The Carpet Of Horror (1962)

Starring Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Dor, Eleonora Rossi Drago, Antonio Casas, Fernando Sancho
Directed by Harald Reinl
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A Secret Service agent searches for the head of a criminal gang who murders with small balls that emit poison gas, while pursuing a beauty involved in the case.

A very efficient German thriller superbly photographed and edited, the picture is also well directed by Reinl with plenty of engaging characters on hand.  The "carpet of horror" refers to the deadly balls when rolled across a carpet, which is pretty misleading, as this is not a horror film at all, but still well worth your time.  Gottfried Pachecho's photography is very crisp and always perfectly lit, and there are a number of exciting sequences well-staged and finely assembled by the editor.  Fuchsberger and Dor's whirlwind courtship strains a bit of credulity, as does the love triangle with Drago added into the mix, but not too much more than spy films to come along later.  In fact it almost seems a similar blueprint to the James Bond series.

The Face Of Fu Manchu (1965)

Starring Christopher Lee, Nigel Green, Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Dor, James Robertson Justice
Directed by Don Sharp
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard discovers that his nemesis Dr. Fu Manchu is alive, and is scheming to develop a deadly new chemical weapon.

Lee is cast as Sax Rohmer's fiendish Oriental villain in the first of several appearances as the character, following in the steps of Boris Karloff in yet another role, and he vanishes into the part effectively, although he plays the role with little emotion.  There's colorful photography by Ernest Steward and several effective stunt sequences, and Don Sharp does a fine job of directing the action, although the lab assistant played by Joachim Fuchsberger seems a little too skilled in hand-to-hand combat, often easily dispatching his would-be assassins.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed the picture, another testament to Lee's power as a captivating antagonist.