The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
original movie poster
Directed by	Piers Haggard Peter Sellers Richard Quine
Produced by	Zev Braun Leland Nolan Hugh Hefner
Written by	Rudy Dochtermann Jim Moloney Peter Sellers
Starring	Peter Sellers Helen Mirren David Tomlinson Sid Caesar John Le Mesurier
Music by	Marc Wilkinson
Cinematography	Jean Tournier
Editing by	Claudine Bouché Russell Lloyd
Distributed by	Orion Pictures Corporation Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	August 8, 1980
Running time	101 min.
Country	U.K. / U.S.
Language	English
Box office	$10,697,276

‎

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu is a 1980 comedy film, notable as the final film of Peter Sellers, David Tomlinson and John Le Mesurier. Pre-production began with Richard Quine as director. By the time the film entered production, Piers Haggard had replaced him. Peter Sellers handled the re-shoots himself. Based on characters created by Sax Rohmer, the film stars Sellers in the dual role of Fu Manchu and Nayland Smith (he also appears in an uncredited cameo as a Mexican bandito). Released less than a month after his death, the film was a commercial and critical failure.

Plot

The opening titles announce it is set "possibly around 1933." The story concerns the 168-year-old Fu Manchu, who must duplicate the ingredients to the elixir vitae (which gives him extended life) after the original is accidentally destroyed by one of Fu Manchu minions.

When the diamond "The Star of Leningrad" is stolen by a clockwork spider from a Soviet exhibition in Washington D.C., the F.B.I. sends a pair of special agents to seek the assistance of Scotland Yard as a card from Fu Manchu's organisation the Si-Fan has been left at the crime. Sir Roger Avery of the Yard feels this is a job for Fu's archnemesis, Sir Denis Nayland-Smith, now retired.

Nayland-Smith correctly surmises that Fu Manchu will steal the identical twin to the missing diamond that is held in the Tower of London. Nayland-Smith also predicts that Fu will be thwarted by the tight security (several aged Beefeaters) at the Tower, then will kidnap Queen Mary to gain the jewel. He recruits a woman police constable to impersonate the Queen and fool Fu's gang.

Cast

Sellers had previously done a 1955 Goon Show entitled The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu-Manchu set in 1895. In the film his Fu insists friends call him "Fred" and that he had once been the groundsman at Eton.

In addition to Sellers, the film features Sid Caesar as FBI agent Joe Capone, David Tomlinson as Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Roger Avery, Simon Williams as his bumbling nephew and Helen Mirren as Police Constable Helen Rage (her performance is notable for her singing the Music Hall standard, "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow").

Burt Kwouk, Sellers' longtime co-star in The Pink Panther films, makes a cameo appearance as the Fu Manchu minion who accidentally destroys the elixir vita, prompting the inside joke that Fu thinks he looks familiar (also a joke on the racist stereotype that Asians appear identical to Westerners; and, no doubt, a veiled reference to Kwouk's two uncredited appearances in the "Fu Manchu" films of Christopher Lee). John Le Mesurier has a small part in the film as Nayland-Smith's butler.

Unlike other Fu Manchu works, Fu's daughter and Nayland-Smith's friend Dr. Petrie do not appear in the film.

External links

• The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu at the Internet Movie Database
• The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu at AllRovi