Line #18 Film/TheCastleOfFuManchu


1	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_castle_of_fu_manchu.jpeg]]
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3	''The Castle of Fu Manchu'' (1969), directed by Creator/JessFranco, is the fifth and final installment of the Literature/FuManchu series starring Creator/ChristopherLee in the role.
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5	The plot attempts to emulate a Franchise/JamesBond movie, with its titular diabolical villain planning to freeze the oceans of the world by using a special opium-based formula. Fu Manchu has imprisoned a scientist to assist him, but the man requires a heart transplant (something which was still very new when this movie was made), so Fu Manchu kidnaps a doctor and his nurse to ensure his hostage stays alive. As the evil mastermind works on his plans, Interpol and his arch-nemesis Nayland Smith aim to find out where he is located and stop him.
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7	For the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode see ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S03E23TheCastleOfFuManchu here]]''.
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9	----
10	!!This film provides examples of:
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12	* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Omar Pasha really, really wants to rescue Lisa. It's hard to blame him.
13	* {{Bifauxnen}}: Lisa.
14	--> '''Tom Servo:''' Either I'm weird, or that guy's really hot!
15	* BookEnds: The film opens with Fu Manchu's equipment getting overloaded and exploding, and it ends the same way.
16	* DawsonCasting: Dr. Kessler the "brilliant young specialist" is a gray-haired man in his mid-40s.
17	* DeusExMachina: Dr. Kessler somehow comes into possession of some acid that can stop Fu Manchu's plans. ''How'' it will do this is never explained and it's not even clear if he ever uses it other than to blow up the lock on his cell door.
18	* [[DroppedaBridgeonHim Dropped a Bridge on Her]]: Lisa, Rosabla Neri's character, who is killed trying to rescue a colleague [[SenselessSacrifice who has already been killed by Fu Manchu.]]
19	* DullSurprise: Fu Manchu, in every single shot.
20	* EnemyMine: Nayland Smith invokes this when he meets Omar Pasha.
21	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Fu Manchu first appears fully towering over his assistant. Creator/RogerEbert actually liked the shot.
22	* ExplosiveOverclocking: An argument between Fu Manchu and one assistant over the former's machine and increasing power too much. Too bad the sound is so garbled you really can't ''hear'' them say anything intelligible, though the assistant gives a good OhCrap face.
23	* FailureHero: Nayland Smith really doesn't defeat Fu Manchu, so much as stumble over his plot and just be a passive observer. In fact it seems like Fu Manchu's plan goes south all on its own.
24	* ForTheEvulz: To prove how serious he is to the doctors, he destroys a dam and kills all the workers. Why he has to prove this to them, how he did it, and what importance it has to anything except to prove he's evil is a total mystery.
25	* GenericDoomsdayVillain: It's never explained ''why'' Fu Manchu wants to freeze the world's oceans, though stopping international trade might be a way to blackmail the world.
26	* HyperAwareness: Nayland Smith immediately knows the doctor has been kidnapped, simply because the doctor left a cigarette burning on a nice table; he deducts this literally less than a minute after the doctor was kidnapped.
27	* MarketBasedTitle: Released in Germany as ''Die Folterkammer des Dr. Fu Man Chu'' ("The Torture Chamber of Dr. Fu Manchu").
28	* NoEnding: Fu Manchu's base blows up as some of the surviving characters watch, Fu Manchu claims he'll be back, and then the film just ends. This may ''sound'' like an ending, but not the way its presented in the film.
29	* OffWithHisHead: Happens to the Governor of Anatolia.
30	* RandomEventsPlot: There is in fact an almost-coherent storyline, but the film is so disjointed that it comes off this way.
31	* {{Sequelitis}}: A textbook case. This is the ''fourth'' sequel to ''Film/TheFaceOfFuManchu'' and it's just as wretched as you might expect.
32	* StockFootage: The ship sinking which opens the story is footage from ''Film/ANightToRemember''. Something that's particularly jarring when you consider that this film was made in colour, and ''A Night to Remember'' was in black-and-white. Meanwhile the destruction of the dam is lifted from ''[[Film/CampbellsKingdom Campbell's Kingdom]]'', complete with blink-and-you'll-miss-them appearances by that film's stars, Creator/StanleyBaker and Creator/DirkBogarde.
33	* StormingTheCastle: A villainous example happens when Omar Pasha and Fu Manchu's forces take over the titular castle. Later on Nayland Smith ''technically'' does this but meets almost no opposition.
34	* StuffBlowingUp: Fu Manchu's base on the Bosphorus blows up at the end of the movie, although it's far from clear exactly ''why''.
35	* VisualPun: An unintentional example; the movie starting with a sinking ship is a perfect metaphor for how disastrous the film itself is.
36	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Fu Manchu is very quick to kill off allies the moment they became extraneous. (Hell, he even has living heart donors.)
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Context Film / TheCastleOfFuManchu