| Dr. Fu Manchu | |
|---|---|
 Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu in the 1932 filmThe Mask of Fu Manchu | |
| First appearance | "The Zayat Kiss" (1912)[1] |
| Last appearance | Emperor Fu Manchu (1959) |
| Created by | Sax Rohmer |
| Portrayed by | |
| Voiced by |
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| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Title | Doctor |
| Occupation | Mad scientist,supervillain,assassin,crime boss |
| Affiliation | Si-Fan |
| Family | Fah Lo Suee (daughter) |
| Nationality | ChineseManchu |
Dr. Fu Manchu (Chinese:傅滿洲/福滿洲;pinyin:Fú Mǎnzhōu) is asupervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English authorSax Rohmer beginning shortly beforeWorld War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comic strips and comic books for over 100 years, and he has also become anarchetype of the evil criminal genius andmad scientist, while lending his name to theFu Manchu moustache.
According to his own account, Sax Rohmer decided to start the Dr. Fu Manchu series after hisOuija board spelled outC-H-I-N-A-M-A-N when he asked what would make his fortune.[2] Clive Bloom argues that the portrait of Fu Manchu was based on the popular music hall magicianChung Ling Soo, "a white man in costume who had shaved off his Victorian moustache and donned a Mandarin costume and pigtail".[3] As for Rohmer's theories concerning "Eastern devilry" and "the unemotional cruelty of the Chinese",[4] he seeks to give them intellectual credentials by referring to the travel writing ofBayard Taylor.[5] Taylor was a would-be ethnographer who, though unversed in Chinese language and culture, used the pseudo-science ofphysiognomy to find in the Chinese race "deeps on deeps of depravity so shocking and horrible, that their character cannot even be hinted".[6] Rohmer's protagonists treat him as an authority.
Fu Manchu first appeared in Rohmer's short story "The Zayat Kiss" (1912).[1] It and nine further stories were later collected into the 1913 novelThe Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu.[1] Two more series were collected intoThe Devil Doctor (1916) andThe Si-Fan Mysteries (1917), before the character entered a 14-year absence.[1] Following 1931'sThe Daughter of Fu-Manchu, Rohmer wrote nine more Fu Manchu novels before his death in 1959.[1] Four previously published stories were posthumously collected intoThe Wrath of Fu-Manchu (1973).[1] In total, Rohmer wrote 14 novels concerning the character.[7] The image of "Orientals" invading Western nations became the foundation of Rohmer's commercial success, being able to sell 20 million copies in his lifetime.[8]
Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow likeShakespeare and a face likeSatan, ...Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present ...Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, theYellow Peril incarnate in one man.
Supervillain Dr. Fu Manchu's murderous plots are marked by the extensive use of arcane methods; he disdains guns or explosives, preferringdacoits (armed robbers in India),Thugs (professional robbers and murderers in India) and members of other secret societies as his agents (usually armed with knives) or using "pythons andcobras ...fungi and my tiny allies, thebacilli ... my black spiders" and other peculiar animals or natural chemical weapons. He has a great respect for the truth (in fact, his word is his bond), and uses torture and other gruesome tactics to dispose of his enemies.[9]
Dr. Fu Manchu is described as a mysterious villain because he seldom appears on the scene. He always sends his minions to commit crimes for him. In the novelThe Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu, he sends a beautiful young girl to the crime scene to see that the victim is dead. He also sends a dacoit to attack SirDenis Nayland Smith and Dr Petrie.
In the novelFu Manchu's Bride (1933), Dr. Fu Manchu claims to hold doctorates from four Western universities, while inEmperor Fu Manchu (1959), he states that he attendedHeidelberg University, theSorbonne and theUniversity of Edinburgh. (In the filmThe Mask of Fu Manchu, however, he states proudly that "I am a doctor of philosophy from Edinburgh, a doctor of law fromChrist's College, a doctor of medicine fromHarvard. My friends, out of courtesy, call me 'Doctor'".) At the time of their first encounter (1911) Dr. Petrie believed that Dr Fu Manchu was more than 70 years old. That would mean that he studied for his first doctorate in the 1860s or 1870s.
