This is the third episode of THE MYSTERY OF FU MANCHU serial. In it, Nayland Smith, played by Fred Paul, is informed of the death of a lascar and comes upon Joan Clarkson burning pages of a diary at the order of the evil genius, played by H. Algar Lyons. Lyons would go on to play Dr. Sin Fang in a knockoff series.
Fu Manchu is one of a long line of supervillains that serials and novels and movies would center around for decades to come. A clear expression of the "Yellow Peril" mentality, he first appeared in Sax Rohmer's 1913 novel, THE MYSTERY OF DOCTOR FU-MANCHU. Rohmer would continue to write these until his death, and the series was revived in 2009, with another one announced as I write this. The character has appeared in fifty movies, almost always played by an Occidental; Christopher Lee played him in the late 1960s, and Peter Sellers offered a burlesque version in 1980's THE FIENDISH PLOT OF FU MANCHU.
Fu Manchu is one of a long line of supervillains that serials and novels and movies would center around for decades to come. A clear expression of the "Yellow Peril" mentality, he first appeared in Sax Rohmer's 1913 novel, THE MYSTERY OF DOCTOR FU-MANCHU. Rohmer would continue to write these until his death, and the series was revived in 2009, with another one announced as I write this. The character has appeared in fifty movies, almost always played by an Occidental; Christopher Lee played him in the late 1960s, and Peter Sellers offered a burlesque version in 1980's THE FIENDISH PLOT OF FU MANCHU.
