Touches You

the audience applauded

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The problem with many of these B murder mysteries isn't the premise, but is the fact that the audience really doesn't get a chance to pick up on clues that the particular detective get to decipher through their own convoluted knowledge of what the victim did, who their enemies are and what everybody's hobbies or habits were. Having viewed the Mr. Wong films several times each (and put Betty much hated them), I had to determine on my own the reasons for that, why even the lowest budget "Charlie Chan" seemed better to me, and why other mysteries got me involved while these left me cold. The scripts often seemed overstuffed with detail, and how much can you take in while looking around a set, watch each character and try to read between the lines of everything that everybody says. As the first entry in the series, this has to grab you immediately to keep you coming back for the follow-ups, and realizing on my own what the issue was opened my eyes to looking at them in a different way.This has to do with the murder of a chemical manufacturer, followed by several other victims, and the involvement of the first victim's friend, private detective Mr. Wong (Boris Karloff) in solving all the crimes with the help of police detective Grant Withers. Of course, all screen private detectives are smarter than screen police detectives, presumably able to see into the souls and minds of the victims and suspects. Karloff finds clues in the strangest of things, asks if certain elements of nature were present, and can wiggle out of every blockade or get answers out it suspects who don't want to give answers. There are nefarious characters you know are red herrings and seemingly innocent ones who could be the obvious killer. This gets aggravating with constant talk and little action, and of course trying to out guess Karloff is pointless. So it is just best to put your mind to rest and avoid the inevitable disappointment of failing to figure it out. After all, Mr. Wong is never wrong.

When Monogram started its "Mr. Wong" series, it was obviously done in the hope of achieving a similar success as 20th Century-Fox had been enjoying for more than 15 years already with its hugely popular "Charlie Chan" movies - especially since they'd hired such a big star as Boris Karloff for the title role. Well, only that Mr. Karloff - the Chinese Detective from San Francisco who spoke with a British accent - neither looks nor talks nor behaves like a Chinese; except for the scene where he bows to his parrot for 'showing' him the murder method... And besides that, he completely lacks the gentle, lovable humor of Charlie Chan (which both Warner Oland and Sidney Toler conveyed perfectly) - a feature which is missing in the whole film in general: NOBODY seems to have ANY sense of humor. Murder is an earnest business. Here we've got at least an 'innovative' way of killing - only that, for such a famous sleuth, Mr. Wong really seems incredibly slow in his deductions; it seems almost as if the scriptwriters wanted to make the average mystery fan happy that he found the solution even before the detective did! Certainly not one of Monogram's best crime movies...

Boris Karloff is "Mr. Wong, Detective" in this 1938 film.A man (John Hamilton) comes to see Mr. Wong because he has the impression that he's being followed and that his life is in danger. He and his two partners have just signed papers leaving each other their share of the business in the event of their deaths.Mr. Wong agrees to meet the gentleman in his office the next day. He can be seen looking out the window at one point, but when his office is entered, he's dead. And the only clue is a thin piece of glass. Another death follows.This is a retreaded script but still entertaining. Karloff is good as the detective, though one doesn't think of him as Oriental. Grant Withers is over the top as the police inspector, but the other actors are okay.Entertaining B movie.

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!