According toCay Van Ash, Rohmer's biographer and former assistant who became the first author to continue the series after Rohmer's death, "Fu Manchu" was a title of honor, which referred to "the warlikeManchu".[citation needed] Van Ash speculates that Dr. Fu Manchu was a member of theimperial family of China who backed the losing side in theBoxer Rebellion.[citation needed] In the early books (1913–1917), Dr. Fu Manchu is an agent of a Chinesetong, known as theSi-Fan, and acts as the mastermind behind a wave ofassassinations targeting Westerners living in China. In the later books (1931–1959), he has gained control of theSi-Fan, which has been changed from a mere Chinese tong into an international criminal organization under his leadership. In addition to attempting to take over the world and restore China to its former glory (Dr. Fu Manchu's main goals right from the beginning), theSi-Fan now also tries to eliminatefascist dictators and halt the spread ofcommunism around the globe, for its leader's own selfish reasons. Dr. Fu Manchu knows that both fascism and communism present major obstacles to his plans forworld domination. TheSi-Fan is largely funded through criminal activities, particularly thedrug trade andhuman trafficking. Dr. Fu Manchu has extended his already considerable lifespan by use of theelixir of life, a formula that he has spent decades trying to perfect.
Opposing Dr Fu Manchu in the stories are SirDenis Nayland Smith and, in the first three books, Dr Petrie. Petrie narrates the first three novels. (The later novels are narrated by various other characters allied with Smith right up to the end of the series.) Smith carries on the fight, combating Dr Fu Manchu more by sheer luck and dogged determination than intellectual brilliance exceptin extremis. Smith and Dr Fu Manchu share a grudging respect for one another, as each believes that a man must keep his word, even to an enemy.
In the first three books, Smith serves in theIndian Imperial Police as a police commissioner inBurma who has been granted aroving commission, allowing him to exercise authority over any group who can help him in his mission. When Rohmer revived the series in 1931, Smith, who has beenknighted for his efforts to defeat Fu Manchu, is an ex-Assistant Commissioner ofScotland Yard. He later accepts a position withMI6. Several books have him placed on special assignment with theFBI.
Many there are, I doubt not, who will regard the Eastern girl with horror. I ask their forgiveness in that I regarded her quite differently. No man having seen her could have condemned her unheard. Many, having looked into her lovely eyes, had they found there what I found, must have forgiven her almost any crime.
Prominent among Dr Fu Manchu's agents is the "seductively lovely" Kâramanèh. Her real name is unknown. She was sold to theSi-Fan byEgyptianslave traders while she was still a child. Kâramanèh falls in love with Dr Petrie, the narrator of the first three books in the series, and rescues Petrie and Nayland Smith many times. Eventually the couple are united and she wins her freedom. They marry and have a daughter, Fleurette, who figures in two later novels,Fu Manchu's Bride (1933) and its sequel,The Trail of Fu Manchu (1934).Lin Carter later created a son for Dr Petrie and Kâramanèh.
