I don't know what I expected...

Just a bonkers watch. Obviously very racist with all the bizarre yellow peril tropes you can imagine with poor Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy in yellowface, neither of who had fond things to say about this film. Add in pre-code depictions of torture and sexual sado-masochism, bland exoticist adventure tropes, and yet shockingly good gothic/sci-fi cinematography and set designs. This is a bad film, this is an offensive film, this is a film I would not recommend. But at the same time, it's such a bizarrely yet horribly amusing product of its time that it does kinda have to be seen to be believed.

Also I must add this bit from the IMDB trivia:
<blockquote>In his scenes with Myrna Loy, in which Charles Starrett was wearing only an abbreviated loincloth, retakes were frequently required because of Starrett's showing too much "enthusiasm".</blockquote>I would LOVE to hear Myrna Loy's thoughts on this movie.

I don't know what I expected...

Just a bonkers watch. Obviously very racist with all the bizarre yellow peril tropes you can imagine with poor Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy in yellowface, neither of who had fond things to say about this film. Add in pre-code depictions of torture and sexual sado-masochism, bland exoticist adventure tropes, and yet shockingly good gothic/sci-fi cinematography and set designs. This is a bad film, this is an offensive film, this is a film I would not recommend. But at the same time, it's such a bizarrely yet horribly amusing product of its time that it does kinda have to be seen to be believed.

Also I must add this bit from the IMDB trivia:
<blockquote>In his scenes with Myrna Loy, in which Charles Starrett was wearing only an abbreviated loincloth, retakes were frequently required because of Starrett's showing too much "enthusiasm".</blockquote>I would LOVE to hear Myrna Loy's thoughts on this movie.

Wowza that was a lot to digest

Wowza that was a lot to digest

Boris Karloff plays a person of Asian ethnicity while torturing people by tying a man under a bell, injecting a man with spider blood, tying a man to a see saw with crocodiles underneath, and strapping a man to a chair with spikes coming towards him awfully slowly. They don't make movies like this any more.

Boris Karloff plays a person of Asian ethnicity while torturing people by tying a man under a bell, injecting a man with spider blood, tying a man to a see saw with crocodiles underneath, and strapping a man to a chair with spikes coming towards him awfully slowly. They don't make movies like this any more.