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Trivia Quiz

In what country is the Black Lagoon located?

A: Brazil

B: Mexico

C: Paraguay

D: Argentina

Answer: A. Brazil, along the Amazon River. Despite this, in one of the first scenes there is a large sign reading in Spanish “Instituto de Investigaciones BiolÖgicas.” The official language in Brazil is Portuguese.

THE MASK OF FU MANCHU

MGM, 1932

PRODUCER Irving G. Thalberg

WRITERS Irene Kuhn, Edgar Allan Woolf, and John Willard (script), Sax Rohmer (story)

DIRECTORS Charles Brabin and Charles Vidor

STARS Boris Karloff (Fu Manchu), Myrna Loy (Fah Lo See), Lewis Stone (Sir Denis Nayland Smith), Charles Starrett (Terrence Granville), Jean Hersholt (Von Berg), and Karen Morley (Sheila Barton)

Sir Nayland Smith (Stone) and an international group of archaeologists led by Professor Von Berg (Hersholt) square off against evil genius Fu Manchu (Karloff) and his diabolical daughter Fah Lo See (Loy) in an effort to stop Fu Manchu's latest scheme to conquer the world.

Why It Sucks

Despite the fact that this is one of the best cinematic uses of Sax Rohmer's characters, it's marred by incredible racism. Even in 1932 this was pretty over the top, and by today's hypersensitive standards it makes this a very hard film to watch. This is despite the mix of weird science, bizarre torture-traps, supernatural hokum, savage natives lusting for a white girl to be sacrificed to dark gods, and, of course, Fu Manchu being thwarted with his own superweapon on the edge of his victory.

Thumbs Down Rating:

The Crappies

The Worst Makeup Award goes to … Boris Karloff's Fu Manchu makeup. Apparently, the director and producer wanted to make so sure that we understood the Asians are alien that they made him look like a Martian.

And the Worst Actor Award goes to … Charles Starrett for portraying a macho hero so dull that it's impossible to understand why Fah Lo See, Fu Manchu's sadistic daughter, doesn't get tired of him. Maybe horniness trumps boredom.

They Really Said It!

Fah Lo See: He is not entirely unhandsome, is he, my father? Fu Manchu: For a white man, no.

Betcha Didn't Know

Although best remembered for playing witty high-society women like Nora Charles in the Thin Man series, Myrna Loy spent her early career playing exotic femmes fatales. Fah Lo See in this movie was her final turn as a villainous female.

During the 1940s, Boris Karloff brought another fictional Chinese character from the printed page to the silver screen, the San Francisco-born detective James Lee Wong.

Trivia Quiz

Which of these actors has not played Fu Manchu on film?

A: Peter Sellers

B: Nicholas Cage

C: James Wong

D: Christopher Lee

Answer: C. James Wong, the only Asian actor on the list.

RED DAWN

United Artists, 1984

PRODUCERS Sidney Beckerman (executive producer), Barry Beckerman and Buzz Feitshans (producers)

WRITERS Kevin Reynolds (story), Kevin Reynolds and John Milius (script)

DIRECTOR John Milius

STARS Patrick Swayze (Jed), Charlie Sheen (Matt), C. Thomas Howell (Robert), Jennifer Grey (Toni), Lea Thompson (Erica), Darren Dalton (Daryl), Harry Dean Stanton (Mr. Eckert), and Powers Boothe (Col. Andy Tanner)

A group of teens band together to fight the Russian and Cuban troops who have occupied their small town as the United States is invaded during World War III.

Why It Sucks

This movie is a survivalists' wet dream. It's not the big armies that matter in a Cold War conflict between the Soviets and the United States. It's a bunch of armed high-school students in Colorado. Even accepting the film as a product of its time, this is the kind of movie that you enjoy if you're holed up in a compound on a mountaintop in Idaho, waiting to fend off the agents of the New World Order.

Thumbs Down Rating:

The Crappies

The Worst Picture Award goes to … Barry Beckerman and Buzz Feitshans for a film so essentially silly that today it looks like something dragged out of a time capsule.

And the Worst Picture Award goes to … Lea Thompson for a playing a quintessential