THE MASK OF FU MANCHU

One of my fondest memories as a young teenager was of my Dad taking me to a theater in Hollywood to see a revival of 1932's THE MASK OF FU MANCHU on a double bill with Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in the 1935 adventure story CHINA SEAS. At that time, I only knew that Fu Manchu was a character from a book and that Boris Karloff played him in this movie (courtesy of coverage by FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, of course!).

Fu Manchu was a fictional character created by author Sax Rohmer (b. Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward) who claimed he got the idea for the Chinese chemist, master-poisoner and all-around super-villain while as a reporter covering the Limehouse district of London in the years before World War I. At that time, Limehouse was known as a dark and disreputable place teeming with violent crime, murder and drugs. It was a major stop for Chinese imports, including a drop-off point for opium smugglers and a host of other ne'er do-wells. Rohmer commented that it was here that criminals disembarked and "brought their crime with them" from China. Consequently, opium dens sprung up in many locations and it was the destination of anyone from nearby districts who wanted to experience the seductive dream-smoke of the poppy flower. 

Rohmer's first short story featuring the master criminal was "The Zayat Kiss", written in 1912 and published in Collier's Magazine on 15 February 1913. More stories followed and they were collected as a novel in a book titled, "The Mystery of Fu Manchu", in 1913. They establish the protagonists Sir Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, who band together to thwart Fu Manchu's evil machinations. Fu Manchu, a member of the (fictional) Si-Fan crime organization, is rarely seen; instead he has others to do his bidding. One of them is an Arab woman named Kâramanèh who is "seductively lovely". Eventually, though, she falls in love with Dr. Petrie and comes to the the rescue of Petrie and Smith numerous times during the stories in which she appears. Fu Manchu's daughter, Fah Lo See, has diabolical plans of her own and works behind the scenes to usurp her father's power with the Si-Fan.

(Above) The cover of the first edition of "The Mystery of Fu Manchu" (Methuen, 1913). Notice that Fu Manchu does not wear the moustache made famous by his name -- Rohmer never described him with one and it began being used in the British 1929 serial, THE MYSTERY OF FU MANCHU, published in the U.S. as THE INSIDIOUS DR. FU MANCHU.

The stories and books became quite popular and one doesn't need to look too closely to find the similarities between Smith, Petrie and Fu Manchu and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's London detective Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Prof. Moriarty. While Rohmer published in "the slicks", his tales check all the boxes for rousing tales in the pulp tradition: action, danger, adventure, romance and mystery. I have read many of his books over the years and a couple of them fairly recently, and they provide the kind of edge-of-your-seat thrills that one would expect from the genre, even considering that they were written over a hundred years ago. I also found "Lord of Strange Deaths: The Fiendish World of Sax Rohmer", a collection of essays edited by Phil Baker and Antony C. Clayton very useful in providing informative insights on his life and career.

Fu Manchu was described thus by Rohmer:

"Imagine a person, tall, lean, and feline, high shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present. Imagine that awful being and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man."

Over 30 million Fu Manchu books were sold during his lifetime, which -- like Conan Doyle -- proved to be no fluke as he earned over $2 million dollars from them. Rohmer had three more Fu Manchu short story collections published and wrote ten novels before his death in 1959 at the age of 76, after never having seen the MGM film. Ironically, he reportedly died after contracting the Asian flu.

Before audiences thrilled to Boris Karloff's performance as the 3,700-year-old Egyptian in Universal's THE MUMMY (released 22 December 1932), just the month before they thrilled to Karloff's performance as the most dangerous villain on Earth as the Chinese Fu Manchu in MGM's THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (released 3 November 1932). Bankrolled by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Production company, it was MGM's answer to their previous thriller that bombed earlier in the year, Tod Browning' FREAKS.

The effective opening shot of the film sets the stage for the strangeness to come.

The story premise is this: Nayland Smith and company are in a race against Fu Manchu to discover the hidden tomb of the legendary Genghis Khan, whose mask, scimitar and other sacred accouterments are said to give whoever possesses them power enough to conquer the world.

