TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Rainey Dawn Those who are calling this film racist - remember that Boris Karloff played the brilliant Chinese detective Mr. Wong (who could give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money any day). Back during this time era, it was common for Caucasians to play Asian races. BUT stop to think about how they got the viewing audiences during that time era to (slowly) accept watching Asians on screen with Caucasians. Mr. Wong brought us the good and Fu Manchu the bad. There are many other films show us good and bad Caucasians during the same time era.During a time of mostly racist America, films like Fu Manchu and Mr. Wong did familiarize the 1930s American audiences with Asians on screen... yes it took awhile but a break-though was finally made and Asians soon had lead roles in American films. I love that the world is slowly coming together and that ALL races can share equal screen time in the modern cinema and stage today. Films like this are reflections of the past.Now that I have that out of the way I will say I find this an average film. It's mostly a crime adventure and does have quite a bit of sci-fi but only a few elements of horror. It's not a great film, but it's not awful either - just average.I have the fully restored movie on DVD - this is not the cut and sugar coated version that was around for a long time - this is the original film in it's entirety. Karloff's "Kill the white man" speech fully intact along with the once deleted scenes of Myrna Loy in joy over a torture whipping. It's all extremely tame and mild by today's standards.One final note: Frankenstein's Monster (played by Karloff) was chained an whipped by Fritz (played by Dwight Frye) and Fritz fully enjoyed it -- no one cared about that. A whipping on film is a whipping on film, torture is torture. It doesn't matter their race or who or what they are - those being treated cruelly are being treated cruelly.All races have good people, all races have bad people. Just enjoy the crazy sci-fi crime adventure and realize this is the past, not the present or future.7/10

norathexplora This movie depicts a nearly laugh-out-loud version of China, or the "Eastern" world. Throughout the film, the viewer is assaulted with depictions of the exotic, fantastic, mystical place that is outside of the Western world (specifically England). Many issues arise; the first, almost all of the main lead actors and actresses supposedly playing roles as Chinese characters are not even remotely Asian. Using white actors to portray characters that act as if they are Chinese is absurd and strange and adds an extreme level of inaccuracy and ingenuity in the film (despite, obviously, being a film depicting supernatural elements). Another issue that arises is the use of the "Chinese language." Throughout the film, the "Chinese" characters such as Dr. Fu and his daughter speak in a fake Chinese language that without a doubt is offensive to genuine dialects represented in the Chinese language. Using gibberish to portray a real language is disrespectful. A third issue that arises in the film is the role that black characters play. In one scene, Dr. Fu orders a black guard to hold out his arm to be bitten by a poisonous snake. Immediately after, the black guard dies. This scene clearly shows the expendable nature of the black body and was shocking and disturbing to watch.

Samra The Mask of Fu Machu is a heavily stylized film about a group of scientists led by Nayland Smith on their quest to acquire the sword of Genghis Khan. The film certainly works under the genre of humor, with its injection of Orientalized crafts and symbolism in almost every scene of the film. In fact, it would be a fun game for viewers to find scenes in the film that does NOT in some shape or form Orientalize or subjugate Asians. However, for it's intended purpose as a sci-fi/horror, it is difficult to look past its blatantly racist message, use of yellow-face, and the ridiculous essentialism of anyone and everyone from the "East" in the film.

kyk263 This movie is strongly driven by a logic of Orientalism. In other words, the British men who are on a mission to "save the world" from Fu-Manchu are actually representative of the "West," and Fu-Manchu is representative of the "East." Historically, the Western civilizations have been put on a direct opposition to Eastern civilizations. The "East," or the "Orient" has repeatedly been framed as a threat, and as the enemy. This movie is a very accurate demonstration of this idea.Fu-Manchu is (or should be), by his nature of being a Chinese man, inferior to the White men. However, because he was able to get three doctorates from Western education, he is able to use this intellect and turn it against the Western empire. Therefore, the White man's empire must be protected by moral, strong, and superior British men. This reasoning is not a simple storyline that is encapsulated within a single movie. The idea that the modern day's audience should simply "ignore" or "take into consideration" the time period in which this movie was made in is not a reasonable request. The ideas that exist in this movie represent a much larger societal and political perspective that Orientalism is a justification and an anchor for war, and this perspective is not only alive, but it is alive and well in our modern society. Therefore, I urge you to think about these concepts as you watch the movie.