The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)






A ruthless Oriental villain, Dr. Fu Manchu (played by Boris Karloff), seeks to acquire the ceremonial mask and sword of Genghis Khan. With these sacred relics, Dr. Fu Manchu plans to lead the "teeming hordes of Asia" in wiping out the white race and ruling the world. A group of scientists, hoping to obtain the relics for a British museum, embark on an expedition to excavate the tomb of Genghis Khan in the Gobi Desert. Scotland Yard's Nayland Smith (played by Lewis Stone) joins the group to prevent the relics from falling into Dr. Fu Manchu's hands.

Dr. Fu Manchu resorts to kidnapping, murder, and torture to obtain the mask and sword of Genghis Khan. Nayland Smith and Professor Von Berg (played by Jean Hersholt) are sentenced to death in a crocodile pit and by impalement, while young Terry Granville (played by Charles Starrett) is destined to become a slave to Dr. Fu Manchu's twisted daughter, Fah Lo See (played by Myrna Loy). However, Nayland Smith and Von Berg escape and use Dr. Fu Manchu's own death ray to destroy him. The relics are sent to the bottom of the sea to prevent them from falling into the hands of future tyrants.



Vintage magazines

Photoplay , January 1933

Books with substantial mentioning of The Mask of Fu Manchu

Gary J. Svehla and Susan Svehla (editors)
Boris Karloff
Baltimore, 1996

Gregory William Mank
Hollywood Cauldron, Thirteen Horror Films from the Genres's Golden Age
1994

Scott Allen Nollen
Boris Karloff, A Critical Account of His Screen, Stage, Radio, television and Recording Work
Jefferson, NC, 1991

Lawrence J. Quirk
The Films of Myrna Loy
Secaucus, NJ, 1980

Richard Bojarski and Kenneth Beals
The Films of Boris Karloff
Secaucus, NJ, 1974

Books with an entry on The Mask of Fu Manchu

Larry Langman and Daniel Finn
A Guide to American Crime Films of the Thirties
Westport, Connecticut - London, 1995