The Mask of Fu Manchu

This was a bit different with Boris Karloff playing an Asian "bad guy." He plays "Fu Manchu," and man who sets out to get Genghis Khan's mask and sword which supposedly will give him the power to rule over millions of people.

Despite the classic film casting of white people to play Asians, I found Karloff to be "cool" looking as was his evil daughter, a young Myrna Loy. I like Karen Morely, usually, but not in here where she plays an almost-hysterical daughter of one of the good guys.

"Fu Manchu" shows some of his unique methods of torture, nothing graphic, thankfully - not like today's blood and guts.

Some of this is amateurishly-done but overall it still a legitimate amount of real horror and terror and the cast certainly is entertaining. ("Andy Hardy" star Lewis Stone also is in here along with Jean Hersholt and Charles Starret.)

Summary: a decent and almost-mystical adventure story that doesn't overstay its welcome, either, at a tidy 68 minutes. Pretty good stuff.

Created by British author Sax Rohmer, the evil Dr. Fu Manchu appeared for the first time in 1912, in a story serialized in one of the many pulp magazines of those years. While originally a personification of the racism present during the time of its creation (the infamous "Yellow Peril"), Fu Manchu has become one of the most famous characters in science fiction, serving as model to other villainous character as one of the earliest examples of the Supervillain archetype. The fascinating evil genius (and his nemesis, Sir Denis Nayland Smith) appeared in so many successful novels that of course, film adaptations became the next step, resulting in many different versions of the stories made since the first British film serial in 1923. Many talented actors like Harry Agar Lyons, Warner Oland and Christopher Lee have played the famous criminal, but the most famous interpretation of Fu Manchu is definitely the one done by horror legend Boris Karloff in the 1932 film, "The Mask of Fu Manchu".

Based on Rohmer's story of the same name, "The Mask of Fu Manchu" is the story of the discovery of Ghengis Khan's tomb, where his legendary Mask and Sword are supposed to be hidden. British archaeologist Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant) has discovered the exact location, but he is kidnapped by Dr. Fu Manchu's (Boris Karloff) criminal gang, in order to proclaim himself Kahn's heir and lead the Asian nations to a war against the British empire. Knowing this, Sir Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone) takes his own group of archaeologists and, along with Barton's only daughter Sheila (Karen Morley) and her fiancée Terry (Charles Starrett), attempt to find Kahn's tomb before Fu Manchu, hoping to rescue Sir Lionel Barton in the process. However, Dr. Fu Manchu and his daughter Fah Lo See (Myrna Loy) will prove to be terrible enemies for the British agent and his team.

Written by the prolific writer Edgar Allan Woolf (with Irene Kuhn and John Willard as collaborators), the film is as faithful as possible to its pulp novel origins, keeping the essence of the Rohmer's series of books in both style and substance. As in the novels, the story flows at a fast pace, mixing horror and science fiction as the adventurers must face the criminal mastermind, who here is presented as a fascinating and very powerful adversary of Smith and his team. In fact, it could be said that the writers seemed more interested in the villains than in the heroes, as Fu Manchu and his daughter are easily the most developed characters. The treatment of Fah Lo See is really interesting, as the script (written in the years before the Hays Code) allows her to be a very sexual predator, and as wicked as her father.

"The Mask of Fu Manchu" was directed by Charles Brabin, a very experienced director of silents who after the introduction of sound, directed several "talkies" before retiring. Brabin's experience in Silent films may be the reason behind the very visual flare of the movie, as he gives an amazing use to Tony Gaudio's cinematography to create one of the most stunningly looking pieces of science fiction of the 30s, truly capturing the "feeling" of the pulp novels where the story had its origins. As the writers, Brabin seems to fall in love with his villains, and injects them the haunting mix of sadistic eroticism that previous incarnations of Fu Manchu lacked. Interestingly, this movie, Brabin's 8th film with sound, was also the first "talkie" directed by Charles Vidor, who here received his first chance as an assistant in a big studio movie.

As written above, it's the villains what make "The Mask of Fu Manchu" special, and fortunately, the cast portraying them was the most perfect one for the job. Myrna Loy is simply gorgeous as Fah Lo See, and while her role doesn't have too much screen time, she makes every scene memorable as Manchu's daughter. Legendary horror icon Boris Karloff makes wonders in the role of Fu Manchu, as he takes the character of the evil genius to higher levels of monstrosity. While the make-up (by Cecil Holland) is not as effective as the ones by Jack Pierce at Universal, Karloff manages to be a very convincing Fu Manchu in probably the best representation of the character. As Fu Machu's nemesis, Lewis Stone shows the necessary dignity and wit of the British gentleman he is portraying, but sadly his screen time is very limited and instead we get more of the mediocre performances by Karen Morley and Charles Starrett, who look very weak as the romantic couple.

It seems like time hasn't been nice to this film when compared to other films inspired by pulp novels, and not only because of it's constant racism towards the Asians (like with the novels, the "Yellow Peril" stereotype is quite notorious), but mainly because it uses devises so typical of adventure films today, that it make the film look dated and clichéd; however, taking into account the times when this movie was made, one can see it as the possible source of those clichés. On a different subject matter, the movie indeed suffers from the bad performances of those put on the main spotlight, as like many directors that started in silent films, Brabin struggles with the most dialog-based scenes. Still, Karloff, Loy and Stone shine despite Brabin's own problems and the lack of talent of the two lead actors.

