"The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu" at first view seems like a lost cause - a slapped-together, throw-away, do-what-you-want star-ego mess earned through star Peter Sellers' 70s Pink Panther popularity and renaissance.
I would suppose that when it opened, it was a huge letdown and an inappropriate follow-up to his career-capping masterpiece, "Being There". I remember reviewers measuring the posthumous "Fu Manchu" against that one, and the film rightfully could only come up as the poorer for it.
Since its release in the summer of 1980, the film has never been regarded as any good. Certainly in watching it the first time, it appears unworthy of any reevaluation. But going back to it again and again over the course of more than 30 years, the movie's charms start to materialize.
Sellers' performance(s) as both the villain AND its hero yield many sly little character bits, unique line-readings and embellish laugh-out-loud set pieces. He can also be heard in overdubs as the King and other characters, which just adds to the attempted tour de force on view.
Despite a fractured plot and uneven tone, the film cautiously reveals its DNA in classic British pantomime and music hall, filled with post- Goons era silliness. There's plays-on-words, humorous asides, larger than life performances, British satire and an abruptly absurd conclusion that is both poignant and stupid - all at the same time. It's a throw- back 50s or 60s programmer that Sellers excelled in, but by 1980, was well out of step with the more punctuated audience taste.
The movie largely ignores coherency, and rarely takes itself very seriously. It doesn't seem to have much in the way of an intentionally nasty bone in its body, though the stereotypes and racial insults embraced do take a bit of the fun out of it in retrospect.
Still the enjoyable "Fu Manchu" highlights Sellers game skills as a handily interpretive and original comic performer. Modestly anarchic, it is well worth watching now for what it is - versus the viewing through the cinematic prism of what came before, or what it could have been.
I would suppose that when it opened, it was a huge letdown and an inappropriate follow-up to his career-capping masterpiece, "Being There". I remember reviewers measuring the posthumous "Fu Manchu" against that one, and the film rightfully could only come up as the poorer for it.
Since its release in the summer of 1980, the film has never been regarded as any good. Certainly in watching it the first time, it appears unworthy of any reevaluation. But going back to it again and again over the course of more than 30 years, the movie's charms start to materialize.
Sellers' performance(s) as both the villain AND its hero yield many sly little character bits, unique line-readings and embellish laugh-out-loud set pieces. He can also be heard in overdubs as the King and other characters, which just adds to the attempted tour de force on view.
Despite a fractured plot and uneven tone, the film cautiously reveals its DNA in classic British pantomime and music hall, filled with post- Goons era silliness. There's plays-on-words, humorous asides, larger than life performances, British satire and an abruptly absurd conclusion that is both poignant and stupid - all at the same time. It's a throw- back 50s or 60s programmer that Sellers excelled in, but by 1980, was well out of step with the more punctuated audience taste.
The movie largely ignores coherency, and rarely takes itself very seriously. It doesn't seem to have much in the way of an intentionally nasty bone in its body, though the stereotypes and racial insults embraced do take a bit of the fun out of it in retrospect.
Still the enjoyable "Fu Manchu" highlights Sellers game skills as a handily interpretive and original comic performer. Modestly anarchic, it is well worth watching now for what it is - versus the viewing through the cinematic prism of what came before, or what it could have been.