Tue 16 Feb 2016
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932).
Posted by Steve under Action Adventure movies , Reviews[10] Comments
THE MASK OF FU MANCHU. Cosmopolitan Pictures, 1932. Boris Karloff (Dr. Fu Manchu), Lewis Stone (Nayland Smith), Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Myrna Loy, Jean Hersholt, Lawrence Grant, David Torrence. Based on the novel by Sax Rohmer. Director: Charles Brabin, with Charles Vidor (uncredited).
If you’re looking for some over the top pre-code horror, trust me when I say that The Mask of Fu Manchu doesn’t disappoint. Featuring Boris Karloff as the title villain, this movie has kidnapping, a torture chamber featuring metal spikes, diabolical mind control via reptile, and its fair share of decidedly politically incorrect (by today’s standards) “yellow peril†racial paranoia.
After all, Fu Manchu isn’t just a ruthless criminal; he’s also determined to defeat the “white race.†But with Karloff portraying Sax Rohmer’s best-known fictional character, it’s more camp than menace, making this a rather spicy horror adventure. It’s pure pulp, and it’s great.
In The Mask of Fu Manchu, considered by some to the best cinematic adaptation of the Sax Rohmer’s works, our infamous Chinese villain seeks out the sword originally belonging to Genghis Khan. That sword, along with the Mongolian warlord’s mask, will allow Fu Manchu to become Genghis Khan’s mystical reincarnation here on earth. Fu Manchu wants to use that power to defeat his collective archenemy; namely, the white race!
It’s up to good Englishmen to stop him. Sir Denis Nyland Smith (Lewis Stone), along with archeologist Terry Granville (Charles Starrett) and his fiancée, Sheila (Karen Morley) are on scene to save the day. But Fu Manchu isn’t going to be defeated so easily. Especially when he has his sadistic daughter, Fah Lo See (a decidedly out of place Myrna Loy) by his side.
At a running time just shy of 70 minutes, The Mask of Fu Manchu manages to pack in a lot of action and exotic adventure. All of it appears to be in the spirit of escapist entertainment, rather than in the service of a broader artistic agenda. Indeed, as a horror film that doesn’t aim to address any deep philosophical questions about human nature, this one does everything that it’s supposed to and then some. Recommended.
February 17th, 2016 at 2:12 am
Oh, I do love this movie. There is an uncut version available on DVD, and it’s worth it to find an even more un-PC version of the film. It was considered beyond the pale as far back as the 1960s, but when asked about this aspect in an interview, Karloff pointed out that the whole thing was so ridiculous that no-one could possibly take it seriously. It is a lovely, campy performance from Karloff, who simply revels in being as evil as possible. At one point he comforts one of his prisoners whom he has kept without drink for a day or two, with a pitcher of water. The man spits it out, and Karloff apologises “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you that it was salt water!” If you want high camp, action and kinkiness, and can overlook the unbelievably un-PC content, then this is the movie for you.
February 17th, 2016 at 3:17 pm
Simply the best Fu Manchu movie because it distils the essence of the novels and because Karloff and Loy are so wonderfully evil as Fu Manchu and Fah Lo Suee.
The film overflows with strange Freudian moments and even stranger Jungian archtypes all done up with art deco settings, Tesla coils with their serpentine electric arcs, and hints of strange and even perverse science and ancient sorceries.
A better than average cast of good guys doesn’t hurt with an energetic Stone as Smith, Starrett, Karen Morley, and Hersholt all perfect foils for Karloff and Loy.
This, the Merian c. Cooper version of SHE with Helen Gahagan and Randolph Scott and Menzies CHANDU THE MAGICIAN with Edmond Lowe and Bela Lugosi are superb pulp from the exotic school of lost worlds and exotic adventure, but few rival this as pure fun.
