The Fatal Hour

An old, creaky Monogram mystery with Karloff as Mr. Wong, the celebrated Chinese detective. Grant Withers as policeman Street gets news his partner has been killed, and soon he and Wong begin to unravel the truth. Helping is spunky newswoman Marjorie Reynolds. This is not a great mystery by any means, but it is highly watchable as Karloff ably plays Wong - though not in a very Oriental fashion. Karloff of course is good and surprisingly so is the rest of the cast. Everyone seems adept at being mediocre, which for a film like this, directed by the very mediocre director William Nigh, works. The 68 minutes of running time just zip by and the ending, while very inventive and highly implausible, pays off as being clever.

This was a pretty fun Mr. Wong detective story. It has a few comical moments in it and the story was good. Mr. Wong is after a smuggling ring & unmasks a murderer.

The Mr. Wong series is quite fun. If you like any of the Sherlock Holmes movies then it's possible you will like the Mr. Wong series starring Boris Karloff.

What is interesting in this particular film, it features a wireless remote controlled radio. This radio was reality - it was not made up for the film. There is an article about the radio on CNet called "Back to the future: 1939 wireless remote control!" The article's subtitle reads: "Philco's Mystery Control (1939) was a battery-operated radio transmitter, so it didn't have to be in the same room as the radio it was controlling." Also, you can read more about this cool invention on Philco's website. That is a neat trivia fact I just learned about today.

Yes this film is worth watching if you are a fan of detective stories or Boris Karloff.

6/10

Let me start by saying that I love these good ol' mystery flicks from the 40's. They're usually nice a short, filled with decent acting and predictable plot lines. While this did only run a mere 68 minutes, and the actors were as good as usual, I must say I was rather surprised at the outcome. Great twist in what I had pegged as a predictable film. The characters were all great, though I can't quite buy Karloff as a Chinaman. Grant Withers was great as the typical hard-boiled cop, though I must say this particular cop was more flustered than most, providing some fun comic relief. The trademark female reporter was pretty good here as well, played by the beautiful Marjorie Reynolds. If you're a fan of this kind of movie, I highly recommend it. Better than most!

8/10

The Mr. Wong series borrows somewhat from the Torchy Blane series at Warner Bros., i.e. feisty female reporter annoying the police officer/boyfriend, but also key to solving the crime. A comment was made elsewhere about that character here having a "Lois Lane" moment. Torchy Blane was allegedly the inspiration for the Lois Lane character of Superman comics.

A humorous, but probably unintentional, mistake shows up early in the film when Boris Karloff's darkening makeup is forgotten on his neck, giving him a two-tone head.

Although one can disparage Karloff for these films, keep in mind that film actors then, as now, need and want work. There are plenty of other well-experienced actors appearing in the Mr. Wong films, whom you can see in better films at better studios in the 1930s, or even in later films.

Although Karloff was making "B" films at Monogram and Columbia around this time, at least he had an "up" blip in his career when he played a major role in "Arsenic and Old Lace" on Broadway from 1941 to 1944.

This film is no worse than the formulaic TV series we have now, both comedy and drama, TV now being today's equivalent of the "B" movies of yesterday.

Neither of the six films in the Mr Wong series are great but they are entertaining enough. The Fatal Hour does drag a fair bit, the photography could have done with a little more finesse and while he is much better than he is in Mr Wong in Chinatown Grant Withers overacts, shouting his lines too much. I didn't find it a bad film at all and found it an improvement over Mr Wong in Chinatown. The sets and lighting are effective enough, the music is jaunty and eerie and the dialogue has good doses of humour and thoughtfulness. The story is not as predictable as it sounds, the murders are not particularly creative but the plotting is diverting, fills the short running time very well and the twists and red herrings add to the intrigue and fun(personally I didn't find it that convoluted) though would have been more effective with a brisker pace. The Fatal Hours also is one of the better acted films in the series. Boris Karloff regardless of reservations of authenticity is very magnetic and gives a dignified and thoughtful performance. Marjorie Reynolds is very sassy with the humour coming naturally to her, she and Withers do have some good chemistry. The supporting cast is one of the stronger and more consistent ones of the series, Robert Puglia is the standout as the film's most interesting character and Craig Reynolds also injects life and humour to things. In conclusion, not great but better than expected. 7/10 Bethany Cox