Drums of Fu Manchu's official release date is 15 March 1940, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges.A 69-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together, was released on 27 November 1943. The feature version had the working titles Fu Manchu and Fu Manchu Strikes. It was one of fourteen feature films Republic made from their serials.[1] This version changed the ending of the film. Fu Manchu's escape at the end is edited out and he dies in the final car crash instead. A similar change was made in the feature version of the Victory Pictures serial Shadow of Chinatown