The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)

Director:

Charles Brabin

Writers:

Irene Kuhn (screenplay) &
Edgar Allan Woolf (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 November 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Englishmen race to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan. They have to get there fast, as the evil genius Dr...

Plot Keywords:

Tomb | Fu Manchu | Human Sacrifice | Torture | Mysticism

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	Dr. Fu Manchu
Lewis Stone	...	Nayland Smith
Karen Morley	...	Sheila
Charles Starrett	...	Terrence Granville
Myrna Loy	...	Fah Lo See
Jean Hersholt	...	Von Berg
Lawrence Grant	...	Sir Lionel Barton
David Torrence	...	McLeod
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Herbert Bunston	...	Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)
Gertrude Michael	...	Undetermined Role (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1933) | USA:Approved

Company:

Cosmopolitan Productions

Trivia:

As originally scripted, during the torture sequence, it was planned to have Von Berg (Jean Hersholt) suspended over the crocodile pit and Neyland Smith (Lewis Stone) about to be impaled by the walls of spikes. This was reversed when, for reasons unknown, it was thought that a fat captive would make more sense being impaled than a thin one.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Genghis Khan's skeleton is clearly a plastic lab skeleton. The removable top of the skull is very noticeable.

Quotes:

Nayland Smith: [pointing to a snake] Is this a friend of your family's?
Fu Manchu: It is not wise to insult your host, Sir Nayland. If it were not the easy way out, I would kill you now.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Creature Features: The Mask of Fu Manchu/Return of the Ape Man (#1.42)" (1971)

Recently Restored

THE MASK OF FU MANCHU has recently had several minutes of missing material restored to it, footage that has not been seen in decades. This longer cut of the film is currently enjoying a limited theatrical release, and it would be nice to see that followed by a DVD release. Probably one of the best of the films to be based on author Sax Rohmer's stories (along with FACE OF FU MANCHU and DRUMS OF FU MANCHU), it would be nice to see a potential DVD release possibly include commentary by Boris Karloff's daughter, Sara, or a look at the making of the film. Karloff commented in interviews that MASK was a troubled production, with constant changes to the script throughout the filming. In spite of that, the final film manages to capture the feel of the pulp tales that inspired it.