Le Masque d'or

The Mask of Fu Manchu is a bit campy, but if you've got a theme planned for Halloween of old horror movies, you might want to add it to the list alongside some other Boris Karloff classics. Boris stars, in heavy makeup, as Dr. Fu Manchu, who's on the lookout for Genghis Khan's lost treasure. His minions will do anything to find it, including steal it off of museum curators who tried to find it legitimately.

Lewis Stone is the head of the good guys, or if you're looking at it another way, the opposition team. Lawrence Grant, Jean Hersholt, and Charles Starrett try to find the treasure, but along the way, Lawrence gets kidnapped and held ransom. His daughter, Karen Morley, who's in love with Charles, gets involved in the adventure, and all three of the remaining try to rescue Lawrence and maintain the treasure.

Myrna Loy, in her early days, costars as Boris's daughter, and she's quite the villainess who enjoys power and violence. This one's not as scary as Frankenstein, but it's fun if that's your theme for the weekend. Where else will you be able to find Lewis Stone fighting his way through a pit of alligators, or Jean Hersholt strapped to a chair while giant spikes close in all around him? That's some pretty scary stuff for the soon-to-be Judge Hardy and Heidi's Grandfather!