The Castle of Fu Manchu

The Castle of Fu Manchu
Original German language poster
Directed by	Jesus Franco
Produced by	Harry Alan Towers
Written by	Jaime Jesús Balcázar Manfred Barthel Michael Haller Sax Rohmer [characters] Harry Alan Towers
Starring	Christopher Lee Richard Greene Howard Marion-Crawford Günther Stoll Rosalba Neri Maria Perschy José Manuel Martín
Music by	Carlos Camilleri Malcomb Shelby
Cinematography	Manuel Merino
Editing by	John Colville Hermann Storr
Release date(s)	May 30, 1969 (1969-05-30)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	Germany Italy Spain United Kingdom Liechtenstein
Language	English

The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) also known by its German title Die Folterkammer des Dr. Fu Man Chu, is the fifth and final Fu Manchu film with Christopher Lee portraying the title character. The spy/crime film was filmed on location in Spain and Istanbul and originally released in West Germany in 1969. It was directed by Jesús Franco and also stars Richard Greene as Nayland Smith and Howard Marion-Crawford as Dr. Petrie. Its other titles are Assignment Istanbul and The Torture Chamber of Fu Manchu.

In the film, set in the 1920s as all of the series, Fu Manchu plots to freeze the world's oceans with a diabolical new device. With his evil daughter, Lin Tang, his army of dacoits, and the help of the local crime organization led by Omar Pashu (whom Fu Manchu doublecrosses), Fu Manchu takes over the governor's castle in Istanbul which has a massive Opium reserve, to control the largest opium port in Anatolia, a fuel for his machine. He needs the help of an intelligent scientist with an ailing heart whom he has imprisoned so kidnaps a doctor and his wife to give him a heart transplant from one of his obedient servants. Opposing him from Britain's Interpol, is his arch-nemesis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

The film was later shown in 1992 during Mystery Science Theater 3000's third season. The episode is well known for the movie being so bad that the bots are not able to make it through well during the movie, to the point they always break down in tears in every host segment while the Mads laugh evilly at their pain. Eventually, the crew on the SOL makes the Mads attempt to riff the movie, to which they accept, but also discover how bad the movie is to the point they can barely make any good jokes, marking victory for the SOL.

Cast

• Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu
• Richard Greene as Nayland Smith
• Howard Marion Crawford as Doctor Petrie
• Gunther Stoll as Curt
• Rosalba Neri as Lisa
• Maria Perschy as Marie
• Jose Manuel Martin as Omar Pasha
• Werner Aprelat as Melnik
• Tsai Chin as Lin Tang

External links

• The Castle of Fu Manchu at the Internet Movie Database