The Mystery of Mr. Wong

Having a popular, first-rate actor like Boris Karloff in the title role of its Mr. Wong mystery series added an unaccustomed touch of class to poverty row studio Monogram's usual low-budget lineup of undistinguished programmers. The portrayal of the genteel Chinese detective must have likewise been a nice change of pace for the refined Englishman from the run of monsters and other sinister types he had been typically cast. Okay, so Karloff looked about as much like a Percheron ice wagon horse as a Chinaman. Let's just assume he was one of a those half-British Hong Kong Wongs. In any case he manages to project a convincing Oriental ambiance with only a minimum of makeup, while showing the maximum of sophisticated acting talent his fans have come to expect. Monogram seems to have responded by giving the Mr. Wong series the best staff and the biggest budget the financially disadvantaged studio could scrape together to support Karloff, who was a bigger name than they were used to having around.

The Mystery Of Mr. Wong, second in the series, is immeasurably better produced than the first entry. Nice sets, both interior and exterior, smart, well-lighted cinematography and tight editing complement William Nigh's sharp direction. A full-bodied, original score by Edward J. Kay enhances the drama, action, and suspense while setting the just-right mysterious, exotic, and sometimes spooky atmosphere. The Scott Darling screenplay is complex and intelligent with engaging, at times even snappy, dialog. It presents a classic drawing room style mystery. The principle murder victim is a cad hated by all, which makes practically every character a suspect. Clues appear and disappear, sometimes even falling out of pictures on the wall. Karloff gets a competent supporting cast including elegant, if not so well-known leading lady Dorothy Tree, polished, oft-seen character actor Holmes Herbert, and stalwart Grant Withers in his reoccurring role as tough cop Captain Street. The police in this one are portrayed as less overbearing and bumbling than in the previous entry -- perhaps there were complaints from the policemen's benevolent associations. It's a mixed blessing. While the cops here are more efficient and less disruptive to the cagey Mr. Wong's efforts to solve the case, they are inevitably and sadly less humorous. While those of the politically correct persuasion may complain about an Occidental playing the Chinese detective, these little movies nevertheless gave good employment to a number of Oriental supporting actors, notably in this one Lotus Long, as a maid who knows more than she should about the mystery, Chester Gan as the no-nonsense butler who tries to help the police, and Lee Tung Foo in a reoccurring role as Mr. Wong's efficient manservant. The producers of the series gave pretty Ms. Long parts in two other Mr. Wong numbers, including the leading lady role in Phantom Of Chinatown (1940).

The Mystery of Mr. Wong nimbly belies its cheap origins all the way through -- so well put together, intriguing, smoothly paced, and entertaining, it seems almost like an "A" picture, or at least a big studio a "B" production. Karloff is a delight. Viewing the first two movies in the set, has made the fifteen bucks I sprang for VCI's well restored two-disk album of all six Mr. Wong movies look like the shopping coup of the season. If you like off-beat little mystery potboilers that pack a load of entertainment into a short running time, then Mr. Wong is wight for you! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

When compared to the typical genre mystery of it's time, this movie is quite good. Karloff raises the level with his measured acting, and the film is mercifully free of the comic relief clowning that was so common at the time.

This is one of those 'house' mysteries. Most of the action occurs in one house - the house of a wealthy man, as always. And, as is so often true in the genre, the detective just happens to be on the scene when the murder occurs. Another plus for this film is that the policeman - Detective Street - is not a buffoon. Street is less a foil than an aid to Mr Wong, allowing us to take the story seriously - although we can't be too serious. There are obvious red herrings, and sudden reveals of facts we didn't have. For all that, the Wong series came after the clunkiness of the early talkies had been worked out, and the acting is much closer to what we would come to expect from classic studio products.

Although I always struggle with Karloff as a Chinese - unlike the Chan series, for some reason - I have to say the role he played got the job done. This film is out of copyright, and is available online for free, and on at least one low-priced mystery collection. I found it at the library in a 5 CD Mystery and Murder set.

Having seen a number of these Mr. Wong movies, I was expecting to see a much more minimal production. They must have had a little more money for this one. As usual, the plot is a little obtuse. The jewel that is at the center of all the activity apparently has a curse on it. The "bad guy" who aren't really the bad guys want to return it to its proper setting, in a museum in China. The master collector whose house looks like a museum, with lots of Oriental artifacts, doesn't listen when warned. A young man, who has a thing for the collector's wife, is implicated in his murder (the death occurs at the time he fires a stunt gun during a game of charades). Mr. Wong realizes that there are some extenuating circumstances and that a silencer was brought into play. There is nice action and some good suspects. It keeps us guessing to the very conclusion. Even the murderer isn't without sympathy. Not a bad little whodunnit.

This second Mr. Wong film was given a bigger budget than the first, actually has some exterior scenes, and is a much more polished production. Boris Karloff is excellent as usual in his suave and quiet manner as the brilliant amateur Chinese detective of San Francisco. In this film, we learn more about him. We discover that he has degrees from both the University of Heidelberg and Oxford University. There is certainly no doubt about his high intelligence and his profound knowledge of Chinese literature and art. He is a connoisseur who is familiar with most types of precious Chinese objects. And hence it is that he is familiar with the background of the object which is at the centre of this story, a precious imperial gem known as The Eye of the Daughter of the Moon. It turns out that in the recent sack of Nanking (today called Nanjing) by the Japanese, numerous priceless gems, jades, and works of art from an Imperial Collection there have been pillaged and made their way into the hands of private collectors. The most priceless of all of these is the gem just mentioned which has been illegally acquired by a rich collector who is very soon murdered. There are two very annoying performances in this film. One is by Grant Withers as the Detective Inspector, shouting and over-acting as usual. The other is Dorothy Tree, who simply can't act at all. However, one ignores these faults in the interest of following the good story. Otherwise it is an excellent film, and lots of villains are to be found.

Enjoyable if less that competent mystery with Boris Karloff once again playing Hugh Wiley's Oriental detective Mr. Wong of San Francisco. Karloff breathes most of the life this film has which tells of a wealthy man and his less than devoted wife and his burgeoning collection of rare and valuable Oriental artifacts - most recently the rarest gem of all, the Eye of the Moon. A dinner party is thrown with Wong and another famous criminologist in attendance. Prior to party games, Mr. Wong is shown the rare gem and a letter he has written with the name of who he suspects of a possible future crime - his murder. The games begin and the wealthy man is shot and Mr. Wong, Mr. Janney(the other criminologist), and the policeman Street(played by Grant Withers)begin to sift through the evidence and see who is the killer(naturally the letter was taken by someone so the movie could go on). While it is true that some of the clues in finding the killer are NOT presented to us, I had no problem at all figuring out who the killer was. Just listen to the conversation between Mr. Wong and the victim carefully and it will resonate loud and clear for you. That being said, I did enjoy this film as the mystery is paced well, there are plenty of red herrings that MIGHT have shaken my preconceived notions, the acting is uniformly pretty good all around, and production values are high for a Monogram Studio release.