan.

While this film is a lot like later films in the series, it is pretty good. However, like I noticed in many of the other Fu films, there really isn't that much of the bad guy in the film. Often you see his underlings or daughter. If I had Christopher Lee on hand, I sure would have put him in the movie a lot more! Overall, watchable and reasonably well made--even with its silly emphasis on hypnosis--the sort that NEVER could happen in real life. However, while it's pretty mediocre, just wait...the series will start to fizzle in just two more films!