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namesisfortombstones · 1 year

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ICH, DR. FU MANCHU LEBEN...

Recently I discovered that in Germany when they released the five European Christopher Lee Fu Manchu films (known as “Fu Man Chu” in Deutschland), they recut and released their own specific versions of the films there. They are comparable to how the Japanese monster movies were changed for release in the United States, but no one in America or the series' native England seems to be aware of this. 1. THE FACE OF FU MANCHU - I, DR. FU MANCHU: 96 mins - 83 mins (PAL)/ 88 mins (NTSC)

Whilst he was known as "Dr. Fu Manchu" in the Sax Rohmer books, in the Christopher Lee series, not once is he referred to as "Dr." The Germans, however, go out of their way to refer to him as only "Dr. Fu Manchu." The times "Fu Manchu" alone is used in the German dubs of the entire series can be counted on one hand. Because this was a German co-production with Great Britain, the Germans exported Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Dor, two of the biggest stars of their "krimi" films, for the cast and they are given billing above Christopher Lee and Nigel Green! The Face of Fu Manchu begins with a moody prison beheading and the credits run over a rainstorm. I, Dr. Fu Manchu has the same video footage for its credits, but plays a jaunty, spritely tune inappropriate in the extreme, written by Gert Wilder. This tune would go on to be used for the main titles of each subsequent film as well. How the Germans felt a Chinese criminal mastermind should be represented musically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzXwjKk_nFA&ab_channel=MarcoPrati Fuschsberger and Dor dub themselves in the German dialogue, but Christopher Lee does not, which is bizarre considering Lee spoke fluent German. However, whoever did dub Lee dubs Fu Manchu for all five films.

The entire movie has been rescored (presumably by Gert Wilder, credited for the score) to replace the English score. The only time Christopher Whelan's music appears is a brief bit at the very end as Nigel Green rides off on horseback. Most of the new music amounts to stings for the end of scenes or a shock moment. Additionally, scenes that did have music in the English version go scoreless here.

The movie's opening thunderclap has been removed as well. Various scenes throughout are trimmed or cut entirely, including the action sequences. Professor Mueller (and his daughter, Maria Mueller) have been renamed Professor Merten (and Maria Merten) for some indiscernible reason.

There is a new shot and a new scene edited into the German version which seems to have been shot by the British crew. An establishing shot of the museum director's door is inserted when Nayland Smith goes to warn him about Fu Manchu.

In case you just weren’t keeping up with the movie... When the movie's action switches to Tibet, Nayland Smith's party is shown attacking and replacing the monks bringing the Black Hill Poppy seeds to Fu Manchu. Alas, there is no extra footage of Fu Manchu, though.

British colonialists beating up some Buddhist monks because they’re the heroes? Lastly, Fu Manchu's infamous warning, "the world shall hear from me again," has been replaced. As the Tibetian palace Fu is in is blown sky high, Fu seems to somehow [telepathically?!] be addressing Nayland Smith directly and tops off his threat with "I, Dr. Fu Manchu live." This phrase would be repeated for the rest of the series except the last one. There are no end titles, and this would repeat for the other four movies. 2. THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU - THE 13 SLAVES OF DR. FU MANCHU: 94 mins - 81 mins (PAL)/ 86 mins (NTSC)

The German version opens with a recap of the end of the first movie much like the U.S. version did. However, it does not use the same footage (because the U.S. version somehow managed to have unused footage in their recap). Fu's North African stronghold is shown with establishing shots frequently, presumably with footage from another movie.

In the normal version, Fu’s stronghold is hidden under a desert mountain. Here, it’s just sitting out in the open where God and everyone can notice it. A German voiceover explains something, then the opening credits begin, again accompanied by Gert Wilder's Fu Manchu Theme. The film has once again been entirely rescored by Wilder. And as in the first movie, German actor Heinz Drache gets billing over Christopher Lee. When Jules Merlin is dragged into Fu Manchu's Egyptian-style lair, Fu welcomes him over an intercom system that is not present in the English version. Characters are again renamed for no discernible reason. Michele Merlin is renamed "Maggie." The unseen-because-he's-dead Dr. Ramchad (and his quickly-dead daughter, Shiva) has been renamed "Dr. Preston." Most outrageous of all, Douglas Wilmer's turn as Nayland Smith has been rechristened "Terrence Spencer"! Whether or not, this was done because the part had been recast is unknown. Most of Fu's references to Nayland Smith have been removed. When the film goes to England, a super appears onscreen reading "London 1924." The German version of the first movie had no such claims (and Brides takes place almost immediately following Face). A shot of Maria Mueller's home from Face has been taken and used as an establishing shot when Franz first visits Dr. Merlin in London. There are also some new shots of newspapers featuring photos of Otto Lenz. Some extra footage of a map of North Africa has been inserted when Nayland Smith/Terrence Spencer and company are trying to locate the Temple of Karnac where Fu is holed up.

Well at least they thought to show this new building blowing up in the climactic inferno as well. 3. THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU - THE REVENGE OF DR. FU MANCHU: 92 mins - 80 mins (PAL)/ 85 mins (NTSC)

The movie starts out with a brand new title sequence, underscored with Wilder's theme music. However, the original composer Malcolm Lockyer is given credit this time around and indeed, this version has not been rescored. Christopher Lee is finally properly given top billing, as he would for the remaining two films. However, German actor Wolfgang Kieling playing the very-extremely side-character Dr. Lieberson is given second billing! Horst Frank manages to get the "and" credit. Apparently, the Germans just wanted a new credit sequence because they then proceed to use the raw footage from the movie's original credit sequence as Chinese slaves haul Fu Manchu and his daughter to their homeland province of (the fictional?) Kwang Su.

