The Mask  of Fu Manchu [1932]

1. The first time we see Fu Manchu, closeup: for some unknown reason, he is standing next to a warped mirror of some sort while he sips a bubbling potion. It’s unsettling, but without any sort of context it’s also kind of silly.
2. Terrence, a strapping young man, has been stripped to the waist and, tied by the wrists, strung up. Two black slaves are whipping him. Myrna Loy looks on, a greedy expression on her face, and shouts, “Faster! Faster!” What the hell? This is 1932? Yes: pre-Code.
3. Too much baldfaced racism to recount here, but the climax is probably the most tasteless: using a million-volt ray, the Brits kill Fu Manchu and then turn the ray onto his crowd of followers, made up of Arabs, Chinese and Africans.

Not enough Karloff and Loy in this movie. Indifferent direction, a poky script. Amazing production design though. Moves along briskly. I think a certain Mr. Spielberg saw this at some point in his childhood …