True, "The Mask of Fu Manchu" looks campy and terribly dated by today standards, but it certainly has many characteristics that make it worthy of the title of "classic". It's horror elements are few, but it's an enormously influential film for the action and adventure genres (an influence that can be traced even to the "Indiana Jones" series). While not exactly a perfect movie, "The Mask of Fu Manchu" delivers a nice pack of thrills and fun, and one of Karloff's finest performances. 7/10

THE MASK OF FU MANCHU has recently had several minutes of missing material restored to it, footage that has not been seen in decades. This longer cut of the film is currently enjoying a limited theatrical release, and it would be nice to see that followed by a DVD release. Probably one of the best of the films to be based on author Sax Rohmer's stories (along with FACE OF FU MANCHU and DRUMS OF FU MANCHU), it would be nice to see a potential DVD release possibly include commentary by Boris Karloff's daughter, Sara, or a look at the making of the film. Karloff commented in interviews that MASK was a troubled production, with constant changes to the script throughout the filming. In spite of that, the final film manages to capture the feel of the pulp tales that inspired it.

No self-respecting fan of the great Boris Karloff should miss his juicy performance in this raunchy and very unconventional film. As the evil and maniacal Asian mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu, Karloff plans to kill off "the white race" as he hunts down the highly desirable mask and sword of Genghis Khan, which winds up in the possession of a group of British treasure seekers. Boris seems to really relish his part as he tortures his captives with a grinning sadistic glee. Myrna Loy plays his self-described "ugly and insignificant daughter", who harbors a sado-masochistic appetite and nymphomania.

The sets are glorious, some sequences are disturbing for the time they were made, and there is newly restored controversial dialogue in the recent editions of the film, with "politically incorrect" slang being used on both sides of the line. There is sometimes a criticism toward the movie for its usage of this type of speech, but the time in which the feature was produced should be historically considered, as well as fairly noting that no race is spared during the length of the film. While Fu Manchu is referred to as a "yellow devil" by his victims, for instance, he is also denouncing Christianity and roaring with contempt to his eastern followers with his authoritative command for them to "kill the white men and take their women!"

There are also some unintentional laughs to be found on occasion, and many of them come courtesy of Karen Morley as "Shelia", who is just atrocious with her comedic overacting. Running a scant 68 minutes, this is a wild and wacky good time for fans of old movies, serials, and Boris Karloff in particular. Enjoy! *** out of ****

It didn't surprise me in the least that The Mask Of Fu Manchu was produced by Cosmopolitan Pictures. Even though the title is a bit of a misnomer. It isn't about The Mask Of Fu Manchu, it's about the mask and sword of Ghenghis Khan which Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu wants to discover and appropriate for himself so he can become a kind of Far Eastern Mahdi.

Cosmopolitan Pictures was the production outfit of William Randolph Hearst and while it's main reason for existence was to produce films for Marion Davies, it did produce other films. The Hearst press, especially on the West Coast was very big in stirring up anti-Chinese and anti- Japanese feelings among the white people constantly using the phrase The Yellow Peril to describe how if they're allowed to emigrate her they'll be taking over in a few generations. The fictional Fu Manchu fit the Hearst agenda quite nicely.

In the Fu Manchu stories it's like Professor Moriarty was the main protagonist. Fu Manchu's particular Holmes is Commissioner Nayland Smith played by Lewis Stone as stout a representative of the United Kingdom and their imperial pretensions as ever went out in the noon day sun.

As I said Fu Manchu is after the warrior symbols of Ghengis Khan so he can lead the Oriental people to their rightful place. Interestingly this Oriental messiah seems to have a number of black slaves doing his bidding in the film. The British government as personified by Nayland Smith wants archaeologists Jean Hersholt, David Torrance and Lawrence Grant to find the tomb and get this so the British can display it at the British Museum in London as a symbol of their superiority. Grant is kidnapped and tortured by Karloff, but Grant's daughter Karen Morley and her boyfriend, future Durango Kid Charles Starrett takes her father's place on the expedition.

Though I think that The Mask Of Fu Manchu is every bit as racist in its attitudes as The Birth Of A Nation, like The Birth Of A Nation it has some great performances. Led of course by that master of horror, Boris Karloff. Karloff played so many different and varied types in his long career, being Chinese was no big deal for him to play. Later on Karloff kind of made it up to the Chinese people by playing the educated detective Mr. Wong who unlike Charlie Chan never spoke in fortune cookie aphorisms.

Myrna Loy is Fu Manchu's 'unworthy' daughter and this is at the height of the phase in her career where she played Oriental temptresses. She conceives a real liking for Starrett to turn him into her Occidental boy toy. She's a willing and eager accomplice in her father's dirty deeds, perhaps to show herself as worthy.

The Mask Of Fu Manchu is as racist a film as you can get, but it's also holding up quite well as entertainment. And who was ever more sinister on the screen than Boris Karloff playing anything?