Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There's a long winded list of Fu Manchu films going back to the 1920s up until 1980, but director Don Sharp and producer/writer Harry Alan Towers' 1965 matinée crime mystery adventure "The Face of Fu Manchu" starring Nigel Green and Christopher Lee in the title role happened to be my first encounter of the callous mastermind Fu Manchu. Quite a low-budget fare, but what makes it a fun outing is Sharp's precisely lean direction makes good use of the detailed location work and moves at a cracking pace (since the chase between nemesis's is a race against the clock) blending together the unpredictable nature of the unfolding narrative/tough action rather well, while upfront actor Nigel Green gives a stellar performance as the persistent detective Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard. Green breathes confidence, and the hearty script ably compels and allows for the strong performances. Lee fits in the calculative role of Manchu and the likes of Tsai Chin and Howard Marion Crawford are durable in their roles. The venturesome tone is bathed in a comic book frame, but I found the music score to be intrusively cued and the conclusion to be somewhat anticlimactic to the actual build-up.

So far only available on VHS in Region 1, I picked up the Region 2 DVD release of 'Face of Fu Manchu' recently and blessed my region-free DVD player for every wonderful fun-filled moment of this enjoyable fantasy romp. Based on the character originally envisioned by British author Sax Rohmer, Christopher Lee made a total of five appearances in the 1960s as arch villain Fu Manchu. This entry (the first in the series) is by far the best, closely followed by the second 'Brides of Fu Manchu' (another Region 2 only DVD release). What makes this entry so enjoyable is the wonderful Nigel Green as Fu Manchu's greatest nemesis - Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard. In fact it is in the opening minutes of this movie that we see Smith invited by the Chinese government to witness the execution of Fu Manchu. Fast forward a couple of months and Smith is sturdy in his belief that Fu Manchu survived and is behind a series of grisly crimes in western Europe. Then when a professors servant is found murdered in the same manner in which Fu Manchu's followers had practiced, Smith becomes even more convinced that he is up against the evil genius. Through a series of machinations Smith learns that the professor has been kidnapped by Fu Manchu and is being forced to make a toxin that could wipe out most of the western world. Of course (in a plot device also used in the following 'Brides of Fu Manchu') the professors daughter has also been captured and is being used to comply the professor to complete his task. Directed with skill by Don Sharp this movie is fast-paced enough to overlook the plot holes and colorful enough to keep the fun factor umped up to the ultimate degree. It's a visual feast and the movie is also helped by a tight script and some well drawn characters. I grew up watching these movies on British television and my memories did not disappoint me. Also notable is the inclusion of one-time Bond girl Karin (You Only Live Twice) Dor ho turns in a strong performance as the professors daughter. This is an ultimate Saturday afternoon movie to be watched relaxed in a recliner with a bag of popcorn in one hand and a soda in the other, all the while reveling in every outlandish moment.

...Death to Fu-Manchu!And so begins this great movie! Well, maybe its not so great overall, but the opening sequence of this film rivals any other in intensity. After all, would you lay down face up for your own beheading? The fun thing about this movie is that every character, regardless of age or sex, avidly fist fights several times throughout the picture. Bottom line is... great fun to watch, just don't take it too seriously.

Undoubtedly the best of the series of Fu Manchu films produced in the late 60s, well cast and well directed by Don Sharp, who commendably eschewed camp 'Boys Own' heroics to produce a gripping adventure-thriller. Christopher Lee (as one would expect) is suitably menacing and inscrutable as Fu Manchu, even though the emphasis on his hypnotic eyes is an obvious reference to his role as Dracula. The ever-reliable Nigel Green (Zulu)turns in a solid 'Holmes-ian' performance as Fu Manchu's nemesis Nayland Smith, while James Robertson Justice has a memorable cameo as an irascible museum curator.The highpoint of the film is undoubtedly the chilling sequence set in a English village, where all the inhabitants have been killed by poisoned gas. It still sends a shiver up the spine. The first sequel, Brides of Fu Manchu, with Douglas Wilmer as Nayland Smith, is watchable, even though it is basically a retread of the first movie, but the films which followed (especially the two directed by the notorious Jess Franco)are absolutely dire.