Fu Manchu gets a second lease of life with Christopher Lee taking on the role of the evil Chinese mastermind. He takes over from another horror legend, Boris Karloff, who played Fu Manchu in the early 1930s.

This particular episode of the continued adventures of Fu Manchu and his nemesis Nayland Smith is largely set in South America, where the evil Fu Manchu has been hiding out for several years. His latest plan is to destroy his 10 most hated enemies through administering the 'kiss of death'. The poison is to be administered by the world's 10 most beautiful women and of course the first victim is to be his deadliest enemy - Nayland Smith.

The film begins encouragingly as Fu Manchu and his 'lieutenant' his faithful daughter Lin Tang, hatching their plan. But when the action shifts to South America, the plot is hijacked by the induction of the local bandit, Sancho Lopez.

Lopez is given far too much screen time and he is neither amusing as a comedian nor menacing enough to be a suitable sidekick. There is also an unnecessary amount of vulgarity thrown in to the film.

Christopher Lee may not come to mind immediately as an evil Chinese super villain but along with Tsai Chin who plays Fu Manchu's daughter, the two are able to bring some spark to this otherwise uninspired film.

Despite the considerable cult following that the Fu Manchu films were able to develop, this is certainly not one of the better outings.