The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)

Englishmen race to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan. They have to get there fast, as the evil genius Dr. Fu Manchu is also searching, and if he gets the mysteriously powerful relics, he and ... See full summary »

Director:

Charles Brabin

Writers:

Irene Kuhn (screen play), Edgar Allan Woolf (screen play),

Stars:

Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Englishmen race to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan. They have to get there fast, as the evil genius Dr. Fu Manchu is also searching, and if he gets the mysteriously powerful relics, he and his diabolical daughter will enslave the world!

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Plot Keywords:

fu manchu | sword | mask | genghis khan | tomb | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 November 1932 (USA)

Also Known As:

La máscara de Fu-Manchú

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$327,627 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

Lewis Stone/Nayland Smith pokes around a Buddha. He sets down his gun, then falls through a trap door, with his gun clearly still on the Buddha. He gets up and pulls his gun out (of the same side of his coat, couldn't have two guns).

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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.

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Connections

Follows The Silver Buddha (1923)

User Reviews

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.