The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)

Director: Don Sharp

Writers: Sax Rohmer, Harry Alan Towers, Don Sharp

Composer: Bruce Montgomery

Starring: Christopher Lee, Douglas Wilmer, Heinz Drache, Marie Versini, Howard Marion-Crawford, Tsai Chin, Ruper Davies, Kenneth Fortescue, Joseph Furst, Burt Kwouk

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Better dead than wed!

Plot: Fu Manchu and his army of henchmen are kidnaping the daughters of prominent scientists and taking them to his remote island headquarters. Instead of asking for ransom, Fu demands that the fathers help him to build a death ray, which he intends to use to take over the world. But Fu's archenemy, Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard, is determined not to let that happen.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

OK, so I really didn't like the first (of five) picture, THE FACE OF FU MANCHU (1965).   It was really slow and largely uninteresting.  I'm stymied how they were able to make five of these films since they're not that good.  At any rate, this is at least an improvement but that's not saying much.

Christopher Lee is OK but he's not really adding much to it.  I like the underground Egyptian lair vibe he's got.  That was neat but the film suffers from pacing issues like the first one only it's not as bad.  Fu Manchu is still like a low rent Bond villain and you know he's going to get away at the end so there's not much suspense in that.  Nayland Smith (Wilmer) is enthusiastic as ever to catch Fu Manchu.  There's a dusting of action but, like its predecessor, it's mostly a cat and mouse game and a not very interesting one at that.  Here's hoping the next film in the series is more fun.  That seems to be the trend so far.