The Blood of Fu Manchu
The Blood of Fu Manchu | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Jesús Franco |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer |
Produced by | Harry Alan Towers |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Manuel Merino |
Edited by | Allan Morrison |
Music by | Daniel White |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Anglo-Amalgamated Warner-Pathé (UK)[1] Constantin Film (West Germany) Andrés Salvador Molina (Spain) |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Countries |
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Language | English |
The Blood of Fu Manchu (German: Der Todeskuss des Dr. Fu Man Chu, lit. 'The Death-Kiss of Dr. Fu Manchu', Spanish: Fu-Manchú y el beso de la muerte), also known as Kiss of Death, Kiss and Kill (U.S. title) and Against All Odds (original U.S. video title), is a 1968 British adventure crime film directed by Jesús Franco, based on the fictional Asian villain Dr. Fu Manchu created by Sax Rohmer. It was the fourth film in a series, and was preceded by The Vengeance of Fu Manchu. The Castle of Fu Manchu followed in 1969.
It was produced by Harry Alan Towers for Udastex Films. It starred Christopher Lee as Dr. Fu Manchu, Richard Greene as Scotland Yard detective Nayland Smith, and Howard Marion-Crawford as Dr. Petrie. The film was filmed in Spain and Brazil. Shirley Eaton appears in a scene that she claimed she was never paid for; apparently, the director Jesús Franco had inserted some stock footage of her from one of her films (The Girl from Rio (1968)) into the film without telling her. She only found out years later that she had been in a Fu Manchu film.[2]
Plot
[edit]In his remote jungle hideout, the evil Dr. Fu Manchu, with his sadistic daughter Lin Tang, has discovered a deadly venom in a "lost city" in the Amazonian jungle that affects only men. Women can become carriers of the "kiss of death" by being bitten by venomous snakes. The venom causes blindness and is ultimately followed six weeks later by death. Using mind control, he aims six women at Nayland Smith and other key people with political influence. This prevents them from interfering with his own ambitions: to prepare millions of "doses" and spread them around the world's major cities and capitals in a plan to gain world domination.
Cast
[edit]Credits adapted from the booklet of the Powerhouse Films Blu-ray boxset The Fu Manchu Cycle: 1965-1969.[3]
- Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu
- Tsai Chin as Lin Tang
- Maria Rohm as Ursula Wagner
- Richard Greene as Nayland Smith
- Howard Marion-Crawford as Dr. Petrie
- Frances Khan as Carmen
- Isaura de Oliveira as Yuma
- Shirley Eaton as Black Widow
- Götz George as Carl Jansen
- Ricardo Palacios as Sancho Lopez
- Loni von Friedl as Celeste
Uncredited:
- Marcelo Arroita-Jáuregui as The Governor
- Olívia Pineschi as Fu's Girl
- Vicente Roca as Governor's Secretary
- Francesca Tu as Lotus
References
[edit]- ^ "The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)". BBFC. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
- ^ "The Blood of Fu Manchu/The Castle of Fu Manchu (Blu-ray)". www.dvddrive-in.com. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
- ^ The Fu Manchu Cycle: 1965-1969 (The Blood of Fu Manchu: Cast) (booklet). Powerhouse Films. 2020. p. 11. PHILTD201.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- The Blood of Fu Manchu at IMDb
- Kiss and Kill at the TCM Movie Database
- The Blood of Fu Manchu at AllMovie
- 1968 films
- 1968 adventure films
- 1960s crime thriller films
- British adventure films
- British crime thriller films
- Spanish crime thriller films
- West German films
- 1960s English-language films
- English-language German films
- English-language Spanish films
- Films directed by Jesús Franco
- Films set in the 1920s
- Films set in South America
- Films shot in Madrid
- Films based on British novels
- Fu Manchu films
- Films shot in Brazil
- 1960s British films
- 1960s British film stubs
- Adventure film stubs