4K News #318: The Girl From Rio (1969).

Directed by Jess Franco
Starring Shirley Eaton, Richard Wyler, George Sanders, Maria Rohm

A few years ago, Blue Underground released a series of Blu-Ray double features of some Harry Alan Towers pictures — from Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu to some Edgar Wallace things to a couple Bond ripoffs and beyond. One of these sets gave us the two Sumuru films starring Shirley Eaton and directed by Jess Franco — The Million Eyes Of Sumuru (1967) and The Girl From Rio (1969).

Like a lot of stuff from Harry Alan Towers, these were based on a character from Sax Rohmer. But they are very much a product of their time and place — oozing with the James Bond and Bava’s Danger: Diabolik vibe. I’m not a Franco fan, but I have a soft spot for these two films. The Blu-Ray twin bill looked fantastic — pretty much a given with Blue Underground. My bet is that the 4K of The Girl From Rio will be incredible. 

Blu-Ray News #107: The Blood Of Fu Manchu (1968) And The Castle Of Fu Manchu (1969).

Directed by Jess Franco
Starring Christopher Lee, Richard Greene

The Blood Of Fu Manchu (1968, AKA Kiss And Kill) and The Castle Of Fu Manchu (1969) — the last two pictures in producer Harry Alan Towers’ series based on Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu, star Christopher Lee, Richard Greene and the Law Of Diminishing Returns.

Directed by the Spanish cult director Jess Franco, they have their fans — and they’ll be happy to know that Blue Underground is bringing them to Blu-Ray some time this year. The previous DVD release had a lot of extras, which will make their way to the Blu-Ray set.

The first and third Lee/Fu Manchu pictures, The Face Of Fu Manchu (1965, directed by Don Sharp) and The Vengeance Of Fu Manchu (1967) are available from Warner Archive. (I really like Face.) The second, The Brides Of Fu Manchu (1966), was released several years ago from Warners, paired with Chamber Of Horrors (also 1966). How deep you want to go in this series is a personal thing, but Lee makes a terrific Fu Manchu — and let’s not forget him as Chung King in Hammer’s Terror Of The Tongs (1961).