“Mr. Wong, Detective” (1938)

Mr. Wong, Detective

Brief Description:

When a chemical manufacturer is killed after asking detective James Wong to help him, Wong investigates this and two subsequent murders.

Date: 1938

Genre: American crime film

Running time: 1 hour 10 minutes 

Cast: 

Boris Karloff: Mr. James Lee Wong 

Grant Withers: Capt. Sam Street 

Maxine Jennings: Myra Ross 

Evelyn Brent: Olga/Countess Dubois

George Lloyd: Devlin 

Lucien Prival: Anton Mohl 

John St. Polis: Carl Roemer

William Gould: Theodore Meisle

Hooper Atchley: Christian Wilk

John Hamilton: Simon Dayton 

Wilbur Mack: Russell 

Lee Tung Foo: Tchin

Lynton Brent: Tommy 

Grace Wood: Mrs. Roemer

Frank Bruno: Lescardi

Ed Cassidy: Ambulance Doctor

Wheaton Chambers: Chemistry

Herbert Evans: Wilk's Butler

Director: William Nigh

Production company: Monogram Pictures

Based on: the James Lee Wong series by Hugh Wiley 

Wikipedia page

Watch on Archive

(watched on Tubi)

Setting/Aesthetic/Feel: 4/5

This is apparently the first Mr. Wong film, and it's much better than “Mr. Wong in Chinatown”—though to be honest that's not saying much. Personally, I enjoyed the scenes in Wilk's house and Dayton's office. Wong's house was interesting too. 

Characters: 3.5/5

Mr. Wong plays a much more convincing and interesting detective here. While still using his calm and politeness to soothe victims and disarm villains, he does a lot more sleuthing and expresses more of his deductions aloud. Captain Street is still heavily unlikeable but at least a little toned down in comparison to “Mr. Wong in Chinatown.” (He also has a new first name, and a new fiancée. Headcanon: His name is Samuel William Street and Myra dumps him after this film. He and Roberta had one date in the other film and she calls him "Bill" to annoy him). The multitude of villains made for plenty of different, interesting characters (Lescardi and Russians felt real stereotyped, but also added a faint  WWII flavour at the mention that they wanted the poison gas for their country's armies). Myra was nice enough but it annoyed me that she was so snippy with Street for working late. You're literally about to marry a detective, honey, and he's in the middle of a massive murder investigation. Like... he deserves to be snipped at for how he talks to you (though I'll grant that he did apologize at one point, which is more than he ever did for Bobbie) but it's not his fault he's missing your date night. 

Plot: 3/5

The plot started out straightforward but began to crumble towards the end. The third death didn't make any sense and no one really explained it (and if Wong understood by then how it happened, why did he do nothing?). It also wasn't well explained what the different villains did or how they did it. I did not enjoy the interrogation scenes (not that any scene with Street in it was any good... yes, I really hate the character that much) and there were too many dark scenes where someone poked through a room and you weren't sure who and what they were doing. That said, the final climax with the poison gas was somewhat interesting. 

Romance: 3/5

Myra & Street don't seem to have a healthy relationship going on, but anyways, the only slightly romantic thing that happens is a kiss on the cheek. 

Content: 4/5 (low)

I honestly can't recall; possibly, but I don’t remember and I don't care to watch this again to find out. 

Violence: 4/5 (low)

Murder; threats.  

Overall: 3.5/5

An improvement on the first Mr. Wong film I watched, though contradictory; I won't rewatch it, but I'd like to watch the rest of the series out of curiosity.