Rating: 
Summary: Much creepier than your average serial!
Review: Okay, I think this is one of the great serials. It is much darker than many. Many scenes have the feel of the horror and mystery movies of the times, and these scenes quite distinguish this as one of the more innovative serials.Obviously, this is villian centered, and what an evil personage we have here! The makeup is superb, and as a personification of evil, Fu Manchu makes the emporer Ming look like a Sunday School teacher. He must have laid awake nights figuring out new and hideous ways to do away with his adversaries. Looks like the daughter is growing up in Dad's footsteps, although she hasn't graduated yet from using poisonous cigarette fumes to overcome her victims. This is good, old fashioned fun. Anyone who quibbles, as one reviewer did, with petty details like the train engineer hearing a gunshot from several cars back shouldn't be watching serials anyway, because they have never been known for their plausibility. If you're new to serials, this one should be fairly high up on your must see list. And if you're already a committed collector, this should definitely be in your collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Rubbish of Fu Manchu
Review: This film is nowhere as good as it has so often been rated. One of the big problems is that it insults the intelligence of a even a 2 year old child. The first episode shows one of Fu Manchu's henchmen fighting a railway guard, during which a gun is fired. Amazingly this single shot is heard is by the train fireman whilst performing his duties on the engine. Also the hero of the film is fighting the same henchman in a railway carriage, which looks about the same size as a hotel room. The film continues with other episodes in this same kind of ridiculous way. All this is made even worse by VCIs handling of the film copying process. The picture is more often than not over contrasty, some of the actors faces cannot even be recognizied at times. As for the sound process, well that's even worse, it sounds as if the dialogue is coming from miles away. I love watching all the old serials and like 90 odd percent of them, but this one definitly gets my thumbs down, mostly due to VCIs copying process.
Rating: 
Summary: Fu Do Something to Me
Review: Well put-together serial, made wonderful by Brandon's believable performance as the villain. We have a host of usual types for this kind of film supporting Brandon: the dauntless young hero, the relentless older law enforcement official, the courageous sweet young thing, her sneaky female counterpart working with the villain, the requisite professors and experts and others, all lining up in a titanic struggle of good and evil to determine who rules India. The cliffhanger endings involve a variety of fiendish plots by Fu Manchu to get rid of one or another of the heroes, so that the good guys are not just saved every episode by jumping out of a car at the last moment before it goes over the edge of a cliff or blows up . The writers actually put together a scenario that goes in one direction from beginning to end. It all comes down to Brandon as Fu Manchu though. His is the only character with any depth and he creates a believable performance. I also own the VHS of this serial and the DVD has been restored to far, far superior quality. I recommend it if you are into this kind of entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Fu Do Something to Me
Review: Well put-together serial, made wonderful by Brandon's believable performance as the villain. We have a host of usual types for this kind of film supporting Brandon: the dauntless young hero, the relentless older law enforcement official, the courageous sweet young thing, her sneaky female counterpart working with the villain, the requisite professors and experts and others, all lining up in a titanic struggle of good and evil to determine who rules India. The cliffhanger endings involve a variety of fiendish plots by Fu Manchu to get rid of one or another of the heroes, so that the good guys are not just saved every episode by jumping out of a car at the last moment before it goes over the edge of a cliff or blows up . The writers actually put together a scenario that goes in one direction from beginning to end. It all comes down to Brandon as Fu Manchu though. His is the only character with any depth and he creates a believable performance. I also own the VHS of this serial and the DVD has been restored to far, far superior quality. I recommend it if you are into this kind of entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: What a classic
Review: What a great movie.With one of the best villians of the 20th Century you can't go wrong.This movie is a pleasure to watch.The plot is remarkable.Controlling people using lobotimies and the implementation of the infernal "drum".Wow they had great ideas back then that won't be out of place today.The way they compelled you to watch the next chapter was brilliant.You know he will survive but wonder how does he escape.I tell you this movie deserved at least 3 oscars.The picture is perfect but the sound is average(when you are used to 5.1 surround then tell me again).How they got the picture like that I don't know.If you are a serial-movie fan or a classic movie collector even a film student.Buy this!!In a nutshell this movie lived up and exceeded the hype it generated and quite frankly this film is a masterpiece.One of the best movies of the 20th Century.
Rating:
Summary: Top-notch serial from Republic's Golden Age
Review: William Witney has stated that of all his serials Drums was his favorite because it was so different from all his other serials in mood and atmosphere. Halliwells Film Guide indicates that Drums of Fu Manchu is a spirited rendering of an ideal serial theme. This is my favorite serial, the one I would take to a desert island. Other serial aficianados may disagree with me but I would guess that it appears on their top five or ten serial lists. Among its many assets: a plot that develops logically from chapter to chapter, a superb bravura performance by Henry Brandon as the villainous criminal mastermind, and a superb musical score by Cy Feuer. VCI's print is good but not great so do not expect a pristine print ala Republic Home Video but it is very watchable. One big improvement over the prints from other previous sources; you can see what's going on in the night scenes in chapters 10 through 15.
| 
