TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

JohnHowardReid Back at M-G-M, after a loan-out to RKO, Myrna Loy was cast as the daughter of Fu Manchu when, to everyone's surprise, Louis B. Mayer outbid Paramount for the rights to Sax Rohmer's 1932 novel, "The Mask of Fu Manchu". Determined to cash in on the book's success, the studio spent more money on this fourth entry in the series than Paramount had expended on the combined total of the first three. Warner Oland was replaced by Boris Karloff, while Myrna Loy took over from Anna May Wong, and Lewis Stone substituted for O.P. Heggie's Nayland Smith. Unfortunately, neither audiences nor censors responded to the movie's outrageously tongue-in-cheek approach. Failing to recover anything like its huge production cost, this spectacular failure put paid to Fu Manchu until Henry Brandon surfaced as a weak imitation in the 1940 Republic serial, "Drums of Fu Manchu"; and a whole quarter century after that, Christopher Lee successfully revived the sinister doctor in Don Sharp's stylish "The Face of Fu Manchu". "The Mask of Fu Manchu" is available, would you believe, not on an M-G-M DVD, but on a 10/10 Warner DVD.

Rainey Dawn Those who are calling this film racist - remember that Boris Karloff played the brilliant Chinese detective Mr. Wong (who could give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money any day). Back during this time era, it was common for Caucasians to play Asian races. BUT stop to think about how they got the viewing audiences during that time era to (slowly) accept watching Asians on screen with Caucasians. Mr. Wong brought us the good and Fu Manchu the bad. There are many other films show us good and bad Caucasians during the same time era.During a time of mostly racist America, films like Fu Manchu and Mr. Wong did familiarize the 1930s American audiences with Asians on screen... yes it took awhile but a break-though was finally made and Asians soon had lead roles in American films. I love that the world is slowly coming together and that ALL races can share equal screen time in the modern cinema and stage today. Films like this are reflections of the past.Now that I have that out of the way I will say I find this an average film. It's mostly a crime adventure and does have quite a bit of sci-fi but only a few elements of horror. It's not a great film, but it's not awful either - just average.I have the fully restored movie on DVD - this is not the cut and sugar coated version that was around for a long time - this is the original film in it's entirety. Karloff's "Kill the white man" speech fully intact along with the once deleted scenes of Myrna Loy in joy over a torture whipping. It's all extremely tame and mild by today's standards.One final note: Frankenstein's Monster (played by Karloff) was chained an whipped by Fritz (played by Dwight Frye) and Fritz fully enjoyed it -- no one cared about that. A whipping on film is a whipping on film, torture is torture. It doesn't matter their race or who or what they are - those being treated cruelly are being treated cruelly.All races have good people, all races have bad people. Just enjoy the crazy sci-fi crime adventure and realize this is the past, not the present or future.7/10

Sean Fay This film is perhaps even more politically incorrect than its source material. Nayland Smith and Lionel Barton have no qualms from stealing from the tomb of Genghis Khan, a man who lived on the other side of the world and to whom they have no connection. In their quest of thievery, they readily enlist half-naked Asian men to help, never once even attempting to understand their culture, customs, or religion. For Smith, Sheila, Barton, and the rest --- Fu Manchu is a "yellow beast" and his people savages. The film's climax sees Smith and crew electrocute not only Fu Manchu but the entire crowd as well, making it clear that mass murder is totally okay, so long as it's against yellow people. The only good Asians are either dead, working for them, or as we see at the film's end, stupid. Aside from the plot, various other aspects of the film are problematic as well. Fu Manchu and his daughter are both played by white actors in heavy makeup --- the Asian equivalent of Blackface. Fu Manchu is purportedly Chinese while at the same time being the villain for the whole of "the East," as if director Charles Brabin doesn't realize that Asia is an entire continent comprised of all sorts of different countries. Add in Fu Manchu's black servants, and it's clear Brabin has absolutely no idea what "the East" is like at all.Is it entertaining? Sure, in a 1930's campy kind of way. But with a racist message at the core, it can't be considered a good film.

Orson Baz Shortly after marking the history of cinema with his interpretation of Frankenstein's monster, Boris Karloff went on to star in one of many the cinematic forays of Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu. The monster Karloff portrays in this movie lends us tremendous insight into the fear of the foreigner prevalent in the West of the early 20th century. Here, Fu Manchu stands as a symbol for the pushback against colonialism; as the most formidable foe of the great British Empire, he is educated (like many of the leaders of anti-colonial groups), cunning, and with a knack for bringing together a wide range of people scorned by colonialism. We can see heads donning turbans, agals and exaggerated Japanese headdresses nod in unison at hearing his declaration of war against the White Man. Throughout the movie, Fu Manchu draws upon eastern mysticism and western medicine to manipulate, torture and dispose of his enemies, who, despite being outnumbered and outwitted on all accounts, emerge victorious thanks to the (apparently) magical powers bestowed by their having white skin: it's actually hilarious to see two scrawny white guys thoroughly defeat two absolutely huge black men, despite every single possible factor being stacked against them. And what to say of the absurdly elaborate potion (it has "the sacred seven herbs" in it so you know it must be good) which Fu Manchu uses to control the mind of one of the British men, being thoroughly useless in the face of White Love?Because of these two sides to the film, I think that this is actually a remarkably funny anti-anti-colonial power-fantasy - I'd put it in the same vein as movies like Sanders of the River. It's just ridiculous in all the right ways, from the wooden dialogue to the constant overacting from everyone but Karloff, who, despite his portraying a walking stereotype, manages to be phenomenal. Don't watch it to be offended, watch it to inform yourselves of the fears of the West in the early 20th century, and incidentally to laugh at some good old fashioned racism, it's the best medicine in this sick world.