Hooptober XII | 26/31 | From 1932
The British Secret Service summons Sir Lionel Barton to risk his life for his country once again. Barton’s contact, Nayland Smith, tells him he is to assemble a crew for an expedition on the edge of the Gobi Desert to find the tomb of Genghis Khan. And he must find it before Fu Manchu, as Fu Manchu will use Genghis Khan’s mask and sword to proclaim himself the reincarnation of Genghis Khan and build an army against the world.
Barton visits the Museum of Natural History to recruit Dr. Von Berg and McCloud for his crew. He gets some boys on board, but uh oh! Some of Fu Manchu’s henchmen abduct Barton and bring him to Fu Manchu. A week passes, and Barton’s daughter, Sheila, grows worried. She goes to see Nayland Smith, along with her fiancé, Terry. When Nayland Smith says they will continue the expedition, she insists on going, as she knows where the tomb is.
Fu Manchu finally allows Barton to see him. Fu Manchu demands Barton reveal the location of the Genghis Khan artifacts, even offering Barton his daughter, Fah Lo See. When Barton refuses, Fu Manchu tortures him by tying him under a giant bell, and Fu Manchu’s henchmen ring the bell continually.
Will the expedition succeed? Will they keep the artifacts out of Fu Manchu’s grasp? Will Barton survive Fu Manchu’s tortures?
The film has the swiftness of a radio serial, in which it assumes the audience knows the characters. I suppose they would at this time, as Sax Rohmer’s novels about the character run back to 1913, and the newspaper comic strip was in print during the time they made this movie. Though the expedience is nice, it’s less a conscious decision than a consequence of MGM’s rush job to get out their own Fu Manchu movie after Paramount made a couple.
The movie never had a completed script, with Karloff receiving pages of dialogue while in the makeup chair for 2.5 hours. Myrna Loy, who plays Fah Lo See, didn’t choose to make the movie and hated the character. The movie cycled through directors as they tried to avoid making another financial flop.
The movie is, obviously, quite racist against Asian people. Karloff and Loy are in yellowface (a more common occurrence for Loy until her performance in The Thin Man 2 years later). Fu Manchu’s whole mission is to wipe out the white race. All I can say is that the movie is of its time, although, as one reviewer said, “The ugliest racist ideas & attitudes of this film are most definitely not ‘in the past.’”
As a pre-Code film, it contains some suggestive content. For example, Fah Lo See has a routine where she tortures and has her way with the more handsome captives. There’s a knife-in-the-back stunt that clearly uses a real knife and looks quite good! Also, the electricity-based effects look pretty sick (and dangerous).
But guess what? This movie is pretty fun. I’m not as avid a fan as some of my fellow horror aficionados, but I can appreciate a speedy adventure film with lavish sets and a pulp sensibility.