The Castle of Fu Manchu (German: Die Folterkammer des Dr. Fu Man Chu, lit. 'The Torture Chamber of Dr. Fu Manchu', Spanish: El castillo de Fu-Manchu), released in 1969, is the fifth and final Dr. Fu Manchu film with Christopher Lee portraying the title character. Directed by Jesús Franco, is an English-language co-production among various European countries including the UK, Spain, and West Germany.
The film is also known as Assignment Istanbul.
Contents
Plot
Supercriminal Dr. Fu Manchu plots to freeze the world's oceans with a diabolical new device. With his beautiful but evil daughter, Lin Tang, his army of dacoits, and the help of the local crime organization led by Omar Pasha (whom Dr. Fu Manchu double-crosses), Dr. Fu Manchu takes over the governor's castle in Istanbul, which has a massive opium reserve, to control the largest opium port in Anatolia, since the drug is an important ingredient for the fuel for his machine. Dr. Fu Manchu needs the help of an intelligent scientist with an ailing heart whom he has imprisoned. In order to keep the scientist alive, he kidnaps a doctor and his wife to give the scientist a heart transplant from one of his obedient servants. Opposing him from Britain's branch of Interpol are his nemeses, Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie.
Production
The film was shot in Istanbul and Barcelona.
Release
The Castle of Fu Manchu was released on May 30, 1969, in West Germany and on September 24, 1970, in Kingston, Jamaica. This was followed by screenings in the United Kingdom in December 1970, Barcelona on September 18, 1972, and Madrid on May 28, 1973, and Seville on July 6, 1974.
Blue Underground released the film on DVD under The Christopher Lee Collection in 2003.
Reception
Film critic Glenn Erickson described the film in DVD Talk as having a "static screenplay" with "decor and detail [that] so abounds that the adequate period feel of the previous films has totally disappeared." It is also noted that "Fu double-crosses everyone he meets, and is so predictably ruthless, it's a wonder why anyone bothers to pay any attention to him," and "there's no sex this time around, and precious little real action, so perhaps it's a compliment to say that the show is more watchable than it has any right to expect."
Tom Johnson author of The Christopher Lee Filmography (2004), said that Lee and Tsai Chin offer some dignified performances, The Castle of Fu Manchu was generally "strictly shoddy" and "perhaps the most badly written and contrived movie Christopher Lee has ever made."
In popular culture
In 1992, The Castle of Fu Manchu was featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Season 3, Episode 23). Towards the end, Joel Robinson comments that Roger Ebert liked the movie; however, in 1993 Ebert stated he had "never seen it."