1931 turned journeyman actor Boris Karloff into a star via Frankenstein. 1932 also became a big year for Karloff via flicks like The Old Dark House, The Mummy and the subject of this discussion, The Mask of Fu Manchu.

Allegedly the tomb of Genghis Khan resides in the Gobi Desert. British Secret Service representative Sir Denis Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone) instructs Egyptologist Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant) to rush to this location so he can liberate Khan’s artifacts.

Sinister Dr. Fu Manchu (Karloff) also seeks these as part of a plan to use them to conquer the world. The Brits strive to beat Fu and stop his diabolical aspirations.

The film opens with a disclaimer that warns viewers of the film’s outdated ethnic tropes and stereotypes. Take this seriously, as Mask ladles out pretty ugly portrayals of Asians.

In general, the movie tends to treat Asians as primitive and barely human. The sight of Karloff and Myrna Loy – as Fu Manchu’s daughter – buried under “yellowface” makeup doesn’t help.

Even without the film’s racism, Mask just doesn’t work. The movie wants to deliver a taut mix of horror, adventure and thriller, but it seems too incoherent to succeed.

Mask flits from one story point to another without much logic or clarity. The film just seems to make it up as it goes along, so it never shows real narrative momentum.

Instead, Mask attempts to rely on spectacle, especially in the way it depicts Fu Manchu’s dastardly ways. He puts those Wholesome and Noble White People in various forms of danger, none of which actually make much sense.

At least these sorta kinda show a pulse, whereas a lot of Mask just feels sluggish and stiff. Of course, I don’t expect 21st century pacing and thrills, but too much of this flick comes across as dull even by era standards.

The movie does become a bit more dynamic in its third act, but this feels like too little, too late. Although the film aspires to deliver an exotic mix of thriller and horror, the end product seems stilted and flat too much of the time.

The Mask of Fu Manchu appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Much of the film looked very good, but some iffy moments arose along the way.

Sharpness became an occasional issue, as definition lacked consistency. While a large chunk of the film looked accurate, a few shots seemed mushy and soft.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects arose, and I saw no edge haloes. We got a decent layer of grain, and I witnessed no print concerns.

Blacks generally felt deep and dense, with clear low-light elements. A few scenes came across as too bright, though. While not the best presentation of a 90-plus-year-old movie I’ve seen, this one still seemed more than satisfactory.

I thought the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack held up acceptably well given the primitive recording methods of the era. Unsurprisingly, it failed to boast much range, so effects came across as thin, tinny, and a little rough upon louder elements.

Like many films of the early “talkie” era, Mask lacked much score. On the occasions it appeared, the music sounded on the shrill side.

Dialogue fared better than expected, at least, as the lines were reasonably concise and crisp. Nothing here excelled, but the audio seemed more than adequate for its vintage.

A few extras appear, and we find an audio commentary from film historian Greg Mank. He provides a running, screen-specific discussion of genre domains and Hollywood of the era, cast and crew, production details and controversies.

On the negative side, Mank occasionally just narrates the film, and he also goes silent a little more than one might anticipate given the movie’s brevity. Nonetheless, Mank delivers an appealing collection of insights to make this a fairly enjoyable track.

The disc also includes two vintage cartoons from 1932: Freddy the Freshman (6:54) and The Queen Was In the Parlor (6:46).

Freshman follows the musical adventures of young Freddy at college, while Parlor shows shenanigans in a royal castle. Both lack much actual entertainment value.

That said, I appreciate their inclusion for historical purposes. Also, the shorts offer pretty terrific picture quality, a pleasant surprise.

Even if one ignores its racist stereotypes and tropes, The Mask of Fu Manchu doesn’t satisfy. The movie lacks the desired thrills and tends to seem flat and incoherent. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture and audio plus a few bonus materials. This turns into a largely good release for a problematic movie.