The Mystery of Mr. Wong

1939's "The Mystery of Mr. Wong" was Boris Karloff's second entry in the six picture Monogram detective series, shooting in early February following completion of Universal's horror comeback "Son of Frankenstein." Lacking the numerous twists offered in his debut, number two just might be the better picture, boasting a superior cast and a more restrained Grant Withers, making his teamwork with Wong more believable. Morgan Wallace, present in the final Moto release "Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation," plays overbearing art collector Brendan Edwards, who smuggles out of China a priceless stone known as the 'Eye of the Daughter of the Moon,' which signals death for anyone who dares to steal it. Sure enough, Edwards is shot dead during a game of charades in front of dozens of guests, the would be shooter, Peter Harrison (Craig Reynolds), firing a pistol filled with blanks while playing a jealous husband, the victim's young wife Valerie (Dorothy Tree) also standing next to her spouse. Mr. Wong had learned of Edwards' possession of the jewel shortly before his death, and was aware of a note naming his killer in the event of his demise; naturally, both are missing from the safe in his upstairs study, though we see the maid Drina (Lotus Long) remove the message herself from an already opened safe. It's clear that Peter has developed feelings for Mrs. Edwards, as has houseguest Michael Strogonoff (Ivan Lebedeff), who has been living with the Edwards in the hopes of starting a singing career in America. Also attending the ill-fated party is fellow criminologist Ed Janney (Holmes Herbert), quick to assist in the murder investigation, while the Edwards attorney, Carslake (Hooper Atchley), supplies another motive with his client's insistence on making out a new will disinheriting wife Valerie, but not living long enough to sign it. After the maid perishes from a poisoned cigarette, Wong gathers all the suspects at his home to examine the missing document naming the culprit, going over each suspect and their reasoning before coming upon the guilty party in a well thought out and logical fashion; were it not for a significant bit of information kept from the audience, it might have been the best climax of them all (the plot was a rehash of the 1931 Tiffany independent "Murder at Midnight"). Craig Reynolds would return for 4th entry "The Fatal Hour," Lotus Long would feature twice more, and Dorothy Tree would actually graduate to a Sidney Toler entry at Fox, "Charlie Chan in City in Darkness." Boris moved on to complete his Warner Brothers pact with "British Intelligence" before reporting back to Monogram for "Mr. Wong in Chinatown."

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.

A prize sapphire has been stolen and received by collector Morgan Wallace right off a freighter in San Francisco bay before docking, thereby eluding customs. It's been stolen during the Japanese occupation in Nanking and Wallace is naturally in fear of his life as a result. It's no accident he's invited the great scholar and criminologist James Lee Wong as played by Boris Karloff to a reception that evening creating The Mystery Of Mr. Wong.

Despite I think was a grammatically incorrect title and given this is a production from Monogram Pictures, this is not a bad mystery and very topical at the time. The news of the war waged on the Chinese by Japan was in the papers all the time.

When the murder of Farley is actually committed it's during a game of charades where guest Grant Reynolds shoots Farley during a sketch and the man doesn't get up. In a manner worthy of Agatha Christie there are a whole host of subjects present at the mansion. It was just the killer's bad luck to do this with Wong present.

One of these days I'll be bowled over when I find out that someone actually decides to call of a planned crime when some famous detective appears unplanned on the screen.

Don't these people go to the movies?

Although this is a typical "B" movie from the 1930s, it is way above the average suspense flick from that period. It has a lot of interesting elements such as the presence of a valuable gem sapphire called "The Daughter of the Moon", a gunshot out of nowhere, a creepy old house, and a gathering of sinister characters in which all would have motives to commit murder.

Karloff may seem superficially miscast seeming to look just passably Chinese with the makeup used, but one must consider the premise that Mr. Wong is supposed to be raised in England and educated at Heidelberg, Germany and Oxford, England which would account for his heavy British accent.

The film continues at a fine pace throughout the film with the various characters functioning as red herrings (love triangles, attempts to reclaim the gem, another murder, an attempt on Mr. Wong's life) until the true murderer is revealed at the end of the film (which I won't reveal here).

Worthy to be mentioned along with the best of the "Charlie Chan" and "Mr. Wong" series from the same period.

10/10.

Dan Basinger