Dr Fu Manchu's daughter,Fah Lo Suee, is a devious mastermind in her own right, frequently plotting to usurp her father's position in theSi-Fan and aiding his enemies both within and outside the organization. Her real name is unknown; Fah Lo Suee was a childhood term of endearment. She is introduced anonymously while still a teenager in the third book in the series and plays a larger role in several of the titles of the 1930s and 1940s. She is known for a time as Koreani after being brainwashed by her father, but her memory is later restored. Like her father, she takes on false identities, among them Madame Ingomar, Queen Mamaloi and Mrs van Roorden. In films she has been portrayed by numerous actresses over the years. Her character is usually renamed in film adaptations because of difficulties with the pronunciation of her name.Anna May Wong played Ling Moy inDaughter of the Dragon (1931).Myrna Loy portrayed the character (as Fah Lo See) inThe Mask of Fu Manchu (1932). Gloria Franklin had the role of Fah Lo Suee inDrums of Fu Manchu (1940).Laurette Luez played Karamaneh inThe Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu (1956), but the character owed more to Fah Lo Suee than to Rohmer's depiction of Kâramanèh.Tsai Chin portrayed Dr Fu Manchu's daughter Lin Tang in the fiveChristopher Lee films of the 1960s.[10][11]
Dr Fu Manchu also makes appearances in the following non-Fu Manchu/Rohmer works:
Actors who have played Dr Fu Manchu:
Actors who have played Dr Petrie:
Actors who have played Sir Denis Nayland Smith
The style of facial hair associated with Fu Manchu in film adaptations has become known as theFu Manchu moustache. The "Fu Manchu" moustache is defined in theOxford English Dictionary as a "long, narrow moustache whose ends taper and droop down to the chin",[12] although Rohmer's writings described the character as wearing no such adornment.
Before the creation of Fu Manchu, Chinese people were often portrayed inWestern media as victims. Fu Manchu indicated a new phase in which Chinese people were portrayed as perpetrators of crime and threats to Western society as a whole.[13][page needed] Rohmer's villain is presented as the kingpin of a plot by the "yellow races" threatening the existence of "the entire white race", and his narrator opines, "No white man, I honestly believe, appreciates the unemotional cruelty of the Chinese."[14]
The character of Dr. Fu Manchu became, for many, astereotype embodying the "Yellow Peril".[8] For others, Fu Manchu became the most notorious personification of Western views of the Chinese,[13][page needed] and became the model for other villains in contemporary "Yellow Peril" thrillers:[15]: 188 these villains often had characteristics consistent withxenophobic andracist stereotypes which coincided with a significant increase inChinese emigration toWestern countries.[citation needed]
After theSecond World War, the stereotype inspired by Fu Manchu increasingly became a subject ofsatire. Fred Fu Manchu, a "famous Chinese bamboo saxophonist", was a recurring character onThe Goon Show, a 1950s British radio comedy programme. He was featured in the episode "The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu Manchu" in 1955 (announced as "Fred Fu Manchu and his Bamboo Saxophone"), and made minor appearances in other episodes (including "China Story", "The Siege of Fort Night", and in "The Lost Emperor" as "Doctor Fred Fu Manchu, Oriental tattooist"). The character was created and performed by the comedianSpike Milligan, who used it to mock the racist attitudes which had led to the creation of the character.[16] The character was also parodied in a later radio comedy,Round the Horne, as Dr Chu En Ginsberg MA (failed), portrayed byKenneth Williams.
Dr. Fu Manchu was parodied as the fiendish Dr. Wu in the action-comedy filmBlack Dynamite (2009), in which the executor of an evil plan againstAfrican Americans is an insidious, moustache-sportingkung fu master.[17][better source needed]
Science historian Fred Cooper and colleagues draws a parallel betweennarratives that COVID-19 was created by China, and the machinations of Fu Manchu, who is "expert in the deadly application of animal and biological agents" and who has been depicted on US television shows as threatening the West with lethal diseases.[18]
Dr Fu Manchu first appeared on the big screen in the British silent film seriesThe Mystery of Dr Fu Manchu (1923) starringHarry Agar Lyons, a series of 15 short feature films, each running around 20 minutes. Lyons returned to the role inThe Further Mysteries of Dr Fu Manchu (1924), which comprised eight additional short feature films.[19][20]
