The Mysterious Mr. Wong

Modern viewers must be forgiven if they're confused over the genre of this Bela Lugosi film. It's crime pulp, something hardly seen today except in Quentin Tarantino films. The focus is on the villain, in this case Lugosi as a Chinese(!) gangster tracking down the twelve coins of Confucius. The only mystery is how he will be stopped and whether or not he will escape to cause trouble another day.

Wallace Ford is fun as the wry reporter (reminding me a bit of Chevy Chase). And Arline Judge is as cute as a button as the switchboard operator he's trying to romance. It all takes place in Chinatown, for some reason, with plenty of casual bigotry, altho its sometimes turned around on the bigot for comic comeuppance (as when Ford talks pidgin to a Chinese girl only to be answered in fluent English).

If you like the era, this is a fun film and a good example of the genre. It's got the menacing thugs, mysterious murders, and secret passageways you expect and a bit of sassy dialog to boot.

One of the truly great "Cheap" Chinatown movies. From the "so bad that it is good school". The more you watch it, the more it grows on you. Spend a little extra and get the "Roan" version. The quality is much better than the less expensive "Alpha Video" release. A real gem from Monogram pictures.

That bottom of the barrel movie mill, Monogram, gives its all in this ridiculous but fun film about mysterious happenings in a pseudo Chinatown. Bela Lugosi is the power-hungry overlord searching for the 12 Coins of Confucius which will allow him to become the Boss of Bosses. True to the era and for no particular reason except to add to the running time, all Chinese, good or bad, are murdered, tortured and generally abused.

Throw in Wallace Ford and Arline Judge as the newspaper reporter and his girlfriend for some unfunny comic relief and E. Alyn Warren (who???) as Lugosi's arch enemy and you are off and running. The dialogue will remind you of the Charlie Chan films with those "Confucious say......." aphorisms.

Two of the most humorous things in this mish-mash (and there are many) are: (1) Lugosi playing an Oriental with that heavy Hungarian accent; and (2) after trying every type of torture to make his arch enemy crack under pressure, Lugosi kicks him in the shins. Priceless!!! It's foolish, tacky, poverty row at its finest..........what fun!!!!

This pulp crime fiction, based on a story by Harry Stephen Keeler, is zippy enough and atmospheric enough to make it an okay view. Modern viewers may wince at the level of political incorrectness on display, but sometimes the ignorant characters are properly made to feel embarrassed. Front and centre is horror star Bela Lugosi in the dual role of nefarious Fu Manchu style Chinese villain Fu Wong, and kindly shopkeeper Li See. He wants to obtain the "twelve coins of Confucius" in order to have ultimate power. Following a trail of dead bodies is obnoxious reporter Jay Barton (Wallace Ford), whose investigation leads him to the mysterious Mr. Wong.

Old time movies like this clearly were never meant to be great cinema, but just simple, straightforward, amusing programmers that typically clocked in at barely over an hour. And it IS pretty amusing, provided you know what to expect. Elements of intrigue and suspense are heavily contrasted against a lot of wise ass comedy. Ford, certainly, had put the patent on the sort of character that he plays here, and guys like Barton popped up time and again in such tales. The script is actually pretty funny at times, and with the amount of quips that he utters, it's true that a role like Barton would be a natural for a comedy actor like Chevy Chase.

Lugosi is great fun as always, no matter if his accent rarely sounds like anything other than Hungarian. Ford is a hoot, as is the pretty and tough talking Arline Judge. She plays Peg, his leading lady. E. Alyn Warren is good as a Chinese secret agent, Lotus Long is lovely as Wongs' niece "Moonflower", and Robert Emmett O'Connor is spot on in a deliberately stereotypical portrait of an old Irish beat cop.

Although ultimately forgettable, this offers enough laughs and irreverence to make it pretty easy to take.

Five out of 10.

This is one of the strangest I have watched in a good while. Of course an hour is not too long to devote to one of your horror film favorites. Disappointment sets in when you realize this is not horror, just odd. Bela Lugosi plays a ruthless Chinese villain that is not short in ordering murder in order to collect the fabled 'twelve coins of Confucius' for himself. Conveniently the coins are concentrated in New York City's Chinatown. Adding to the mystery and oddity of Lugosi's character...his thick Hungarian accent is not disguised.

Note:Lugosi's arch rival Boris Karloff had a series of Mr. Wong Chinese detective flicks also directed by William Nigh.