Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, The

Time's running out for the world's supreme criminal mastermind: Fu Manchu has run out of the elixir that keeps his 168-year-old body Fit for Fiendishness. So he and his malevolent minions set out to purloin the ingredients, including a canary-yellow diamond that's one of England's crown jewels. In his final film, Peter Sellers merrily spoofs one of horror's favorite arch villains. He's deliciously diabolical -- and doesn't stop there: he's up to his old multiple-role tricks that worked so hilariously in Dr. Strangelove and The Mouse That Roared, also stiff-upper-lipping it as Fu's unflappable nemesis, Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard. Adding to this case of multiple laughs are Helen Mirren as a tap-dancing constable, Sid Caesar as an uncouth American G-man and David Tomlinson as a befuddled commissioner.

• comedy