Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

fwdixon This second of five Fu Manchu movies with Christopher Lee is an action-packed thriller. Fu is trying to (what else) conquer the world, this time using massive amounts of electricity to create a death ray. Fu is kidnapping the wives/daughters of scientists to force them to help him. Recalcitrant scientists are quickly dispatched in grisly, typically Fu Manchu fashion. Their daughters don't fare too well either. Lee is great (as usual) as the fiendish Fu, the supporting cast is good, the girls are gorgeous and the script is pretty good for this type of thing. This might be the best entry in the series. My "B" Movie Meter: 8* out of 10*.

lost-in-limbo Producer / writer Harry Alan Towers and director Don Sharp follow up their 1965 "The Face of Fu Manchu" a year later with the modest "The Brides of Fu Manchu". Actor Christopher Lee returns as Sax Rhomer's oriental mastermind villain Fu Manchu in another attempt to take over the world, after surviving the explosive finale in "Face…". Nigel Green doesn't return, which leaves Douglas Wilmer filling in as the commissioner Neyland Smith from Scotland Yard in his quest to foil Fu Manchu's quest for world domination. Fu Manchu is kidnapping young women who happened to be daughters of prominent scientists in the order of blackmailing them in helping him create a death weapon, but Neyland Smith is hot on the trail.Keeping to the same formula as "Face…" it has outlandish plotting made up of set-pieces, elaborate set details (the secret hideout), pulp dialogues, rough and tumble action (combat, fists flying, car chases, explosions) that's wrapped up like an enjoyable live comic strip. Sharp's handling might look plain and tight, but it's efficiently exciting and zippy in its pacing. The thick plot is deviously knotty, but surely convenient in the uncanny developments. Good old fashion scheming in trying to keep one step ahead. There are sound performances from the cast. Lee is doing it easy, but gets away with such a magnetic presence. Wilmer is no Green, but is acceptable and Tsai Chin is good fun as Fu Manchu's evil daughter.

Scarecrow-88 The diabolical Chinese architect of doom, Fu Manchu(Christopher Lee, imposing as ever) still carrying a devious desire to control mankind across the globe, has orchestrated a new plan to destroy the top military nations' generals and Commander-in-chiefs who are gathering together in London for a service dedication at St. Paul's church. Through a method using energy(..provided through the use of light, heat and power, transmitted by sound waves), Fu Manchu needs the cooperation and know-how of the top industrialists and scientists, and in getting that he kidnaps their wives and daughters(..they are the "brides" of the title), using hypnosis with his incredible mental powers, removing their will and in doing so can command them to do anything he so desires. Fu Manchu's arch nemesis and wily adversary, Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Sir Dennis Nayland Smith(Douglas Wilmer), along with pathologist Dr. Petrie(Howard Marion-Crawford;Smith's Dr. Watson, you could say)and Parisian Inspector Pierre Grimaldi(Roger Hanin), must discover his plans and stop him before the cunning mastermind is able to remove the great military leaders which help to keep our world's countries safe.The film has three basic settings. London where Fu Manchu has dacoit soldiers attempting to kidnap Marie Lentz(Marie Versini), the daughter of a great scientist needed to assist the madman in equipping his machines with the proper settings to bomb major cities. Marie's fiancé, German research chemist Franz Baumer(Heinz Drache), helps Smith and company in their efforts to find Fu Manchu's headquarters, buried underground in the foothills of a specific French mountainside. The film often shows the trapped women imprisoned in Fu Manchu's headquarters, and slave Abdul(Salmaan Peerzada)who plans to save them. A certain industrialist, Jules Merlin(Rupert Davies), is chosen for his expertise in building little wireless sets which enable Fu Manchu's henchman to set up their operations in small locations. The film shows Merlin's daughter Michel(Carole Gray)imprisoned which motivates him to do what Fu Manchu asks. When Marie is finally kidnapped in a well orchestrated siege in an opera house, she will coordinate an escape plan with Michel. Baumer will also infiltrate the headquarters posing as his fiancé's father. The film also has scenes in Paris where Merlin's business is centered. Marie doesn't know that her best friend, Nikki Sheldon(Harald Leipnitz)is actually working for Fu Manchu and assists in having her captured at the opera house. Fu Manchu's corrupt organization is under the disguise of Wireless International. Showing his capabilities, Fu Manchu destroys a cruise ship, The Windsor Castle, which will prompt Smith to move faster in stopping him before he's able to carry out his ultimate plan. Using Marie's father, Otto Lentz(Joseph Fürst)expertise, they will hatch a plan to use a stronger signal to counteract Manchu's with the lives of many important figures' lying in the balance.Plot-heavy, exciting, fast-paced fun with a great cast and dangerous situations creating an exhausting thrill-ride with Lee in great form even though he doesn't even attempt to sound Chinese. Wilmer is effective at portraying Fu Manchu's adversary;he presents the commissioner as fast-thinking, wise, and courageous. Smith has to have certain attributes if he's able to somehow defeat a villain such as Fu Manchu, with lives at stake. I think Wilmer is convincing, selling his Smith as someone we can count on to catch the terrorists out to cause chaos and global mischief. There are some thrilling set-pieces, such as the opera house kidnapping, the fight that breaks out between the "brides" and Fu Manchu's dacoit soldiers, and an attempt at hi-jacking Marie in her hospital of employment. We get to see Baumer beat the hell out of Fu Manchu's men and the destruction of the Windsor Castle ship as Smith and his men failed in saving those killed is quite a stunner. Unfortunately, Fu Manchu's headquarters inside the foothills look like cheap sets(..it's clear, I believe, that producer Towers desires to mimic Hammer), but that did very little to distract me from the perilous situation the madman was creating for our heroes. There's so much going on, you have little time to catch your breath. Director Don Sharp once again shows his skills at creating a lot with little, crafting a nice adventure out of the money producer Harry Allan Towers was able to give him. Rounding out a solid cast includes Tsai Chin as Fu Manchu's daughter Lin Tang, ever supportive and willing to obey. Burt Kwouk(the Pink Panther movies)is Feng, Fu Manchu's top scientist who is leader over the mechanical operations functioning the energy sent to destroy targets at his boss' command. It's great to actually see Asians portraying Fu Manchu's Chinese soldiers.

Space_Lord I love these old movies that were made when the words 'politically' and 'correct' were never used in the same sentence together. It is a bygone age of cinema where it was as simple as 'he's the good guy, that's the bad guy, sit back and be entertained'. Once again Christopher Lee absolutely owns the film whenever he's on the screen, such is the attention the man commands. Fu is a diabolical genius, he would probably be branded a terrorist in today's times. He has abducted the beautiful daughters of some of the world's prominent political figures and is using them to manipulate world politics. It's up to the equally nutty British cop Nayland Smith to cross swords with Fu (once again) and stop the yellow peril!! Not as good as 'The Face of Fu Manchu' but enjoyable nonetheless.