Dr Fu Manchu made his American film debut inParamount Pictures' early talkieThe Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929) starringWarner Oland, soon to be known for his portrayal ofCharlie Chan. Oland repeated the role inThe Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930) andDaughter of the Dragon (1931) as well as in the short filmMurder Will Out (part of the omnibus filmParamount on Parade) in which Dr. Fu Manchu confronts bothPhilo Vance andSherlock Holmes.[21]
The most controversial incarnation of the character wasMGM'sThe Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) starringBoris Karloff andMyrna Loy. At the time of its first release the film was considered racist and offensive by representatives of theChinese government. The film was suppressed for many years, but has been released onDVD uncut.[21]
Dr Fu Manchu returned to the serial format inRepublic Pictures'Drums of Fu Manchu (1940), a 15-episode serial considered to be one of the best the studio ever made. It was later edited and released as a feature film in 1943.[22]
Other than an obscure, unauthorized Spanish spoofEl Otro Fu Manchu (1946), the Devil Doctor was absent from the big screen for 25 years, until producerHarry Alan Towers began a series starringChristopher Lee in 1965. Towers and Lee made five Fu Manchu films:The Face of Fu Manchu (1965),The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966),The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967),The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968), andThe Castle of Fu Manchu (1969).[23]
The character's last authorised film appearance was in thePeter Sellers spoofThe Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), with Sellers featured as both Dr Fu Manchu and Nayland Smith. The film bore little resemblance to any earlier film or the original books. Fu Manchu claims he was known as "Fred" at public school, a reference to the character in "The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu Manchu", a 1955 episode ofThe Goon Show which had co-starred Sellers.[24]
Jesús Franco, who directedThe Blood of Fu Manchu andThe Castle of Fu Manchu, also directedThe Girl from Rio, the second of threeHarry Alan Towers films based on Rohmer's Fu Manchu-like female characterSumuru. He later directed an unauthorized 1986 Spanish film featuring Dr Fu Manchu's daughter,Esclavas del Crimen.[21]
In the filmGrindhouse (2007),Nicolas Cage makes an uncredited comedic cameo appearance as Dr Fu Manchu during the "trailer" for the fake filmWerewolf Women of the SS, directed byRob Zombie.
Acomposite character ofFu Manchu andthe Mandarin, namedXu Wenwu, appears inMarvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Four filmShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, portrayed byTony Leung Chiu-wai. The character was previously referenced in theIron Man trilogy andAll Hail the King.[25]Xialing, Wenwu's daughter andShang-Chi's sister, was partially inspired by Fah Lo Suee.[26][27][11]
A half-hour pilot was produced in 1952 forNBC's consideration starringCedric Hardwicke as SirDenis Nayland Smith,John Carradine as Dr. Fu Manchu, andReed Hadley as Dr. John Petrie. NBC turned it down without broadcasting it, but it has been screened at special events.
The television arm ofRepublic Pictures produced a 13-episode syndicated series,The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu (1956), starringGlen Gordon as Dr. Fu Manchu,Lester Matthews as Sir Denis Nayland Smith, andClark Howat as Dr. John Petrie. The title sequence depicted Smith and Dr. Fu Manchu in a game of chess as the announcer stated that "the devil is said to play for men's souls. So does Dr. Fu Manchu, evil incarnate." At the conclusion of each episode, after Nayland Smith and Petrie had foiled Dr. Fu Manchu's latest fiendish scheme, Dr. Fu Manchu would be seen breaking a black chess piece in a fit of frustration (black king's bishop, always the same scene, repeated) just before the closing credits rolled. It was directed byFranklin Adreon, as well asWilliam Witney. Dr. Fu Manchu was never allowed to succeed in this TV series. Unlike the Holmes/Watson type relationship of the films, the series featured Smith as a law enforcement officer and Petrie as a staff member for theSurgeon-General.[21] Though Republic had planned to film 78 episodes for the series, a dispute with Sax Rohmer ended the series after only 13 episodes were produced.