February 17th, 2016 at 5:12 pm
Okay, I know this is the better movie but I actually prefer the 1940 Republic Serial DRUMS OF FU MANCHU because the format seems to capture the spirit of the books, Henry Brandon makes a fine Fu, and we get to see Dwight Frye get into a classic Republic-style slug-fest.
Or is that his stuntman?
February 17th, 2016 at 11:33 pm
Dan,
DRUMS is a close second for me. Brandon is a bit young and could use slightly better makeup, but the whole thing is structured very much like Rohmer’s books and the cliffhangers imaginative and, rare for many serials, atmospheric. They obviously spent money on it and took care in the way Republic could and did often.
I particularly like the ending where they spare Fu Manchu’s life (rare for a serial villain) to plague the West again. It really is one of Republic’s better serials, which is what Jim Harmon and Don Glut said about it.
In fact my favorite Fu Manchu films are MASK, DRUMS, and FACE OF, with BRIDES AND VENGEANCE coming in just behind followed by DAUHTER OF THE DRAGON (which Fu barely appears in), and the first two Oland films. As you can imagine those two Jess Franco films come in dead last, and that is only because there is not a worse spot CASTLE could come in at.
I know many like the television series, and it is watchable, but I had trouble with a chunky Fu Manchu and as for the Peter Sellars film, it is arguably better than his PRISONER OF ZENDA, and that is as low a compliment as I can pay, though no film with Helen Mirren is a total loss.
February 17th, 2016 at 11:45 pm
Oh, by the way that Avon comic book one shot adaptation is drawn by the incomparable Wally Wood, who was of course one of the masters who defined the classic EC comics line, worked on Will Eisner’s Spirit, the THUNDER AGENTS, and so many great comics and SF illustrations it would be impossible to list.
It is surprisingly faithful to the book and actually quite well done and can be downloaded for free on line to read with a CBR reader plus has been reprinted so you don’t have to invest in the original to see it.
Fu Manchu returned to the comics brilliantly later with MASTER OF KUNG FU featuring Fu Manchu’s son Shang-chi at war with his father and the Si Fan, allied with an aged Nayland-Smith, but not always trusting him. It was one of the best written and drawn comics of its time period with complex storylines even featuring one character who was the nephew of John Steed and the illegitimate son of James Bond, or so it was suggested.
It managed the neat trick of taking advantage of the Kung Fu fad and the spy craze while at the same time being true to Rohmer and respectful to the character of Fu Manchu.
February 17th, 2016 at 11:51 pm
I once owned a copy of that comic book, so when I saw a chance to add the cover image to Jon’s review, I grabbed it. Wally Wood has been a long time favorite comic book artist of mine. I don’t know why I sold that comic. Well, actually I do. I sold it for $15, which was a fortune at the time.
February 18th, 2016 at 12:01 am
And I’ve regretted it ever since.
February 18th, 2016 at 5:30 pm
Re Myrna Loy — Those were the parts she played prior to The Thin Man. She was quite successful.
February 20th, 2016 at 4:55 pm
Barry,
She seemed to have exotic down pat for a woman who ended up typecast as everyone’s sexy dream wife.
She is a Eurasian out for revenge on her former classmates from an exclusive girls school in THE THIRTEENTH WOMAN with Irene Dunne and Ricardo Cortez. In John Ford’s THE BLACK WATCH she is they Ayesha like Yasmine from Talbot Mundy’s KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES, and while I can’t think of the title, she plays the notorious Fraulein Doctor, a German spy of WWI, opposite George Brent.
There is a color segment of a short where she dances as a Chinese dancer, I think in the same short where Warner Oland’s Fu Manchu kills William Powell’s Philo Vance and Colin Brooks Sherlock Holmes.
She also has a nude scene in a bath minus any concealing bubbles in THE BARBARIAN and plays Jeannette MacDonald’s seductive lying sister in a romantic comedy with Maurice Chevalier.
February 21st, 2016 at 12:04 am
Stamboul Quest, David. Almost a pretty good picture with a complex conclusion.