Ep# 72 - Harry Alan Towers' Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu Movies in the 60s

Cinema60

The legendary Harry Alan Towers: independent film producer, part-time pimp and full-time opportunist. Britain’s answer to Roger Corman, Towers started off the 60s believing that your brain is the most powerful sexual organ. By the end of the Sixties, he accepted – like everybody else in the biz did – that, nope, your junk is. Turned on by the literary bone fides he’d get by adapting great books into great movies, Towers instead turned his attention instead to noted hate-crime enthusiast Sax Rohmer. His pet project focused on the most evil man who never lived: Dr. Fu Manchu.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna sidestep Bootleg Bond by focusing on Fu Manchu films, a revival franchise that never would have existed if not for ‘60s Bond Mania. Jenna moans and bitches about how much she can’t stand these admittedly dated and racist films even if she kinda secretly enjoys the pop-mod styled misandrist villains. And to his utter delight, Bart finally gets his vengeance for all of the Eurospy trash Jenna forced him to watch. You have not heard the last of…!

The following films are discussed:
• The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)
Directed by Don Sharp
Starring Christopher Lee, Nigel Green, Tsai Chin

• The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)
Directed by Don Sharp
Starring Christopher Lee, Douglas Wilmer, Tsai Chin

• The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
Directed by Lindsay Shonteff
Starring Shirley Eaton, Frankie Avalon, George Nader

• The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967)
Directed by Jeremy Summers
Starring Christopher Lee, Douglas Wilmer, Tsai Chin

• The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)
Directed by Jesús Franco
Starring Christopher Lee, Richard Greene, Tsai Chin

• The Girl from Rio (1969)
Directed by Jesús Franco
Starring Shirley Eaton, Richard Stapley, George Sanders

• The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)
Directed by Jesús Franco
Starring Christopher Lee, Richard Greene, Tsai Chin