Dr. Fu Manchu's earliest radio appearances were onThe Collier Hour 1927–1931 on theBlue Network. This was a radio program designed to promoteCollier's magazine and presented weekly dramatizations of the current issue's stories and serials. Dr. Fu Manchu was voiced byArthur Hughes. A self-titled show onCBS followed in 1932–33. John C. Daly, and laterHarold Huber, played Dr. Fu Manchu.[35]In 2010, Fu Manchu's connections with the University of Edinburgh where he supposedly obtained a doctorate were investigated in a mockumentary byMiles Jupp forBBC Radio 4.[36]Additionally, there were"pirate" broadcasts fromthe continent into Britain, fromRadio Luxembourg and Radio Lyons in 1936 through 1937.Frank Cochrane voiced Dr. Fu Manchu.[37] The BBC produced a competing radio play,The Peculiar Case at the Poppy Club written by Rohmer and broadcast in December 1938. In 1939,The Shadow of Fu Manchu aired in the United States as a thrice-weekly serial dramatizing the first nine novels.[38][page needed]
Dr. Fu Manchu was first brought to newspaper comic strips in a black and whitedaily comic strip drawn by Leo O'Mealia (1884–1960) that ran from 1931 to 1933. The strips were adaptations of the first two Dr. Fu Manchu novels and part of the third.[39][40] Unlike most other illustrators, O'Mealia drew Dr. Fu Manchu as a clean-shaven man with an abnormally large cranium. The strips were copyrighted by "Sax Rohmer and TheBell Syndicate, Inc."[39] Two of the Dr. Fu Manchu comic strip storylines were reprinted in the 1989 bookFu Manchu: Two Complete Adventures.[41] In 1940, theChicago Tribune published an adaptation ofDrums of Fu Manchu, at first it was aphoto comics, but later it was illustrated by a unicredit artist.
Between 1962 and 1973, the French newspaperLe Parisien Libéré published a comic strip byJuliette Benzoni (script) and Robert Bressy (art).[42]
Fu Manchu appears in the adventuresNight Moves andNight Live for the role-playing gameMarvel Super Heroes.[50]
The stories of Dr Fu Manchu, both in print and on screen, have sparked accusations ofracism andorientalism, from his fiendish design to his nonsensicalChinese name.[51] After the release ofMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer's film adaptation ofThe Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), which featured the Chinese villain telling his followers that they must "kill thewhite man and take his women", theChinese Embassy in Washington, DC, issued a formal complaint against the film.[52][53]
Following the release ofRepublic Pictures' serial adaptation ofDrums of Fu Manchu (1940) theU.S. State Department requested that the studio make no further films about the character, asChina wasan ally againstJapan during the Second World War.[citation needed] Likewise, Rohmer's publisher,Doubleday, refused to publish additions to the best-selling series for the duration of the Second World War once the United Statesentered the conflict.[citation needed]BBC Radio andBroadway investors subsequently rejected Rohmer's proposals for an original Fu Manchuradio serial andstage show during the 1940s.[citation needed]
The re-release ofThe Mask of Fu Manchu in 1972 was met with protests from theJapanese American Citizens League, which stated that "the movie was offensive and demeaning toAsian Americans".[54]CBS Television decided to cancel a showing ofThe Vengeance of Fu Manchu.Los Angeles TV stationKTLA shared similar sentiments, but ultimately decided to runThe Brides of Fu Manchu with the disclaimer: "This feature is presented as fictional entertainment and is not intended to reflect adversely on any race, creed or national origin."[55]
Rohmer responded to charges that his work demonized Asians inMaster of Villainy, a biography co-written by his widow:
Of course, not the whole Chinese population ofLimehouse was criminal. But it contained a large number of persons who had left their own country for the most urgent of reasons. These people knew no way of making a living other than the criminal activities that had made China too hot for them. They brought their crimes with them.
It was Rohmer's contention that he based Dr Fu Manchu and other "Yellow Peril" mysteries on real Chinese criminals he met as a newspaper reporter covering Limehouse.
In May 2013,General Motors cancelled an advertisement after complaints that a phrase it contained, "the land of Fu Manchu", which was intended to refer to China, was offensive.[56]
Characterizing Dr Fu Manchu as an overtly racist creation has been criticized in the bookLord of Strange Deaths: The Fiendish World of Sax Rohmer.[57] In a review of the book inThe Independent, Dr Fu Manchu is contextualised: "These magnificently absurd books, glowing with a crazed exoticism, are really far less polar, less black and white, less white and yellow, than they first seem."[2]
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