Loaned to MGM by Universal for the princely sum of $3,500, Karloff showed Hollywood what a villain was really like despite the revolving door of writers and directors that ended up marring what could have been quite a movie. Instead, outside of some sharp dialogue, the film suffers from the usual shortfalls that are typical from these types production problems.

This atmospheric shot of Sheila Barton played by Karen Morley informs a similar scene in a later Karloff vehicle, Universal's THE BLACK CAT (1934).

The visuals are extraordinary and the production design and sets are magnificently accomplished by art director Cedric Gibbons. The talented Gibbons was the one hired to design the famous Academy Awards "Oscar" statue.

Besides torture, another device at Fu Manchu's disposal is a "death ray". It was designed by electronic whiz Kenneth Strickfadden, who was behind the making of numerous "mad labs" and gadgetry in other films, including FRANKENSTEIN, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, FLASH GORDON, THE WIZARD OF OZ and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.

Not surprisingly, Karloff steals the show. Limited to grunts, groans and mumbling in his previous two genre roles as the Frankenstein monster and Morgan in THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932), he uses his distinct voice and inflections to perfection here, all the while creeping like a cat through the scenery in all his magnificent finery as a sort of flamboyant devil. Cecil Holland's 2 1/2 hour makeup contributed greatly to the effect.

Myrna Loy photographed by famed Hollywood photographer George Hurrell (1932).

As Fah Lo See, Fu Manchu's daughter, the stunningly beautiful Myrna Loy comes in a close second as she too is a devil all her own draped in flowing, decorative gowns designed by Adrian, MGM's in-house costume designer. She has the same villainous streak as her father, as well as being a whip-cracking sadist with more than a hint of underlying nymphomania. Between the two of them there is plenty of torture, poison, a severed hand (!) and murder to go around.

The rest of the supporting cast are largely guilty of over-acting in what would have been better reserved for MGM's chapter serials. Lewis Stone plays Sir Nayland Smith and Charles Starrett plays Terrence Granville, a younger and more athletic stand-in for  Dr. Petrie. Karen Morely plays Sheila, Egyptologist Sir Lionel Barton's (Laurence Grant) daughter, who helps locate the tomb of Genghis Khan. Jean Hersholt is cast as Granville's associate Dr. Von Berg.

Cries of racism in the film by the Asian-American community were not wholly unfounded and there were protests outside theaters when it originally played (I don't recall any when I went to see it in 1970). While Asians were often cast as criminals or villains, it was not beyond public sentiment at the time. Despite the current claims of unfairness and bigotry, it is nevertheless important to view this period in the context in which it occurred, as well as use it as a learning opportunity to realize how far we have come (or not) in accepting our fellow human beings. Like it our not, we have all been shaped by our history.

As in many other films of the time, white actors were cast as Asians in leading roles and THE MASK OF FU MANCHU is no different in that regard. There are a few Asian actors that appear but they are relegated to subordinate roles, which was typically the case.

The fabled mask of Genghis Khan.

Shooting began on August 6 and wrapped on October 21 and included a month of retakes and added scenes. With a production cost that swelled to $327,600 the studio ended up earning $64,000 in net profit.

Because of the almost daily script re-writes, Karloff remembered the film as being "a shambles" and "simply ridiculous". Nevertheless, as in every other film he appeared in, he gave it his all and it shows.

Karen Morely became a left-wing activist and was blackballed after she appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings and invoked the 5th Amendment. With the exception of appearing years later on the BANYON TV show in the 70's, she never worked it Hollywood again.

In her autobiography, Myrna Loy told how friend Roddy MacDowell finally got her to watch the film. "It astonished me how good Karloff and I were," she wrote.

SAX ROHMER/MGM FILM CONTRACT 

LOBBY CARDS

MOVIE HERALD AND THEATER FLYER

PHOTO GALLERY

PRODUCTION STILLS

MYRNA LOY AND HER EYES (PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLARENCE SINCLAIR BULL)

KAREN MORELY (PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLARENCE SINCLAIR BULL)