The Mask Of Fu Manchu

The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)

Runtime: 68 minutes

Directed by: Charles Brabin, Charles Vidor

Starring: Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Myrna Loy

From: MGM

I'll be honest here, I wasn't planning on watching three films in a row from the grand old dame known as Myrna, but when I was looking through her filmography and noticed in this movie she played someone named Fah Lo See and thought, “Oh no, don't tell me she played yellowface”, but yeah she did. She was the daughter of Fu Manchu, who hilariously was played by Boris Karloff; that far east Asian character has always been played by white dudes but him in the role is just absurd. I then read more about it and saw some clips and pictures and the more I HAD to see it. It's available on demand on YouTube from Warner Brothers. It was only a few bucks so I figured that was a fair deal.

The plot description from the IMDb: “Englishmen race to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan. They have to get there fast, as the evil genius Dr. Fu Manchu is also searching, and if he gets the mysteriously powerful relics, he and his diabolical daughter will enslave the world!” Note that the plot includes Manchu wanting all Asians to raise up to Kill Whitey... well, white men, anyway; he does encourage white women to be taken. He pretty much says, "kill white men and take their women" to his Asian followers, which of course is a broad term but don't tell the Hollywood of the era that.

The most important thing to note is that this movie is incredibly racist. I mean, it's SO racist it's incredible. Many people are in on the yellowface act, and most of the actual Asian person don't have any dialogue. Me finding the movie to be entertaining and pulpy fun is despite the racism and bigotry and not because of it.

This website does a great job of breaking things down and it has some images and gifs. There are other sites out there which also do pretty nice recaps.

Yep. This is definitely a Pre-Code movie before the Hays Code took over Hollywood. To list various highlights:

* Like I said, the rampant racism throughout. Other people appear in yellowface. Actual people from far east Asia are seen but most don't speak at all.

* Fu Manchu can be a real dick. He has several torture devices that look like wackiness you'd expect a Bond villain to have. A series of spikes slowly closing in on someone, a guy placed directly underneath a constantly ringing giant bell (and he taunts the victim with food and gives him what turns out to be salt water), etc. Hell, he even uses a severed hand to be a troll and scare the good guys.

* Fah Lo See clearly gets off on two of the black servants (yes, a group of muscular black men not wearing a lot of clothes) whipping a poor white dude, so she's a sadist. She smokes opium in a later scene.

* The heroes are archaeologists, so some have made comparisons to Indiana Jones.

* There are homoerotic undertones. The Dr. may swing both ways.

Oh, and there's more but I don't want to spoil more than I already have.

The movie overall is ridiculous but fun pulp, despite the offensive nature of it viewed with the eyes of current attitudes. The short runtime and the content insures it's never dull. The sets and costumes are all pretty lavish and at times there's some great shots involving light and shadows. What an odd but still intriguing curio.

I'll return tomorrow night.

The Thin Man

The Thin Man (1934)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke

Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell

From: MGM

To be short and sweet, after the last movie I saw and reviewed, I figured I should start watching more older films, and for years I've known about the Thin Man films (based on the books by legendary writer Dashiell Hammett) but I've never actually seen them. I was able to find a spot where most of the films in the series are located (nevermind where that site is), so if I wanted to watch some of the sequels I could.

To copy the plot description from the IMDb: “After a four year absence, one time detective Nick Charles returns to New York with his new wife Nora and their dog, Asta. Nick re-connects with many of his old cronies, several of whom are eccentric characters, to say the least. He's also approached by Dorothy Wynant whose inventor father Clyde Wynant is suspected of murdering her step-mother. Her father had left on a planned trip some months before and she has had no contact with him. Nick isn't all that keen on resuming his former profession but egged-on by wife Nora, who thinks this all very exciting, he agrees to help out.”

Nick and Nora (who don't have an infinite playlist) make for quite the team. This is actually a comedy along with a detective mystery. They have great chemistry with each other and they also enjoy the chemistry that happens when alcohol enters your body; they both love to drink, in other words. Why not? I mean, Prohibition was just ended soon before the movie came out...

Personally, I can see why the movie still has its fans today. The style of humor is still funny today, and the plot moves very quickly so things never get boring; also, the tale takes many twists and turns as you try to figure out what's going on and who the killer or killers are. There are many colorful memorable characters, too. But above even the murder mystery... the two leads are great. Powell and Loy are tremendous as Nick & Nora and the main attraction of the movie is seeing them talk... or rather, trade barbs with each other. There's plenty of rapid-fire dialogue between them and it's all done perfectly. The chemistry was so right, no wonder they made 5 more movies in the series and all of them had Powell and Loy. Heck, even the Wire Fox Terrier Asta gets in on the action.

I now see why this movie is so highly regarded. Once again I am embarrassed I did not see a classic film much sooner than this week. At least those movies are ones that I rate highly instead of disappointments, which has happened before way back in the past, years before I even started doing this blog.

I'll return Saturday night.

The Best Years Of Our Lives

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Runtime: 172 minutes

Directed by: William Wyler

Starring: Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell (no relation), Virginia Mayo, Myrna Loy

From: MGM

To show that I don't always watch wacky B-movies (whether they be comedies, sci-fi, horror, or whatever else) and sometimes I do watch more serious cinema and even classic cinema from in the past, I figured it was about time to check out this movie, which I've known of for years and it's on TCM relatively frequently but last night was finally the time where I watched this classic piece of American cinema. As typical for me as of late, after I give the plot description the rest of it is borrowed from my Letterboxd review.

