WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Console best movie i've ever seen.

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

classicsoncall No stranger to portraying Oriental characters in film, Boris Karloff does a fine job as the Chinese mystic Dr. Fu Manchu in this story, a few years prior to donning the mantle of Mr. Wong, Detective in the late 1930's. He's all but unrecognizable in the role, which for this film is inconsequential, because it's his evil and diabolical nature that takes center stage.The real interesting casting decision here though is that of Myrna Loy as Fu Manchu's daughter Fah Lo See. Funny, but I don't recall her name ever being used in the picture so I guess one has to go with the film's credits. Anyone invested in Loy's later role as Nora Charles from the Thin Man series will sit up and take notice here. Catch her watching Terry Granville (Charles Starrett) getting whipped by Manchu's henchmen and you'll notice a distinct measure of erotic arousal on her part. And she didn't even have a drink in her hand!The other casting surprise for me was that of Charles Starrett as the aforementioned Terry Granville. Starrett was still being cast in non-Western movie roles at this time, and a full eight years before making his debut as The Durango Kid. It's always cool to see him in one of his portrayals where he's not a cowboy.A couple of things struck me while watching the picture that made me chuckle a bit. How is it that on one of these expeditions looking for some ancient and valuable artifact, in this case the Tomb of Genghis Khan, it's almost always found in the very first place the archaeologists dig? That's always amazed me. The other unintentionally funny thing occurred when expedition member McLeod (David Torrence) gets ambushed while guarding the mask and sword. With a knife sticking out of his back, one of the men coming to his aid asks "What happened"? It looked pretty evident to me from where I was sitting.But for all of that, the best had to do with the mask given prominence in the title of the movie. The one that Fu Manchu wears near the end of the picture is not the same one retrieved from the tomb by the expedition. Fu Manchu's mask covers his entire face down to the top of his lips leaving the mouth and chin exposed, and is straight across along the bottom edge. The mask retrieved from the skeleton in the tomb has a diagonal slant on each side of the mask exposing a little more of the face. It seemed to me that if the film makers couldn't get the mask business right, this probably should have been titled "The Sword of Fu Manchu".

zetes The most absurdly racist movie I think I've ever seen. As such, it's kind of fascinating. It's too silly to take at all seriously, and it also helps that it's a pretty entertaining little horror flick. A group of British archaeologists led by Lewis Stone must find the grave of Genghis Khan before evil Chinese genius Fu Manchu (Boris Karloff) gets to it. The archaeologists will put it safely in a museum, but Fu Manchu will use the infamous sword and mask of Khan to inspire all Asians to rise up and destroy the West. This was more or less Karloff's first speaking role in the movies, and he gives some deliciously evil speeches. Myrna Loy also co-stars as Karloff's daughter. The film definitely goes for the trope that the brown people want to kill white men and rape their women - Hell, Fu Manchu literally implores his followers to do so at one point - but perhaps more interestingly Loy lusts after the handsome white man (Charles Starret). Jean Hersholt and Karen Morley also co-star.

emilyc-25738 This film's stagnant characterization was a huge obstacle to my enjoyment of the film Overt racism aside, its more subtle stereotyping through each actor's characterization added insult to injury; not only were the characters constant and static throughout the story, but their original personalities and behaviors were modeled off such clichéd tropes that I could not even have an initial appreciation for each character. For example, just as Fu Manchu is the epitome of evil as the archetypal "mad scientist" villain, the white men (especially Dr. Nayland Smith) are steadfastly "good" as brave, noble heroes. Further, Fu Manchu's daughter embodies the two typical stereotypes associated with Asian women: exotic temptress and submissive object. She is either ordered around by her father as his "ugly and insignificant daughter," or she is making moves toward a captive Terry in her bizarre, sadistic sexual manner. These racist ideas are imposed upon her, yet she herself is never given an identity or even referenced to as an individual. Rather, she always appears and acts in relation to the men of the film.Thus, in addition to the clear racist comments and portrayals of supporting characters , it's this stagnantly sexist and racist characterization that was most problematic for me in "The Mask of Fu Manchu." In stark contrast to the plot, which morphed into a variety of situations throughout the movie, the characters of this film, whether good or evil, Western or Eastern, were altogether uninspired and wearisome.

lim-onade This movie was awesome. I thought the heinously racist depictions of every non-white character in it were absolutely awesome. The absurdly ominous gong sounds every single time a Chinese character appeared? Awesome. China being portrayed as a land of whore houses and opium dens? Awesome. The impossible to understand "Eastern Races" being portrayed as half-naked, barbaric idiots who worship skeletons? Awesome. The fact that the only educated Chinese character was the source of seemingly every evil in the world? Awesome. The romantic face off between the dragon lady dominatrix China woman and the virginal white woman (who wins by the pure force of her unadulterated love)? Awesome. The way all the China men were struck down by the just and powerful white men wielding the electric powers of Zeus? Awesome. And how the Chinese servant (also made out to be a thoughtless, servile idiot) in the last scene is congratulated for being uneducated? Awesome! The list just goes on and on and on...