The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930)

IMDb plot summary: The villainous master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu sets out to destroy the people he holds responsible for the death of his family.

Directed by Rowland V. Lee. Stars Warner Oland, O.P. Heggie, and Jean Arthur.

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu begins with the evil Dr. Fu Manchu's funeral, only for it to turn out he faked his death and is still bent on getting revenge against his enemies. I have never seen anything else in this series, so I have no concept of the story. It could be a pretty fun one if it wasn't so horrifically racist! Swedish actor Warner Oland plays Fu Manchu here (by far not the only yellow face acting he did), and the story is rife with upsetting stereotypes about Asian mysticism. It's too bad, because the pacing of the story is a lot more exciting than most of the 1930 adventure films have been, and it was fun to see a young Jean Arthur as the damsel in distress. There are quite a few of these I've come across in this project, where it'd be a perfectly fine movie if it didn't age so very badly.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930)

lost to Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles (#1983 → #1987)

lost to Falling in Love (#2972 → #2970)

lost to The Proposal (#3471 → #3468)

beat VeggieTales: Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler (#3720 → #3721)

beat Captain January (#3595 → #3598)

beat Wilde (#3533 → #3534)

beat Class Reunion (#3501 → #3503)

beat Baby Mama (#3488 → #3495)

lost to North (#3479 → #3476)

lost to Miracle on 34th Street (held at #3482)

beat A Thief in the Night (#3485 → #3491)

beat Fist of Legend (#3484 → #3490)

Final spot: Ranked #3485/3975 on my Flickchart, 13%.