The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writers:

Sax Rohmer (novels)
Harry Alan Towers (story)

Release Date:

24 September 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Programmed to kill!

Plot:

Fu Manchu inoculates ten women with poison, to kill ten world leaders. |

Plot Keywords:

Poison | Fu Manchu | Death | Blind Man | Assassin

Cast

Christopher Lee	...	Fu Manchu
Richard Greene	...	Nayland Smith
Howard Marion-Crawford	...	Dr. Petrie (as Howard Marion Crawford)
Götz George	...	Carl Jansen
Maria Rohm	...	Ursula Wagner
Ricardo Palacios	...	Sancho Lopez
Loni von Friedl	...	Celeste
Frances Khan	...	Carmen
Tsai Chin	...	Lin Tang
Isaura de Oliveira	...	Yuma
Shirley Eaton	...	Black Widow

Also Known As:

Against All Odds (USA) (video title)
Der Todeskuß des Dr. Fu Manchu (West Germany)
Fu Manchú y el beso de la muerte (Spain)
Fu Manchu and the Keys of Death
Fu Manchu and the Kiss of Death
Fu Manchu's Kiss of Death (International: English title) (literal title)
Fu-Manchú y el beso de la muerte (Spain)
Kiss and Kill (USA)
Kiss of Death (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

92 min | Germany:82 min | USA:94 min (DVD)

Country:

Spain | West Germany | UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:15 (uncut version, re-rating) | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (cut) | USA:M (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:18 | USA:Unrated (DVD uncut version)

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Ada Films

Trivia:

'Richard Greene' replaced Douglas Wilmer.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fantastic Fantasy Fright-o-Rama Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

The list of things wrong with this film could fill a book in itself.

The fourth film in the revived Fu Manchu series from hit-and-run international film producer Harry Alan Towers is the first one directed by Jesus (Jess) Franco, a cult icon best known for the staggering quantity of his films, as well as their usually appalling quality. In hindsight, Towers and Franco were destined for each other. Both were specialists in speedy international productions and each usually juggled more than one project at a time.

"Fu Manchu's Kiss of Death" (the shooting title) was filmed back-to-back (or perhaps simultaneously) with the next film in the series "The Castle of Fu Manchu" and shows evidence of having been written on the fly. The script is loosely constructed and constantly sidetracks itself with multiple subplots and far too many characters. The most intrusive involves the a South American bandit chief, whose protracted exploits take up so much screen time that viewers just walking in would think they were in the wrong theater. Probably designed to show off the Brazilian exteriors, it is tempting to say that these sequences look like rejected scenes from "The Wild Bunch", but that would be giving Franco's footage too much credit.

As evidence that Towers was not above ripping off himself, the film opens with a sequence that is a remake of the opening of "Brides of Fu Manchu", with women chained to pillars in an underground hideaway. As in "Brides", one is led to a snake pit but, instead of being lowered in, she is gingerly bitten in the throat by one, thereby becoming the carrier of the title's kiss of death. The contrast between the lighting, staging and sets in these two sequences gives ample testimony of how low the series had fallen in just two years.

The ever-present Maria Rohm (AKA Mrs. Harry Alan Towers) shows up as a jungle missionary wearing a gaucho hat and red leotards. She gets involved in yet another subplot about a proto-Indiana Jones leading a medical expedition. Apparently, this plotline exists only to provide the hero, afflicted with the death kiss, with a miraculous cure at the last minute.

While the rest of the cast was having fun in the Brazilian jungles, stars Christopher Lee and Richard Greene never leave the studio in Madrid, Spain that was home to all the film's interiors. Guest star Shirley Eaton appears in one brief scene that appears to be an outtake from one of the two Su-Muru films she was making for Towers at the time. (The second was also directed by Franco.)

It's hard to believe that this film (retitled "Kiss and Kill") got major USA playdates in 1968 as a solo feature.