The Mysterious Dr Fu Manchu 1929 Written by Lloyd Corrigan, Florence Ryerson and uncredited work of George Marion Jr and Joseph L Mankiewicz, directed by Rowland V Lee.
Warner Oland plays Dr Fu Manchu. He's a peaceful man who becomes a fiend after British soldiers fire at some Boxer rebels using the walls of the Fu compound as protection. In the attack Fu's wife and son are killed. Fu vows vengeance on the evil Westerners who killed his family. Many years pass.
Neil Hamilton plays Doctor Petrie, the grandson of General Petrie and his father is Sir John Petrie. The General was leading the British during the Boxer rebellion. Fu is well along with his revenge, he's only got Neil, his father and grandfather to kill. Fu comes up with a complex plan that's partially interrupted by Inspector Nayland Smith.
Jean Arthur plays Lia Eltham, she was a child staying at Fu's compound during the rebellion. He raises her with the idea in mind to use her in his revenge. Fu hypnotizes her and sends her to do his killing. She's used to lure Doctor Petrie into Fu's clutches.
There's plenty of running about, fist fighting, gun shooting, poison date bowing and murdering. Fu's henchmen are capable and ready to die for him. The Inspector has his own crew and some of them get murdered while trying to keep the Petrie's safe. The story is fairly entertaining but some of the dialog between characters is a bit on the goofy side. There's a even a comic relief machine in the form of Sir Petrie's secretary. There's a lot of nice sets and the like, the rebellion at the start of the movie is quite elaborately staged.
We watched the new Kino Lorber 2 film Blu-ray and the film looked quite good. It entertained me enough to ad the Blu-ray to my wish list. There's a sequel to the film on the disc.
The Return Of Dr Fu Manchu 1930 Written by Lloyd Corrigan and Florence Ryerson, directed by Roland V Lee. Most of the surviving characters return to the screen with some new folks tossed into the mix.
The story pretty much takes up right where the first movie ended. Fu is being buried, unbeknownst to Petrie and Nayland Smith the evil one is alive. He escapes and gets back to the job of revenge. Doctor Petrie and Lia Eltham are getting married but that doesn't go so well once they find out that Fu's alive. Battle ensues.
It's almost as good as the previous film but with a bit more annoying comic relief machine and goofy dialog. I still enjoyed it. I'd watch them both again. Recommended for those that like classic movies with evil villains.
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