Here’s a poster and a movie from a very different era….

I remember catching the series of Christopher Lee’s Fu Manchu movies on afternoon television in the 70s.   They were obviously considered harmless escapist fare, suitable for kids. Back in the day, it was fine for a Caucasian actor to put on “Asian” eye makeup and play an oriental, world-conquering villain. 

Lee did this for 5 movies in the Fu Manchu series, recreating a character previously played by Boris Karloff in the 30s. He also did it in various other movies, including Hammer’s The Terror of the Tongs, for which I once owned the quad poster. Beyond Fu Manchu, there are countless instances of Hollywood actors playing Asians from this period. (Mickey Rooney as the annoying Japanese neighbour in Breakfast at Tiffanys being one of the most notorious).  

It was, in this instance, also fine apparently to prominently feature a half naked woman about to be whipped! This would be unthinkable today (in the age of #Me Too) for a mainstream movie, but back in the 60s a little bit of torture seemingly did not raise any eyebrows. This is a Belgian poster for this 1965 film. To be fair, the other international posters didn’t display the same casual sadism!