Weak tea, this.
If you are expecting the thrill a minute, pulse-pounding excitement of a master villain trying to take over the world, you may want to look elsewhere.
Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu has been thrilling readers since 1912 with his somewhat creaky, imaginative, jingoistic plots and his demotic scientific horrors, often involving murderous animals and dangerous dacoits. Through thirteen novels and fix-ups, as well as a handful of stories, Rohmer blazed the trail for the "Yellow Menace" pulp stories that also weaved its way through films, radio, television, conic strips, comic books, and additions to the franchise by other authors. For over a hundred years, the criminal genius of the Si-Fan tong has poured his vengeance on the Occidental world, often with startlingly effective results, and sometimes with results less than desired. And -- in the case of The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu -- with a distinct and disappointing thud.
Hopes were high for the television show. In 1955, Republic Pictures (yeah, the Poverty Row film company...so maybe hopes weren't that high) paid four million dollars to Sax Rohmer and announced they would produce 78 episodes of the projected series. In the vaunted Hollywood tradition of placing white guys in oriental roles, Fu Manchu would be played by Glen Gordon, who played uncredited roles in You're in the Navy Now, Bright Victory, and Cell 2455, Death Row, as well as individual supporting roles in two dozen television shows, mainly in the 1950s and early 60s. Needless to say, Gordon was not a blazing star with an energetic screen persona. Disagreements between Rohmer and the producers led to a lawsuit, which led to the series being cancelled after filming only 13 episodes. Less than generous critics may have viewed this kerfuffle as the universe righting itself.
Also attached to the program were Lester Matthews (The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Son of Dr. Jekyll, Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land, and a host of minor roles covering 216 IMDb credits) as Sir Dennis Nayland Smith, Fu Manchu's sterling British nemesis. Clark Howat (he had an uncredited role as a patron in Macy's lunchroom in Miracle on 34th Street, had his scenes deleted as a disc jockey in 'Round My Shoulder, was an uncredited soldier in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, and had a gazillion minor, walk-on, and uncredited roles in his 164 IMDb credits) as Nayland Smith's assistant Dr. John Petrie. Rounding out the regular cast was Laurette Luez (Prehistoric Women, Siren of Bagdad, Jungle Gents -- her brief career basically ended with The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu following her marriage to her third husband; she had two uncredited roles in 1961, a small movie part and one episode of Ben Casey in 1964; she claimed to have been the one to suggest Marilyn Monroe as a stage name for Norma Jean Baker) as Karamenah, Fu Manchu's eye candy assistant with a two-piece outfit -- G-r-r-r.
So the cast was lest than outstanding. The sets and the production values were even less than worthy of Republic. The entire program was basically one big plod. It was so bad it was camp -- or, at least, could be considered considered camp some years down the road.
"The Master Plan of Fu Manchu" was the eleventh episode of the series, directed by William Whitney and scripted by Arthur E. Orloff. Fu Manchu has kidnapped a famous plastic surgeon to operate on a mysterious "Mr. X" (Steven Geray). Why? That is the question facing Nayland Smith. the clumsily telegraphed twist is that "X" is actually Adolph Hitler, who did not die in the Berlin Fuhrerbunker in 1945. Fu Manchu plots to use Hitler to conquer the world.
Ask me if I regret spoiling the ending for you. I don't.
It's only 26 minutes, 26 seconds out of your life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwSpPWeqRvk
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