Look, ma! No supers! When the movie cuts to England, a super identifying it as "London" appears, though no year is given this time. Douglas Wilmer is back to being Nayland Smith with no explanation whatsoever. However, Horst Frank's cowboy gangster character Rudy Moss has been renamed "Ronald Moss." When Fu Manchu and his daughter speak Chinese (which they do an inordinate lot in this film), they are merely dubbed with new German dialogue. It is unknown whether the dialogue was made up or actually translated from Chinese (Tsai Chin helped Christopher Lee with his Chinese lines). Of the five movies, this one has the least changes, though a sequence of Fu Manchu explaining to Rudy/Ronald just what the hell they're doing has been removed.

4. THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU - THE DEATH KISS OF DR. FU MANCHU: 94 mins - 78 mins (PAL)/ 82 mins (NTSC)

A new shot of some Amazonian waterfalls opens the movie before cutting to Fu Manchu's dacoits hauling the bevy of women to his Incan lair. There is supposedly a thunderstorm nearby (though the sky looks clear) and the sound effects are culled from audio of King Ghidorah's gravity beams in Monster Zero (no, for real)!

Are there even waterfalls on the Amazon?

The credits, this time, are the same credits seen in The Blood of Fu Manchu, but again have been rescored with Gert Wilden's tune. Tsai Chin does not get credit in this one (despite her being onscreen in the credit sequence!) and Jess Franco's name is cut off the screen (you just see "Regie" and no actual name).

Directed by None of Your Goddamn Business Wilden has again rescored the film with stings and cues. Only one piece of Daniel White's original score remains in the film during an early scene in a jungle. The character of Celeste has been renamed "Cheleste" for some reason.

Much of the movie's ending explosion has been cut considerably leaving things even more abrupt than the film already did. And instead of using the amazingly moody and avant garde version of "the world shall hear from me again" from the English version, here, a shot of Fu from the opening titles is superimposed over the waterfall to assure Nayland Smith that "I, Dr. Fu Manchu live."

Germany, what the hell? You thought THIS was better than this???

5. THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU - THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. FU MANCHU: 92 mins - 80 mins (PAL)/ 85 mins (NTSC)

The Castle of Fu Manchu has been entirely overhauled by the Germans as if they knew the film was a piece of shit and decided they were going to make it better as best they could. Constantin Films gave it a valiant go, but ultimately, the movie is still a slog. Just slightly more interesting because of the changes to the English version. The movie opens with a brand new shot of a tree limb before cutting to the insert of Fu Manchu from the opening of the previous movie as he explains his new plan.

Behold, the tree limb of terror! The footage from both The Brides of Fu Manchu and A Night to Remember that make up the film's prologue has been trimmed considerably. All the footage of the ship's revelers has been taken out. Once the iceberg--er, the chunk of ice Fu has caused to appear in the Caribbean--hits the ship, the film does not cut back to the Brides footage, leaving us to believe Fu's test was a complete success, rather than the utter failure it is in the English version. Also, the Titanic footage goes from tinted blue to completely black and white and back again. The final shot of the Titan-er, ship sinking has been cropped considerably.

Instead of the travelogue scenes of the movie's titular castle from the English version, the movie has a brand new titles sequence. Using the footage from The Blood of Fu Manchu's credits sequence and Gert Wilden's theme song, the Germans manage to invent a far superior work (and Tsai Chin gets her credit back). Amusingly, every so often, Fu Manchu himself interrupts the credits sequence via radio broadcast announcing each time, "This is the voice of Dr. Fu Manchu!" The rest of the film has been rescored. None of the original score makes it in this version.

This time, people are not the only ones being renamed. The castle of Fu Manchu becomes a "palace." Honestly, "The Palace of Fu Manchu" does sound better and more exotic. The ailing Burt Young look-alike Dr. Heracles now becomes Dr. Henderson.

Much like the other films, new foley sounds abound. When Lin Tang follows Lisa across Istanbul to meet Omar Pasha (named for a real Ottoman field marshal), Muslim chanting can be heard in the distance.

There are two brief new scenes not in the English version, both made up of stock footage. Firstly, a scene of Lin Tang walking through the Incan prisoner cells from The Blood of Fu Manchu has been inserted for no particular reason, unless to justify the movie's new title. Another new scene uses shots from elsewhere in the film to feature Fu Manchu condemning Lisa to his torture chamber. She does not take it very well.

Pretty ballsy, Germany. The lame-ass explosion taken from what looks like a black and white silent film when Fu's dacoits attempt to assassinate Nayland Smith with a grenade has been replaced by an almost-as-lame still image of smoke from an explosion.

Is this really better? The end of the movie drops the bombshell that Lisa is actually Omar Pasha's daughter. She calls out "Mein vater!" before ditching Nayland Smith and Dr. Heracles/Henderson. In the English version, it's heavily implied that Pasha and Lisa are lovers! The Germans obviously took one look at this film's weak-ass "the world shall hear from me again" and wisely replaced it with the much better one from The Vengeance of Fu Manchu despite the fact Fu never wears a feather in this film. For the first time in German, Fu actually does say the phrase "the world shall hear from me again" instead of the "I, Dr. Fu Manchu live" from the prior four films.

Thanks, guys. This is a lot better. Is The Torture Chamber of Dr. Fu Manchu better than The Castle of Fu Manchu? Honestly, for all its numerous changes, it's about the same quality. No better, no worse, just an interesting variant. At least it's over about five minutes quicker. The German version is certainly better, though, than the awful American version utilized for Mystery Science Theater 3000 that looked like amateurs made the film. The German versions have been released onto DVD in Germany. There is The Dr. Fu Manchu Collection and The Complete Collection of Dr. Fu Manchu. Despite the wildly different packaging, they appear to be the same disc contents and should be easily available to anyone trying to track them down (I got my set from Amazon UK).

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