The Mask of Fu Manchu *** (1932, Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Myrna Loy, Jean Hersholt, David Torrence) – Classic Movie Review 7,096

Boris Karloff stars as Dr Fu Manchu. He recalled: ‘Some scenes were written in beautiful Oxford English, others were written in God knows what!’ Playing his daughter Fah Lo See, Myrna Loy complained: ‘I can’t do this… this girl’s a sadistic nymphomaniac.’

Directors Charles Brabin and (uncredited) Charles Vidor’s 1932 pre-Code adventure horror thriller film The Mask of Fu Manchu stars Boris Karloff as Sax Rohmer’s incredibly creepy Chinese villain, the fiendish Fu Manchu.

In the story, a party led by Egyptologist Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant) and his daughter Sheila Barton (Karen Morley) on an expedition to Genghis Khan’s tomb get more than they bargained for when they are apprehended by Fu Manchu, the old foe of Sir Denis Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone) of the British Secret Service, who of course soon turns up and proves again to be Fu Manchu’s nemesis.

He who gets the tomb’s all-powerful relics can control the world. Fu Manchu of course is planning that this will be he, and the British party are determined to beat him to it – if they can.

The Camberwell, London-born Karloff, who assumes the Chinese Fu Manchu mantle from Swedish-American actor Warner Oland who had played him in three pictures, is on a power-mad quest for the golden sword (or scimitar) and mask of legendary conqueror Genghis Khan, so that he can proclaim himself as his reincarnation and stir the people of Asia and the Middle East into total war against the white race. He urges his followers: ‘Kill the white man and take his women!’

Fu Manchu is stirred to new evil by the arrival of British Egyptologist’s beautiful daughter Sheila Barton (Karen Morley), who insists on joining her father Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant) on the expedition to find the tomb of Genghis Khan, quite logically since she knows where the tomb is.

The resourceful Sheila finds the tomb and its treasures with the help of her fiancé, the handsome Terry Granville (Charles Starrett), as well as Dr Von Berg (Jean Hersholt) and McLeod (David Torrence). However, Nayland Smith joins them soon after.

Sir Lionel Barton is kidnapped and taken to Fu Manchu, who gleefully applies the Torture of the Bell, having him under a gigantic, constantly ringing bell to try to get him to reveal the location of the tomb. Is this a unique instance of bell torture in the movies? By the way, even after a hell of a lot of ringing, it doesn’t work as Barton still refuses to reveal the location of the tomb.

Fu’s emissary arrives with an offer to trade Barton for the scimitar and mask, and Sheila persuades him to take them to Fu Manchu but Smith has switched them for fakes. When Fu tests the sword by a rather impressive electric current, he is enraged to find it is a fake.

Myrna Loy (born in Helena, Montana) plays Fu Manchu’s diabolically villainous, depraved daughter, Fah Lo See, who is equally stirred by the handsome Terry Granville, who is now whipped under her lascivious supervision.

But, wait, there’s more! Terry is injected with a serum making him obedient to Fu. Later, captured by Fu. Sheila is to become a human sacrifice, Smith to be lowered into a crocodile pit, and Von Berg to be placed between metal spikes inching together.

Karloff does his usual grand, authoritative job as Fu, making him really quite creepy and menacing, in The Mask of Fu Manchu, which is good campy fun, with laughs both intentional and unintentional, and some horror highlights and some adventure thrills. The film tries hard to be weird, dark and scary, and up to a point it achieves all those things. There is a very decent production, imaginatively designed and photographed. It looks good, and occasionally spectacular,

Karen Morley and Lewis Stone have a lot to do. She overeggs the pudding unfortunately in the style of the day. But he maintains his calm dignity well. Karloff doesn’t have a vast lot to do, but probably enough. Myrna Loy and Charles Starrett just seem to be there as eye candy, and disappointingly neither has much to do at all. Loy does a lot of staring to camera, as though they forgot to write lines for her. More interchange between Karloff and Loy would improve the movie. Loy complained to one of the producers: ‘I can’t do this… this girl’s a sadistic nymphomaniac.’ Quite!

