The Mask of Fu Manchu
Directed by Charles Brabin and Charles Vidor
Written by Irene Kuhn, Edgar Allan Wolfe, and John Willard from a story by Sax Rohmer
1932/US
Cosmopolitan Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Fu Manchu: [Pointing to blonde female captive] Would you have maidens like this for your wives?
Horde of Asians: Yeah!
[Roars in approval, some waving swords]
Fu Manchu: Then conquer and breed! Kill the white man and take his women!
If you can overlook the yellow face, racial stereotyping, and sinister Chinese trope, this movie is just a ton of camp fun which I cannot recommend highly enough to those interested in that kind of thing.
Dr. Fu Manchu (Boris Karloff) has long been hell-bent on discovering the tomb of Genghis Kahn. The tomb contains the great warrior’s death mask and scimitar which will allow the evil genius to rule the world! Fu lives in elaborate, almost fantasy, Chinese luxury and is assisted by his sadistic nymphomaniac daughter Fah Lo See (Myrna Loy).
The British Secret Service is on to Fu’s plan and sends an archeological expedition with strict instructions to discover the tomb first and deliver the mask and scimitar to Britain. The team discovers the tomb easily. But Fu and his many spies are ever ready to capture team members and deliver them up for torture by Fu. With Lewis Stone as a Secret Service man, Lawrence Grant as the head of the archeological team, Karen Morley as his daughter who is engaged to Charles Starret the youngest member of the team, and Jean Hersholt as a kindly German professor.
This is full of creepy torture, juicy dialogue, and an unforgettable performance by Myrna Loy. The setting and costumes are lavish. It’s a horror movie of sorts but the tone reminds me more of a Flash Gordon flick.
This was Loy’s last of several roles as an Oriental femme fatale. Next year she would become Norah Charles.