From the IMDb: "The story concentrates on the social re-adjustment of three World War II servicemen, each from a different station of society. Al Stephenson returns to an influential banking position, but finds it hard to reconcile his loyalties to ex-servicemen with new commercial realities. Fred Derry is an ordinary working man who finds it difficult to hold down a job or pick up the threads of his marriage. Having had both hands burnt off during the war, Homer Parrish is unsure that his fiancée's feelings are still those of love and not those of pity. Each of the veterans faces a crisis upon his arrival, and each crisis is a microcosm of the experiences of many American warriors who found an alien world awaiting them when they came marching home." 

 It's a tale that's evergreen as it's all about all the troubles men in uniform face after they return home from active duty and have to deal with such things as:

* Nightmares of combat past
* Readjusting to life after years out in the field
* Getting used to being around their families again, including significant others
* Trying to find a job, which often is notably less than what they earned while serving our country
* People who are against war taking down to them
* If someone was maimed, worrying over how people will treat them & having guilt over needing assistance

While I have never served (not by a longshot), I can safely presume those who have been in the armed forces recently can understand at least most of those feelings and situations if they haven't dealt with it themselves.

This is a near 3 hour tale that never seems so long, as it's always interesting seeing those three separate stories take place (and often intersecting with each other) and watching how those serious stories play out. 
It's a greatly-filmed and told story and it's brought to life by a cast filled with veterans of the Golden Age of Hollywood, from Fredric March and Virginia Mayo to Hoagy Carmichael and Myrna Loy, but it is the performance of real life World War II soldier and actual double amputee Harold Russell as Homer that stands out. It comes off as being so real as I presume a lot of his acting is true to real life and he did experience similar feelings of regret and humiliation for needing other people to sometimes assist him in his regular everyday life. I haven't seen the other roles that he was nominated with but I will still presume the Oscar was well-deserved.

Admittedly as of late I've been watching a lot of B cinema and goofy films. I figured it was about time to watch something more serious and mature, and even better would be to watch a Hollywood classic from the days of old; when Bette Davis says that this film was “the best she ever saw”, I figured that would be the perfect thing to watch and fulfill my desire to see an incredible movie, and that indeed was the case.

I'll return Thursday night.

Happy Memorial Day

I figured I should relax today and tomorrow, so I won't be watching anything new to review until Tuesday; thus, I'll be back Tuesday night and I hope everyone has a nice holiday day tomorrow.

The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen (1967)

Runtime: 150 minutes

Directed by: Robert Aldrich

Starring: Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Ernest Borgnine

From: MGM

All this extended weekend Turner Classic Movies has been running war movies nonstop, for obvious reasons. Also for obvious reasons I figured it'd be appropriate to review at least one during the same time period. As this was just on earlier tonight and it was too long since I had last seen it, I gave it a spin.

To steal the plot description from the IMDb: “A US Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers in World War II.” Correct. As expected they are a ragtag group of people. The movie does take its time in showing how all the 12 men and the Major (Marvin) act, and it takes time but eventually they work together and they become an unorthodox but awesome fighting force and they have to destroy what's pretty much a resort for all high-ranking German officers and many of them can be found there at one time.

I'll admit that the movie is rough around the edges but that matches most of the characters you get to spend 2 ½ hours with. I mean, even though it is uneven at times, it's always entertaining despite its length and the long finale where they try to blow up the chateau is still rather thrilling even 47 years after the fact. Overall I do rank the movie pretty highly and I was glad to see it again tonight, especially in HD.

A very important thing to note is that this may be the manliest movie ever created. Besides the cast I already listed there's also the likes of George Kennedy, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, and Donald Sutherland. Several of the men actually served in World War II. I did not look into it fully but I know that at least Savalas, Ryan, Kennedy, Bronson and Marvin all were participants in the war, and old Lee actually was wounded in battle; he literally was shot in his hindquarters. That helps lend an air of authenticity.... their military service, I mean, not Marvin being shot in the ass.

I shall return tomorrow night.

Tonight's A Night For Videogames...

and relaxing until I go out late at night (don't worry, not a nightclub; Walt Disney World as the Magic Kingdom is open for 24 hours tonight); it's no time for films as I'd rather chill out and play a game (I haven't done much of that the past few months) before I go out and about.

I'll return tomorrow night.

Porky's Revenge!

Porky's Revenge! (1985)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: James Komack

Starring: Dan Monahan, Mark Herrier, Wyatt Knight, Tony Ganios, Chuck Mitchell

From: 20th Century Fox

Considering what I watched in the past few days I figured it made more sense to finish off the trilogy tonight. In the past there's been rumors of a reboot and/or a sequel but I last heard that talk like a few years ago, so who knows if it'll ever happen.

To steal the plot description from the IMDb: "As graduation nears for the class of 1955 at Angel Beach High, the gang once again faces off against their old enemy, Porky, who wants them to throw the school's championship basketball game because he's betting on the opposing team." To elaborate, them throwing the game would erase the gambling debts of their coach; you see, Porky now runs an illegal riverboat casino. There's also such things as a hot blonde Swedish exchange student named Inga (a Playmate at the time named Kim Evenson), a stag film, Meat being queasy at the thought of dissecting a frog, and an old love of Beulah Balbricker.

The third movie in a comedy series... that's typically pretty bad, such as I understand The Hangover 3 to be. However, while this movie ends up pretty silly and ridiculous (even for this series), overall I say that it's about average, even if the original is clearly the best of the three. There's still some amusing laughs, some nice nudity for all the horndogs out there, some funny setpieces, and Porky's boat is named HMS PIGNUTS, which should say it all when it comes to what you should expect of this film.

If nothing else, the film has a surprisingly nice soundtrack, mainly done by Dave Edmunds; yes, the I Hear You Knocking dude. There are also songs from The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Willie Nelson, and George Harrison. Heck, Phil Collins plays on another tune. That's more than you'd expect from a film like this.

I shall return tomorrow night.