It is written by Irene Kuhn, Edgar Allan Woolf and John Willard, based on the 1932 novel of the same name by Sax Rohmer. Rohmer’s serial The Mask of Fu Manchu was published in Colliers magazine from May 7 1932 io July 23, 1932. The screenplay is iffy, seemingly taking the route of throwing in anything that might seem promising and hoping it will all come together nicely, but it doesn’t. The story is well set up and full of thrilling incident, but fails to flow or cohere. The film is just a series of ideas and concepts, some of them quite exciting and fascinating.

It might seem good campy fun now, but The Mask of Fu Manchu was attacked by the Chinese government, and the Chinese embassy in Washington formally complained about the film as a hostile depiction of Chinese people. When the film was re-released in cinemas as late as 1972, the Japanese American Citizens League asked for it to be removed from circulation because of its negative portrayal of Asians.

The 1992 VHS release of the film removed scenes with the most criticised lines of dialogue and with Myrna Loy in an orgiastic frenzy witnessing a torture whipping of the handsome Terry Granville (Charles Starrett). But the latest Warner Bros DVD has restored these scenes. The DVD is in beautiful, pristine-looking condition.

The cast are Boris Karloff as Dr Fu Manchu, Lewis Stone as Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Karen Morley as Sheila Barton, Charles Starrett as Terrence Granville, Myrna Loy as Fah Lo See, Jean Hersholt as Dr Von Berg, Lawrence Grant as Sir Lionel Barton, David Torrence as McLeod, and also in the cast are Herbert Brunston, Willie Fung and Ferdinand Gottschalk.

Grant also appeared in the Oland Fu Manchu movie Daughter of the Dragon (1931).

It was advertised, rather oddly, as ‘The Frankenstein of the Orient!’ but you can see how that would work for film publicists. Karloff was a star thanks to Universal’s Frankenstein (1931). However, it was a rush job.

Karloff recalled that he requested a script about a week before starting and was met with roars of laughter. On 1 August 1932, producer Hunt Stromberg began dictating the storyline and plot elements. Filming began at MGM Studios in Culver City, California, on 6 August 1932 when Karloff found the film did not have a completed script and was being given his lines during and after his daily Fu Manchu makeup routine, in the makeup chair for two and a half hours to make him look ‘Chinese’ with five-inch fingernails.

After MGM bosses viewed the rushes, the production was shut down and original director Charles Vidor was fired and replaced with Charles Brabin. Most of the footage Vidor shot was cut from the final film. After completion, there was a month of retakes and filming of new scenes.

It survived all this and bad reviews to be a hit for MGM, though profit against cost was small.

The Mask of Fu Manchu is directed by Charles Brabin and Charles Vidor, runs 68 minutes, is made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cosmopolitan Productions, is distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp, is written by Irene Kuhn, Edgar Allan Woolf and John Willard, based on the novel by Sax Rohmer, is shot in black and white by Tony Gaudio, is produced by Irving Thalberg, and is designed by Cedric Gibbons.

It was first shown on 4 November 1932 and had its New York City premiere at the Capitol Theatre on December 2, 1932. It cost $338,000 and took $625,000 worldwide, making a profit of $62,000. Whew Manchu!

Warner Oland plays Fu Manchu in The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu (1929), The Return of Dr Fu Manchu (1930) and Daughter of the Dragon (1931).

It would have been Charles Vidor’s directorial debut but it is Sensation Hunters (1933) for Monogram Pictures, followed by Double Door (1934) at Paramount.

Charles Starrett (March 28, 1903 – March 22, 1986) became best known for the Durango Kid Westerns. He holds the record for starring in the longest series of features: 131 Columbia Pictures Westerns. He was the quiet tall type (6′ 2″) with a strong jawline.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7,096

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com