he would go or I would go so they got rid of me. I didn’t have much choice. So I was retired and he directed for the last week or so. It was pretty much a disaster from beginning to end. Reception After the acclaimed movie Being There (1979), this was Peter Sellers' last work. He already looked sick and tired (he would die shortly after filming ended), which notably affected his interpretive quality in a weak and uninteresting plot with other poor performances. In fact the film was universally panned by critics. Sellers appears unwell and lethargic throughout and his characterizations of Nayland Smith and Fu Manchu are both portrayed in a mostly subdued fashion. It is even probable that Fu Manchu's scenes with his "declining vitality" were a deliberate adaptation of the script to the actor's state of health at the time. Phil Hardy described the film as a "British atrocity". Orange Coast magazine wrote "Peter Sellers' last hurrah isn't nearly as impressive as his recent Being There. Even in the dual roles ... detective and the devious 168-year- old Fu Manchu, he musters only an occasional bright moment. Tom Shales of The Washington Post described the film as "an indefensibly inept comedy", adding that "it is hard to name another good actor who ever made so many bad movies as Sellers, a comedian of great gifts but ferociously faulty judgment. Manchu will take its rightful place alongside such colossally ill-advised washouts as Where Does It Hurt?, The Bobo and The Prisoner of Zenda''". Since release, the film has been criticized for contributing to racist Chinese stereotypes, though the titular character has appeared in many other racist depictions, beginning with the creation of the Fu Manchu character by Rohmer in 1912. References Bibliography External links The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu at BFI Screenonline 1980 films 1980s historical comedy films British historical comedy films Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation Films directed by Peter Sellers Films directed by Piers Haggard Films directed by Richard Quine Films scored by Marc Wilkinson Films set in 1933 Films set in the Himalayas Films set in London Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in London Films shot in Paris Orion Pictures films British parody films Warner Bros. films 1980s parody films Fu Manchu films Films produced by Zev Braun 1980s English-language films 1980s American films 1980s British films