Fu Manchu Film Fest!

[Magpie]

This week I'm working my way through the Christopher Lee outings as Fu Manchu. I've never really had an interest before, until my wife was telling me she'd seen one of them as a child and it had a beheading scene that scared the poop out of her and was wondering which one it was (turned out the be the third).

So far I've watched the first three (well, I'm about twenty minutes away from having watched the first three) and I'm surprised at how good they are. They kind of remind me of the Basil Rathbone era Sherlock Holmes movies in tone (the earlier, good ones). They look pretty good, and despite years of reading articles about how racist it was for Mr. Lee to be playing an Oriental character (or the use of the word "Oriental" for that matter), he's actually quite convincing.

However, let it be said that Dr Fu Manchu has to be the most inept "master" criminal who ever lived

[Stan Reid]

I have not seen any of those Magpie but I do have one on DVD with Boris Karloff in the starring role. It's pretty good. I don't really see them as racist, for their time, unless you think they're playing up the evil "yellow peril" stereotype. Today, there would be no reason not to place an Asian actor in the part.

[Belinda]

Christoper Lee does Fu Manchu better than Dracula

[Robert Linford]

The world will hear from me again.