MR. WONG, DETECTIVE (Monogram, 1938), directed by William Nigh, became the studio's answer to the popular trend of 20th Century-Fox's Oriental detective series, "Charlie Chan" starring Warner Oland and later Sidney Toler that started in 1931. Boris Karloff of horror movie fame for Universal Pictures assumes the title role of the Oriental sleuth, James Lee Wong, a character created by Hugh Wiley. As much as this first of six installments (five starring Karloff alone) is regarded the best, it's also one of those movies that to some, once seen today, becomes just a faded memory tomorrow.
Set in San Francisco (hence the first viewing of the Golden Gate Bridge), the prologue opens with a shipment of chemical boxes placed on board a ship, as observed on dock by Lascari (Frank Bruno) and Anton Mohl (Lionel Prival), a couple of spies after its poison gas formula. The story next shifts to Simon Dayton (John Hamilton), a chemical manufacturer of Dayton Chemical Works, who fears for his life after receiving anonymous death threats. At the advise of his friend, Phil Davis, Dayton is driven to the residence of famed detective, James Lee Wong (Boris Karloff), for assistance, leading to a follow-up meeting to take place at Dayton's office the following day at 10 a.m. Before the meeting is to take place, Dayton is nearly kidnapped by a strange driver seated in his limousine after his chauffeur has been abducted and tied up; a visit at his office by partners, Christian Wilk (Hooper Atchley) and Theodore Meisle (William Gould) wanting to obtain Dayton's signature on their partnership agreement clause if ever a demise on any of the partners should take place; and the forced entry at gunpoint by Carl Roemer (John St, Polis) accusing Dayton of stealing his formula on a false promise of becoming his partner. As Myra Ross (Maxine Jennings), Dayton's secretary, and Russell (Wilbur Mack) escort Roemer to the reception area to be calmed down, Dayton locks his door and telephones Captain Sam Street (Grant Withers) of the San Francisco Police Department (and Myra's romantic interest), to have Roemer removed. With Wong's arrival, Myra unlocks the office door to find Dayton murdered. As Wong joins forces with Street to investigate, two similar murders follow before Wong's search for small clues leads to big results. Co-starring Evelyn Brent (Olga Petrov, alias Countess DuBois); George Lloyd (Devlin, Street's Assistant); Grace Wood (Margaret Roemer); and Lee Tung Foo and Hooper Atchley in supporting cast.
Largely forgotten today, the sole interest in watching MR. WONG, DETECTIVE and its sequels is the unlikely presence of Boris Karloff, sporting slant eyes, combed back dark hair, mustache and glasses, speaking naturally in soft spoken voice with no traditional Chinese lingo. The cast support, mostly by former lead actors whose careers have passed their prime (Grant Withers and Evelyn Brent) or by unknown character actors whose names mean nothing to contemporary viewers (John St. Polis, Lucien Prival, etc), there's John Hamilton, however, best known for baby boomers as Perry Mason in "The Adventures of Superman" TV series (1951-1959) in one of his few times playing something other than a policeman.
Though Karloff's relaxed performance makes himself convincing as Mr. Wong, he no way takes away the commanding performances by either the aforementioned Oland and Toler from the long running "Charlie Chan" series (1931-1949), nor Peter Lorre during his two year stint (1937-1939) as Japanese detective, "Mr. Moto." Story reworked by Monogram as DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS (1948) starring Roland Winters as Charlie Chan. Monogram production values simply cannot compare to those by major studios as 20th Century-Fox, yet, aside from leisure pacing and no standard underscoring during its story portions, the well-staged climax fixture makes up for these losses.
Having played on broadcast television during its early years of the 1950s, MR. WONG, DETECTIVE was resurrected on television again in the 1980s, the decade where it was distributed on home video, shown in revival movie houses, followed by DVD distribution and cable television broadcasts such as Turner Classic Movies as early as 1996. Had this been a first-rate production from a major movie studio as Warner Brothers for example, this might have been a whole lot better and faster. Sequel: THE MYSTERY OF MR. WONG (1939) (***)
Set in San Francisco (hence the first viewing of the Golden Gate Bridge), the prologue opens with a shipment of chemical boxes placed on board a ship, as observed on dock by Lascari (Frank Bruno) and Anton Mohl (Lionel Prival), a couple of spies after its poison gas formula. The story next shifts to Simon Dayton (John Hamilton), a chemical manufacturer of Dayton Chemical Works, who fears for his life after receiving anonymous death threats. At the advise of his friend, Phil Davis, Dayton is driven to the residence of famed detective, James Lee Wong (Boris Karloff), for assistance, leading to a follow-up meeting to take place at Dayton's office the following day at 10 a.m. Before the meeting is to take place, Dayton is nearly kidnapped by a strange driver seated in his limousine after his chauffeur has been abducted and tied up; a visit at his office by partners, Christian Wilk (Hooper Atchley) and Theodore Meisle (William Gould) wanting to obtain Dayton's signature on their partnership agreement clause if ever a demise on any of the partners should take place; and the forced entry at gunpoint by Carl Roemer (John St, Polis) accusing Dayton of stealing his formula on a false promise of becoming his partner. As Myra Ross (Maxine Jennings), Dayton's secretary, and Russell (Wilbur Mack) escort Roemer to the reception area to be calmed down, Dayton locks his door and telephones Captain Sam Street (Grant Withers) of the San Francisco Police Department (and Myra's romantic interest), to have Roemer removed. With Wong's arrival, Myra unlocks the office door to find Dayton murdered. As Wong joins forces with Street to investigate, two similar murders follow before Wong's search for small clues leads to big results. Co-starring Evelyn Brent (Olga Petrov, alias Countess DuBois); George Lloyd (Devlin, Street's Assistant); Grace Wood (Margaret Roemer); and Lee Tung Foo and Hooper Atchley in supporting cast.
Largely forgotten today, the sole interest in watching MR. WONG, DETECTIVE and its sequels is the unlikely presence of Boris Karloff, sporting slant eyes, combed back dark hair, mustache and glasses, speaking naturally in soft spoken voice with no traditional Chinese lingo. The cast support, mostly by former lead actors whose careers have passed their prime (Grant Withers and Evelyn Brent) or by unknown character actors whose names mean nothing to contemporary viewers (John St. Polis, Lucien Prival, etc), there's John Hamilton, however, best known for baby boomers as Perry Mason in "The Adventures of Superman" TV series (1951-1959) in one of his few times playing something other than a policeman.
Though Karloff's relaxed performance makes himself convincing as Mr. Wong, he no way takes away the commanding performances by either the aforementioned Oland and Toler from the long running "Charlie Chan" series (1931-1949), nor Peter Lorre during his two year stint (1937-1939) as Japanese detective, "Mr. Moto." Story reworked by Monogram as DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS (1948) starring Roland Winters as Charlie Chan. Monogram production values simply cannot compare to those by major studios as 20th Century-Fox, yet, aside from leisure pacing and no standard underscoring during its story portions, the well-staged climax fixture makes up for these losses.
Having played on broadcast television during its early years of the 1950s, MR. WONG, DETECTIVE was resurrected on television again in the 1980s, the decade where it was distributed on home video, shown in revival movie houses, followed by DVD distribution and cable television broadcasts such as Turner Classic Movies as early as 1996. Had this been a first-rate production from a major movie studio as Warner Brothers for example, this might have been a whole lot better and faster. Sequel: THE MYSTERY OF MR. WONG (1939) (***)