Drums of Fu Manchu

Until this week, I had never actually sat down to watch an old-fashioned movie serial, complete with a crazy cliffhanger at the end of every chapter. I decided to give the 15-part Drums of Fu Manchu a try, just to see what it was like, and actually found it quite enjoyable. The evil criminal genius Fu Manchu is seeking the ancient sceptre of Genghis Khan which will unite the warring tribes of "The Orient" under his leadership; set against him are a two-fisted, all-American-type hero named Alan Parker and an older member of the British Foreign Office, Sir Neville something-or-other. The classic cliffhangers are fun to see resolved (two trains are about to collide! Alan Parker is being attacked by an octopus! ) and happily, there's not much if anything in the way of the ugly racism and sterotyping that I was afraid of for a movie with a Chinese super-villain. It was enjoyable enough that I've decided to try a couple of other serials, including Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Shazam!) and The Undersea Kingdom (which I know of only through MST3K).