The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu

Restored Version Available? Or better yet a colorized version? The original book is free on Gutenburg. The film that is shown now is practically unwatchable but the story and the actors are engaging in the film and would make it worthwhile watching in an HD or colorized version. Oland, Hamilton, and Arthur were all engaged in the silent film era and this is their plunge into the talkies. So you have skilled actors with a good story, but the display is wanting. This is the first Fu Manchu film of the talkies era and it was good. However 83 years later the film itself is in tatters. Message me if you have a lead on an A+ quality version of the film and I (and many others) will snap it up quickly.

THE STORY & GENRE -- Brief and slight hypnotic powers is about all the genre which can be mustered in this basic crime story. ASHSFF calls it "Tangential." Rowland V. Lee directs, Warner Oland stars.

THE VERDICT -- As I said, the real problem here is the acting, which drags the entirety down to mediocre. And believe me, I was looking forward to seeing Oland do Fu. There is no "racism", only characterization. If you want to get political about it, China is not a friend of the world or human rights, and Fu Manchu is a personification of that fear and reality.

FREE ONLINE -- Yes. Google also "The Red Dragon" 1929.

The eponymous Chinese gentlemen is sure that his house will be safe during the famous Boxer revolution that attempted to drive the foreign devils from their country at the start of the 20th century. Reduced to just the British legation, though, the Europeans fight back and his home is accidentally struck resulting in a devastating tragedy. This kindly gent now swears vengeance on those who instigated those killings and over a period of years, he narrows down his dwindling list of targets to just the London-based "Petrie" family. Luckily, Scotland Yard's finest - "Insp. Nayland Smith" (O. P. Heggie) is on the case to try and stop the body count from mounting - but is he a match for the fiendishly clever "Fu Manchu" (Warner Oland)? It's probably about twenty minutes too long this - and most of that could be cut from the rather meandering denouement; but Oland makes for quite an entertainingly vengeful villain and Heggie turns in a decent effort too as the shrewd detective. Otherwise, the lighting needed extra wattage and the dialogue maybe a little less verbiage as the story takes us down loads of secret passages and introduces us to the unforgiving ancestors. I actually had some sympathy with the baddies all along here and quite enjoyed this mystically charged thriller.

Film buffs might want to check out what Warner Oland was doing before his Charlie Chan days, and what Jean Arthur was doing before her Frank Capra days, but others might want to steer clear of "The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu": it's stilted, static, uninvolving and overlong. Fu Manchu's deadliest power appears to be his ability to bore his captives to death; he never stops talking and talking and talking and talking. *1/2 out of 4.

Yes this movie is very dated. I've been watching movies for over 65 years, even at 10 years old I was watching the, then, oldies on television. I've experienced the full gamut of movie styles, production techniques, acting dynamics and technology, so I can happily and easily get into a movie from this era. Yes, its very melodramatic, over acted, a bit stilted like a stage play, but the story is intriguing, the acting works for the era, the sets are good, and the movie has a dynamic that works. I understand that not everyone can enjoy these golden oldies for what were, only seeing them through the eyes of the 22nd century. If you can, this is actually quite a classic and very absorbing. I liked it.