Fu Manchu Tu-Fer: The Blood of Fu Manchu/The Castle of Fu Manchu
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Fu Manchu Tu-FerDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 188 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Blue Underground
Movie Reviews of Fu Manchu Tu-Fer: The Blood of Fu Manchu/The Castle of Fu Manchu
Movie Review: Not quite the pit of despair, but close...
Summary: 2 Stars
The entry of Jess Franco to Harry Alan Towers' Fu Manchu series signalled the beginning of the end. Fast, cheap and amazingly bad, Franco is one of the few directors who could make Michael Winner look like Stanley Kubrick by comparison. After all, it takes denial on an Olympian scale to have David De Keyser dub three separate characters IN THE SAME SCENE or to include black and white stock footage from 'A Night to Remember' in a colour film (in The Castle of Fu Manchu) and think that if you tint it blue no-one will notice...
'The Blood of Fu Manchu' is marginally the better of his two Fus, but its still a major step down for the Christopher Lee series. Fully restored, but really no better for it, the presentation is enough reason for disappointed Fu Fans to consider adding it to their collection. The print is the best you're likely to see (the film is marginally better shot than most of Franco's efforts) and the extras package is more entertaining than the film (although the same can be said of mending a faulty waste-disposal). The first of a two-part documentary gives a brief background to the series with some candid observations from Tsai Chin and Shirley Eaton, as well as a somewhat more relaxed than usual Christopher Lee, countering Franco's unwarranted enthusiasm; one of the two trailers actually makes the film look good (quite an achievement); and the notes on the Fu Manchu novels are enlightening.
Incidentally, this print credits Peter Welbeck - Towers' regular pseudonym - as writer, but the film was actually written by Manfred Barthel and Jaime Jesus Blacazar.
When even Harry Alan Towers admits a film is bad, you know you're in trouble. On the featurette on The Castle of Fu Manchu he recalls turning to the amazingly untalented and prolific Jess Franco after seeing the final cut and telling him "You've done something I didn't think was possible: you've killed Fu Manchu." And how...
Badly directed, written, acted, photographed, recorded - heck, I'm willing to bet that even the catering was bad on this one - it's a real ordeal even for the most devoted Fu Manchu fan. If you thought the series couldn't get worse after the astonishing use of black and white stock footage from 'A Night to Remember,' you ain't seen nothin' yet. And not seeing it is probably the best thing to do by far.
But, for Fu Fanatics, the disc is still a must buy, if only for the extras and the presentation. The second of the two-part documentary descends into Jess Franco telling Christopher Lee stories about other films, but the rest of the package is well put together and Blue Underground's transfer is the best the film has probably ever looked (not much of a compliment, it's true). Now, if only we could get this kind of presentation on the highly enjoyable initial entry 'The Face of Fu Manchu' or its two immediate sequels 'The Brides of Fu Manchu' and 'The Vengeance of Fu Manchu' - they may not be masterpieces, but they're a lot more fun than these FuBar foulups!
Summary of Fu Manchu Tu-Fer: The Blood of Fu Manchu/The Castle of Fu Manchu
Tu-Times the terror!Christopher Lee (THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy) in two performances as the notorious Chinese Villain at a very special price.
Only 5,000 of this special value-priced two-pack will be available.
Two-pack Includes:
THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU
EXTRAS:
- The Rise of Fu Manchu - Interviews with Director Jess Franco, Producer Harry Alan Towers, Stars Christopher Lee, Tsai Chin, and Shirley Eaton
- International Trailer
- U.S. Trailer
- Poster & Still Gallery
- The Facts of Dr. Fu Manchu
- Talent Bios
- Liner Notes by Video Watchdog's Tim Lucas
THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU
EXTRAS:
- The Fall of Fu Manchu - Interviews with Director Jess Franco, Producer Harry Alan Towers, Stars Christopher Lee and Tsai Chin
- Theatrical Trailer
- Poster & Still Gallery
- The Facts of Dr. Fu Manchu
- Talent Bios
- Liner Notes by Video Watchdog's Tim Lucas
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