actress Joan Clarkson
The series of novels featuring the fuctional master criminal Dr Fu Manchu made the English writer Sax Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s. It's a fast-paced story about Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie who face the worldwide conspiracy of the 'Yellow Peril'.
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| Cover of the 1st edition |
In 1923 a 23 episode long series of silent short movies was made about the Chinese crime lord's attempts to 'overthrow Western civilisation through a mixture of cold-blooded murder, Eastern mysticism and outlandish science'.
Fu Manchu's reluctant slave, Karamenah, was played by (among others) Joan Clarkson. In the movies she is forced into drug addiction and endures a number of sado-masochistic beatings. She rebels against Fu Manchu by repeatedly rescuing Smith and Petrie from perilous situations, with the result that Petrie falls hopelessly in love with her.
(source)
next episode: Aleppo
A very pretty girl who looks like a fresh-faced innocent; perhaps that's why she fitted the part so well.
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting story that must have been. She has such an open and beautiful face.
ReplyDeleteWay back when I was a teenager, I bought a box of old books in a junk shop. Two of those were Sax Rohmer stories, "The Si-Fan Mysteries", and "The Mystery of Fu-Manchu".
ReplyDeleteThey were full of adventure, great fun.