''The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu'' is a 1929 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring

Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...

as Dr.

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, com ...

. It was the first Fu Manchu film of the talkie era. Since this was during the transition period to sound, a silent version was also released in the United States,Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Mysterious Doctor Fu Manchu''
at silentera.com although only the sound version exists today. The film's copyright was renewed.

Plot

A young white girl, Lia Eltham, is left in Fu Manchu's care. A British regiment, chasing Boxer rebels, fires on Fu Manchu's home, killing his wife and child. When Lia Eltham grows up, he uses her as an instrument for revenge, killing all descendants of those who killed his family. Opposing Fu Manchu are Police Inspector Nayland Smith and Dr. Jack Petrie.

Cast

as Dr. Fu Manchu * Neil Hamilton as Dr. Jack Petrie *

Jean Arthur Jean Arthur (born Gladys Georgianna Greene; October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American Broadway and film actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s. Arthur had feature roles in three F ...

as Lia Eltham * O. P. Heggie as Inspector Nayland Smith * William Austin as Sylvester Wadsworth *

Claude King Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, "Wolverton Mountain". Biography King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish south ...

as Sir John Petrie * Charles A. Stevenson as General Petrie *

Evelyn Selbie Evelyn Selbie (July 6, 1871 – December 7, 1950) was an American stage actress and performer in both silent and sound films. Biography Born in Louisville, Kentucky, as a young woman Selbie was a sidesaddle rider. She had a career which last ...

as Fai Lu *

Noble Johnson Noble Johnson (April 18, 1881 – January 9, 1978), later known as Mark Noble, was an American actor and film producer. He appeared in films such as '' The Mummy'' (1932), ''The Most Dangerous Game'' (1932), ''King Kong'' (1933) and ''Son of ...

as Li Po *

Laska Winter Laska Winter (August 28, 1905 – August 8, 1980) was an American film actress active during the silent and early sound era. She was also known as Winter Blossom. Filmography * ''What Ho, the Cook'' (1921) * '' The Thief of Bagdad'' (1924) * '' ...

as Fu Mela * Wong Chung as Chinese Official (uncredited) * Lawford Davidson as Clarkson (uncredited) * Chappell Dossett as Reverend Mr. Eltham (uncredited) *

Charles Giblyn Charles Giblyn (September 6, 1871 – March 14, 1934) was an American film director and actor of the silent era. He directed nearly 100 films between 1912 and 1927. He also appeared in 23 films between 1914 and 1934. He was one of the found ...

as Weymouth (uncredited) * Donald MacKenzie as Trent (uncredited) *

Tully Marshall Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...

as Chinese Ambassador (uncredited) * Evelyn Mills as Little Girl (uncredited) * William J. O'Brien as Servant (uncredited) * Charles Stevens as Singh (uncredited) * USC Trojan Marching Band as Marching Band (uncredited)

Production

The Mask of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer - Illustration by Ron Lesser - Pyramid Books F-740 1962

The film was very loosely based on the 1913 novel ''

The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu ''The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu'' (1913) is the first novel in the Dr. Fu Manchu (sometimes "Fu-Manchu") series by Sax Rohmer. It collates various short stories that were published the preceding year. The novel was also published in the U.S. unde ...

'' by

Sax Rohmer Arthur Henry "Sarsfield" Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was an English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu."Rohmer, Sax" by Jack Adrian in Da ...

. The lead character of the novel, Sir Nayland Smith, is played down in this film, and the secondary hero, Dr. Petrie, becomes the main character. Warner Oland, an actor of Swedish descent, was so believable in the role of Fu Manchu that he embarked on a career of playing Asian types throughout the 1930s, portraying the famous Asian detective

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

, until his death in 1938.

Characterization

''The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu'' incorporates several

Yellow Peril The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racial color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a psychocultural menace from the Eastern world ...

stereotypes typical of that era in its portrayal of Fu Manchu, including his skillful use of poison, blow darts, and use of

hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

to control a white woman throughout the film.

Sequels

Several of the actors portray the same roles in the 1930 sequel '' The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu'', which was followed by the conclusion of the trilogy, the 1931 ''

Daughter of the Dragon ''Daughter of the Dragon'' is a 1931 American pre-Code crime mystery film directed by Lloyd Corrigan, released by Paramount Pictures, and starring Anna May Wong as Princess Ling Moy, Sessue Hayakawa as Ah Kee, and Warner Oland as Dr. Fu Manchu ...

''. Immediately after, MGM picked up the rights for the Fu Manchu character to produce their 1932 ''

The Mask of Fu Manchu ''The Mask of Fu Manchu'' (1932) is an American pre-Code adventure film directed by Charles Brabin. Written by Irene Kuhn, Edgar Allan Woolf and John Willard, it was based on the 1932 novel of the same name by Sax Rohmer (the sixth in the serie ...

'', a one-shot production which featured

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film '' Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...

in the title role.

References

External links

* * *
Jean Arthur and Fu Manchu
(stills) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, The 1929 films 1929 crime drama films 1920s crime thriller films American black-and-white films American crime thriller films Films based on British novels Films directed by Rowland V. Lee Paramount Pictures films American crime drama films Films with screenplays by Florence Ryerson Films with screenplays by Joseph L. Mankiewicz Fu Manchu films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films