Sadly Over-hyped

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Better Late Then Never

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Boris Karloff's performance as James Lee Wong is probably the best thing about this film. It's subtle and effective, and doesn't fall back on the Chinese stereotypes that many would have. Monogram was about the least respected studio around at this time, but Boris Karloff probably couldn't resist the offer to star in his own detective series, and his enjoyment shows.The others actors, however, are almost universally horrible. The performances tend towards either the wooden or the constantly-shouting. Grant Withers even seems to forget his lines at one point, and nobody thinks to do another take.The direction and design are both flat and dull. There is some cleverness to the film's mystery plot, but it is developed mainly with long, clumsily-written passages of exposition. Karloff fans will want to see him as Mr. Wong, but otherwise there's not much reason to bother with this sloppy B-picture.

Throughout the 1930s, Fox Studios made a ton of very successful Charlie Chan films. It isn't surprising that this led to knock-off characters like Mr. Moto (also from Fox) and Mr. Wong (from poverty row giant, Monogram Studios). Frankly, while the Moto and Wong films are pleasant enough B-movies, they are too similar to the Chan films but lack their charm and wit. In the case of Wong and Chan the similarity was even greater as both were of Chinese descent, traveled the world and were "do-gooders" who often helped the helpless when conventional police work failed.In the early 1940s after Monogram completed six not particularly distinguished films AND Fox decided to discontinue the Chan series, an opportunity arose for Monogram to bring Sidney Toler to the studio and make their own Chan films. As a result, Wong was expendable and since four years had passed since the last film in this series, the studio heads decided they wanted no more Wongs. Besides, if they had Chan AND Wong, the resulting films would be like having two Wongs--and that's just not right.MR. WONG, DETECTIVE is the first Wong film and there's nothing particularly wong, I mean WRONG about the film. It was entertaining and had a nice mystery. However, it's also an awful lot like several other Monogram films--and is most like their next Wong film, THE MYSTERY OF MR. WONG. It's also a lot like the Chan films, MURDER OVER NEW YORK, THE JADE MASK and DOCKS OF NEW ORLEANS. In other words, many plot elements were repeated and after a while the films started to be indistinguishable from each other--something that was NOT a problem with the Fox films.Overall, it's worth seeing and is possibly the best film of the series--though this isn't saying a lot.

First of the Boris Karloff Mr Wong Films.Karloff is hired by the head of a chemical company to protect him and find out who is following him. However before he can actually take the job his client is killed in a locked room.Better than most of the films in the series, its kind of like saying pneumonia is better than double pneumonia. Slow dull and incredibly dumb, this is the sort of film that has dumb characters who create complications so that the plot goes one for the allotted running time. Examples include Wong sending his client home after an attempt on his life and the hounding of "suspects" who couldn't possibly have done it. Karloff is actually pretty good as Wong, Monograms attempt at a Charlie Chan style detective, unfortunately the script and the direction let him down. This film runs 70 minutes but feels three times that. Its the sort of thing that will put you to sleep in much the same way that watching paint dry will.3 out of 10

As a fan of, and having seen all of the available Charlie Chan films, I was curious to sample another take on the genre, with "Mr. Wong, Detective" as my first sampling of the Wong series. I found the movie to have both similarities and differences to the Chan mysteries.As far as similarities go, the first and most obvious is the casting of a non Oriental in the lead role; Boris Karloff does a credible job as Detective James Lee Wong, even though one must stretch belief to accept the characterization.The story itself involves the inventor of a poison gas formula seeking revenge on three partners of the Dayton Chemical Company who conspire to cut him out of the profits from his invention. As with the Chan films, red herrings galore are introduced to cast suspicion in different directions. Only the exacting patience and precision of the title detective it seems, will uncover the real killer. Patience indeed is needed, as Police Captain Sam Street (Grant Withers) constantly jumps to conclusions based on clues that unfold with the investigation. His portrayal is almost over the top as he belts out commands and virtually harasses everyone he questions, including girlfriend Myra Ross (Maxine Jennings), who's secretary to Simon Dayton, President of the Dayton Chemical Company and the film's first victim.Probably the major difference to the Charlie Chan films is the lack of comic relief, as provided by Number #1,2 and 3 Sons, and in the case of the Monogram Chan films beginning in 1944, that of chauffeur Birmingham Brown as portrayed by Mantan Moreland. This being a Monogram, the film does move more slowly than the better Chan's, and the Monogram Chan films in turn are considered inferior to the Twentieth Century Fox series.Monogram would eventually go on to retread the secret gas formula plot in two subsequent Charlie Chan movies, 1945's "The Jade Mask" starring Sidney Toler, and 1948's "Docks of New Orleans" with Roland Winters, both films rated in the lower third of the Chan canon. Both "Mr. Wong, Detective" and "Docks of New Orleans" at least come up with clever ways that the murderer finds to administer the poison gas that claims its' victims.Which brings me to the most glaring plot hole in "Mr. Wong, Detective". Early in the film, inventor Carl Roemer (John St. Polis) barges into Simon Dayton's office brandishing a handgun and demanding that Dayton return to him the poison gas formula, as if he would not have kept notes on such an important invention. Yet Roemer uses the very same poison gas to exact his revenge - someone wasn't paying attention!