Die Maske des Fu-Manchu

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 ****

The Mask of Fu Manchu is not perfect. The dialogue does feel corny to me, Karen Morley overacts dreadfully that it was difficult to take her hysteria seriously and Lewis Stone makes a piece of wood more animated. However, the black and white cinematography does show crispness and atmosphere and the sets and costumes are beautiful. The score is haunting and while occasionally silly the story is fun and never felt dull. The tortures were both scary and amusing, and I got some entertainment from the scene with the crocodiles. While Charles Starrett is not the most convincing of actors he does make up for it by his sexiness. The two best performances come from Myrna Loy and especially Boris Karloff. Loy is lustful and incredibly magnetic, while Karloff seems to be having the time of his life.

All in all, The Mask of Fu Manchu is a flawed film but it is a decent and fun one. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Once you get past a knighted member of the British Secret Service (Lewis Stone) doesn't have a British accent, but Fu Manchu does. Another knighted Brit (Lawrence Grant) does have a British accent but his daughter (Karen Morely) does not. Somehow, Fu Manchu has people hiding in sarcophagi dressed as mummies in the British Museum, plus one guy who appears to be wearing a beret inside a sarcophagus, but disappears. Once you overlook all this, and a few other things, such as the British finding Genghis Khan's tomb in about the same amount of time that Sir Lionel Barton is kept under a constantly ringing bell, this is actually pretty entertaining.

You have Karloff as Fu Manchu who has all these elaborate methods of torture and killing people, and like in the Bond films, people tend to escape before dying. At one point, Karloff looks a bit like Carmen Miranda at the Carnival in Rio. Myrna Loy, as others have commented, seems to be a sadistic nymphomaniac, which for some people, is quite possibly the perfect mate.

Overlook all of the things that don't make a lot of sense and just enjoy!

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.

...dIrected by Charles Brabin. Boris Karloff stars in the title role, a Chinese scientist, warlord, and master criminal bent on world domination. He believes that if he can retrieve the long lost mask and sword of Genghis Khan he will be able to gather an army of followers with which to conquer the "white man's world". Out to stop him is the intrepid Sir Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone). Also starring Myrna Loy as Fu Manchu's cruel daughter, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Jean Hersholt, David Torrence, Lawrence Grant, Ferdinand Gottschalk, and Willie Fung.

Paramount had much success with a Fu Manchu series from 1929-1931 with Warner Oland in the lead. Those films are classier, and Fu Manchu is presented as more of a sympathetic character, seeking vengeance for the death of his family. In this version, he is just generically evil, more like a comic book villain. This outing has a lot going for it, though, like nice, large sets and elaborate costumes, ludicrously amusing torture devices, and ridiculous touches such as Fu Manchu's personal bodyguard squad consisting of large bald black men in loincloths. The plot is silly, and the stereotyping is both offensive and naively hilarious (apparently Chinese people literally worship Genghis Khan). One particular bit of business that I enjoyed in this was Fu Manchu's "box o' creepy creatures", a container he opens at one point that appears to hold snakes, large lizards, tarantulas and more, all just hanging out together in this box.

The movie ran into trouble once the production code went into full effect, and heavily edited versions floated around for years, but the copy I watched was fully restored, even if some of the scenes looked to be in much poorer condition than others. This is amusing in a cartoonish, high camp way, and for fans of unusual production design.