The Mask of Fu Manchu

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?

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!

...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.

Amazing Sets and Bizarre Costumes and Props propel this undeniably Visual smörgåsbord of a Film into a Class all its own.

The three times Doctor is Diabolical, Demented and uses unspeakable means of Menacing rarely seen on the Screen. There are incredible incidents of Stylized Sadism, a Creepy otherworldly Atmosphere of Horror and Mad Scientists Gizmo's, hypos, and mind altering Drugs all present in a most Grotesque nature.

A Female tortuous Nymph seductively saying "Whip him harder...whip him faster!" and the obligatory Yellow Hordes yelling "Kill the white man and take his women!"...WOW.

You won't find any of that in the Post Hays Code Hollywood.

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 ****