Absolutely the worst movie.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This has to be the best of the low budget Monogram series of crime programmers made briefly from 1938 to 1940, more for the sense of fun it provides, and partially for the more interesting plotline. The set-up is fascinating, too, showing the murder of Tong princess Lotus Long in Mr. Wong's apartment, shot in the neck by a teeny tiny poisoned darts. Long takes her time in expiring, dramatically writing down a clue for Boris Karloff's Wong to follow. A nosy reporter (Marjorie Reynolds) becomes a thorn in police detective Grant Withers' side, delighting in showing him up with her expertise in the breaking down of a murder investigation. Karloff, too, has a glint in his eye this time around, perhaps pleased by the fact that some thought went into the script which makes it more fun for the audience too.For once in the series, the investigation drops enough hints for the audience to get more involved, bringing in some interesting supporting characters, most notably Angelo Rossito ("Freaks", many Monogram programmers as Bela Lugosi's sidekick) as a mute Chinese dwarf and Bessie Loo as a Chinese matron. There's also a bit more action than normal, crisp dialog and not a lot of dramatic poses that made me fight to stay awake in others in the series. I really enjoyed the playful rivalry between Reynolds and Withers which had the potential to become a series itself. It reminded me of the later Monogram two part crime comedy/drama with Jean Parker as Detective Kitty O'Day and Tim Ryan as the flustered police detective. This is an example of how sometimes you can make a silk purse out of a sow's war.

I get these Oriental gentlemen -- Mr. Wong, Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto -- mixed up because they all look alike. This one has Boris Karloff as James Lee Wong investigating the murder of a Chinese princess fresh off the ship from Hangkow. She's the sister of an important warlord and had intended to buy airplanes so that he could defend his province and wage battle against "the other powers." This is 1939. The war had not yet started for the United States but there was a good deal of rivalry for Pacific territories and a lot of enmity based on "the other power's" invasion of first Manchuria and then China itself in the early 30s. But of course, before Pearl Harbor, no one could use words like "Japan", "Chiang Kai-Sheck", or the Wellesly-educated and charming "Madam Chiang Kai-Sheck." The resemblance between the fictional and real elements of the story may be coincidental, but I doubt it. The Japanese equivalent of Charlie Chan -- Mr. Moto -- made his last film appearance in 1939. The Green Hornet's faithful valet, Kato, lost his Japanese ancestry in the same year, becoming first a Korean, then a Filipino.That's a bit of arcana, I know, but there isn't really much to say about the film itself. Boris Karloff has both his eyelids and his hair pasted back. He doesn't try a Chinese accent, nor is he called on to speak any Chinese, thank the merciful heavens. He's a perfect gentleman throughout. And his fulgurating intuition allows him to solve mysteries with only the slightest of clues. Having overheard one of the characters order a nice headstone for a dog's grave, Wong is able to conclude that a dwarf is actually buried there "because one does not order an expensive headstone for a savage dog." This guy makes Columbo seem dim-witted.There's a relationship between a sassy blond reporter and the police detective who is always insulting her, sometimes pushing her around, shoving an apple into her mouth, telling her to "get lost." It's supposed to be funny.Yes, it's another blockbuster from MONOGRAM STUDIOS. That means "no extras," so the story has a handful of the same characters walking or driving from one location to another. Some of the interiors use the same sets with the furniture rearranged.It's the kind of B feature that you'll either find very entertaining or dull throughout. I don't think there's any third possibility.

I've seen several Mr. Wong films and I can definitely understand why Monogram Studios decided to drop the series in favor of making Charlie Chan films. Unlike the Chan films, the Wong series is pretty dull--with unlikable or bland supporting characters and a very low energy level in the movies. It's like the characters are just walking through the lines and putting little into it--particularly Boris Karloff, who was capable of so much better work than this. His supporting characters don't help, as Grant Withers is a pretty dull police inspector and Marjorie Reynolds in her first of four appearances in the Wong series as the nosy reporter is a tad annoying.The film begins with a Chinese princess coming to Wong's house. When his butler goes to get Wong, an unseen person kills the lady with a poisonous dart! It turns out that the princess was in America to buy planes for their war with the Japanese, though since the US was not yet at war with Japan, they were never mentioned by name. Why she was killed and unable to complete her mission is mildly interesting, but that's about all. My advice is try to see a different B-detective series, such as Sherlock Holmes, The Falcon or Charlie Chan--they are just a lot more interesting and fun to watch.

Princess Lin Hwa(Lotus Long) visits Mr. Wong (Boris Karloff) at his residence for assistance, however, she is killed by a poisoned arrow. Mr. Wong, with Capt. Street (Grant Withers), seeks the murderer. They are helped by Bobby Logan (Marjorie Reynolds), a reporter and Street's girfriend. They arrive at the princess's apartment to investigate and look for clues, at the same time they find her maid has been murdered. The only witness to the murder is a mute dwarf (Angelo Rosita) who mysteriously disappears. Karloff held this picture together and has made this film a true Mr. Wong series classic for all Karloff fans. It is difficult to critize this film, it was made with a very low budget and was considered a "B" film in 1939, which was usually shown with another picture, news and a cartoon. Boris Karloff was between filming of horror movies and this Mr. Wong series gave him a small income.(not like the large salaries of movie stars today. However, Karloff is very calm and unmoved in this film and nothing seems to bother Mr. Wong at all!!