Condannato a morte

The routine plot unfolds in so obvious a manner that one loses interest in the outcome. The production values are on the same level as they were in the other Wong pictures in the...series, and the performances are on a par with the material. Most of the comedy is provoked by the bickering between a detective and a young girl who tires to outwit him.. Boris Karloff saves this picture and makes it into another great classic series.

The threesome of Mr. Wong, Det. Street and reporter Barbara Logan all return in this installment of the Mr. Wong series. All are wonderful and work well in this murder mystery. A shooting murder of a father by the unwanted son-in-law because the father has rejected him as his daughter's choice as husband. Both were heard shouting in the same room by two witnesses. Det. Street believes it is an open and shut case but Mr. Wong disagrees as well as reporter Logan. Many suspects with a score to settle make this whodunit a mystery to the end.

As far as mystery B-movies go, you cant go "Wong" with this one. Karloff returns once again as the famous Chinese detective James Lee Wong to solve the murder of a shipping tycoon. What seems like an open and shut case to Capt. Street (Grant Withers) quickly becomes a web of deceit, lies and murder! I've only seen two Wong films, this and "The Fatal Hour", but I really enjoyed them both, largely due to Capt. Street and his "sidekick" reporter Bobbie Logan. The banter between them is cliché, but often pretty funny anyway. They have great chemistry together on screen. Karloff is, of course, great as Wong. I loved his entrances from the most unlikely places, such as windows or fire escapes. The plot was pretty straight forward, though it was full of red-herrings and false suspects that made the conclusion a bit hard to guess. Not that that's a bad thing mind you, I quite enjoyed the ending. To sum up, I recommend this as well as the slightly better "Fatal Hour" as two of the best mystery B-movies you'll find out there.

8/10

For the fifth and last time, the great Boris Karloff portrays the oriental super-detective James Lee Wong who effortlessly solves the murder cases for which his police colleague Capt. Street (Grant Withers) always manages to arrest the wrong guy. Cyrus Wentworth, the magnate of a giant shipping company has been shot in his office and the obvious suspect is the young Dick Fleming, who's both the son of Cyrus' biggest business rival AND the forbidden lover of his daughter. The always-meddling reporter Miss Logan asks Wong to investigate the case and he naturally discovers that Wentworth had a lot more enemies who wanted him death, like relatives of victims who were recently killed in a shipping accident or former employees who attempted to blackmail him. The story opens downright terrific, with a great characterization of Cyrus Wentworth and his possible assassins. After about 15 minutes, Boris Karloff walks in and from that moment on he monopolizes all the attention! Of course Wong foresees the killer's every possible move and of course he always is several steps ahead of Capt. Street's investigation. Normally this exaggerated amount of 'cleverness' would annoy me tremendously; but Karloff's performance is so good and the script is so light-headed that you easily forgive all the illogicalness. The dialogues are wit and often humorous (the constant arguments of reporter Logan and police Capt. Street) and the sequences set in Chinatown are atmospheric, as usual. "Doomed to Die" is a very cheap but worthwhile thriller, especially recommended to fans of well-structured detective films and admirers of the almighty Boris Karloff. One more Wong-movie got released after this, made by a different director and not starring Karloff.

The Mr Wong series with Boris Karloff are not exactly great films(none are bad though) but they still make for decent entertainment, and Doomed to Die is no exception to that. In personal opinion it is one of the weaker entries in the series, the weakest being Mr Wong in Chinatown and the best being The Mystery of Mr Wong, but that is not knocking it really. It does get convoluted in places and plods a little towards the end, while the editing could have been smoother and Grant Withers seems to think that shouting equals good acting, in my book it's overkill and it's distracting. However, the sets and lighting do provide some good atmosphere, and as ever the music is eerie and jaunty. The story is routine and has convoluted moments in the second half around when Wong narrowly escapes being shot(the most suspenseful Doomed to Die gets), but on the most part it goes along at a snappy pace and you are kept guessing, the final reveal is unexpected and the perpetrator is fairly calculating, one you don't want to mess with. I also found much pleasure in the script, the banter between Marjorie Reynolds and Withers is deliciously witty and the police interrogations here are just as funny. The acting is fairly good, the support cast are more than competent but never really rise above being solid support. Marjorie Reynolds delights once again as the sassy reporter, her rapport with Withers does manage to gel. But the film belongs to Boris Karloff(the best make-up also of the series is in Doomed to Die), even if he doesn't exactly convince as a Chinese and Mr Wong is not one of his best roles admittedly he is still enigmatic and seems to be enjoying himself. Mr Wong has a fair sprinkle of fun moments that despite his late entrance ensures that his presence is a long way from a waste. All in all, unexceptional but still entertaining. 6/10 Bethany Cox