The Mask of Fu Manchu

The Mask of Fu Manchu is a 1931 film about a Chinese warlord who threatens explorers in search of relics.
 * Directed by Charles Brabin. Written by Edgar Allan Woolf, based on the novel by Sax Rohmer.

The Frankenstein of the Orient! (taglines)

Fu Manchu

 * I am a doctor of philosophy from Edinburgh, a doctor of law from Christ's College, a doctor of medicine from Harvard. My friends, out of courtesy, call me 'Doctor'.
 * [to horde of Asians] Men of Asia! The skies are red with the thunderbolts of Genghis Khan! They rain down on the white race... and burn them!
 * [to Sir Lionel Barton, describing the "Bell Torture"] You've read about this, Barton: the torture of the bell: it never stops. Minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day. Seems harmless, doesn't it? Just a bell ringing. But the percussion and the repercussion of sound against your eardrums will soften and destroy them until the sound is magnified a thousand times. You can't move. You can't sleep. You will be frantic with thirst. You will be unspeakably foul. But here you will lie, day after day, until you tell.
 * [to Sheila Barton and Dr. von Berg] Silence! It is my pleasure to show you how I entertain my guests. You, Miss Barton, will be taken to the Room of the Golden Peacock, where you will be prepared as a sacrifice to our gods! And you? You, my dear doctor, will follow my slaves to the Room of the Slim Silver Fingers, where I am sure you will be more than comfortable! And at sunrise tomorrow, as my chieftains are assembled in the temple below, you two, and your compatriot, Sir Nayland Smith, will have the pleasure of entering your Christian heaven together! It will be your honor to be the first white martyrs to perish at the hands of the new Genghis Kahn! I congratulate you!
 * [to Terence Granville, who is strapped to an operating table] This serum, distilled from dragon's blood, my own blood, the organs of different reptiles, and mixed with the magic brew of the sacred seven herbs, will temporarily change you into the living instrument of my will. You will do as I command!

Fah Lo See

 * I have seen a vision, the prophecy is about to be fulfilled. Genghis Khan, masked in his plate of gold, bearing the scimitar that none but he could ever wield comes back to us. I've seen a vision of countless hordes swarming to recapture the world. I've seen them victorious. I've heard the shouts of the dead and the dying drowned by the victorious cries of our people. Genghis Khan comes back! Genghis Khan leads the East against the world!

Dialogue

 * Sir Lionel Barton: You're Fu Manchu, aren't you?
 * Fu Manchu: I am a doctor of philosophy from Edinburgh, I am a doctor of law from Christ College, I am a doctor of medicine from Harvard. My friends, out of courtesy, call me doctor.
 * Sir Lionel Barton: Oh, I beg your pardon. Well, three times doctor, what do you want of me.
 * Fu Manchu: I have sent for you to make your fortune. What good are these relics of a dead warrior to you?
 * Sir Lionel Barton: Oh, our English people like to look at them on holidays.
 * Fu Manchu: Are they worth a million pounds to you?
 * Sir Lionel Barton: My dear fellow, I can't sell what I haven't got.
 * Fu Manchu: But you will tell me where they are for money, I mean?
 * Sir Lionel Barton: Not for anything in the world.


 * Nayland Smith: What do you expect to find in that tomb?
 * Sir Lionel Barton: A record, the golden plate, the threat of Genghis Khan's return, the golden mask he wore, and the famous golden scimitar.
 * Nayland Smith: Exactly, of course in your hands these things would be merely interesting archaeological specimens to go into British Museum, but should Fu Manchu put that mask across his wicked eyes and take that scimitar into his bony, cruel hands, all Asia rises. He'll declare himself Genghis Khan come to life again. And that, my friend, is what you have got to prevent. You must find that grave, and you must be the first to find it. And you must bring those pretty things back to England.


 * Nayland Smith: [pointing to a snake] Is this a friend of your family's?
 * Fu Manchu: It is not wise to insult your host, Sir Nayland. If it were not the easy way out, I would kill you now.


 * Fu Manchu: The slightest move will send a bullet crashing through your stiff British spine.
 * Nayland Smith: Are you in the habit of shooting your enemies in the back?
 * Fu Manchu: Put your gun away. You may turn around. Ah, now that's better. Now we can talk like gentleman.

Taglines

 * The Frankenstein of the Orient!

Cast

 * Boris Karloff — Dr. Fu Manchu
 * Lewis Stone — Sir Denis Nayland Smith
 * Karen Morley — Sheila Barton
 * Charles Starrett — Terry Granville
 * Myrna Loy — Fah Lo See
 * Jean Hersholt — Dr. Von Berg
 * Lawrence Grant — Sir Lionel Barton
 * David Torrence — McLeod