The Castle of Fu Manchu

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The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) is the fifth and final installment of the Fu Manchu series starring Christopher Lee in the role, known as Die Folterkammer des Dr. Fu Man Chu in German.

The plot comes off as a James Bond movie, with a diabolical villain planning to freeze the oceans of the world with a special formula. Fu Manchu needs a scientist alive, but as the man is dying from a failing heart, he needs a heart transplant (something very new when this movie was made.) Thus, Fu Manchu kidnaps a doctor and his nurse to ensure his scientist hostage stays alive. As the evil mastermind works on his plans, Interpol and his nemesis Nayland Smith aim to find where he is located and aim to stop him.

For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode see here.


Tropes used in The Castle of Fu Manchu include:
  • Dull Surprise: Fu Manchu, in every single shot.
  • For the Evulz: To prove how serious he is to the doctor and the nurse, he destroys a dam and kills all the workers. Why he has to prove this to them, how he did it, and what importance it has to anything except to prove he's evil is a total mystery.
  • Hyper Awareness: Nayland Smith immediately knows the doctor has been kidnapped, simply because the doctor left a cigar burning on a nice table; he deducts this literally less than a minute after the doctor was kidnapped.