THE MYSTERIOUS MR. WONG-1938-Famous Asian American detective James Lee Wong (the very un-Asian Boris Karloff) investigates the murder of industrialist Simon Dayton (John Hamilton) even though the cause of death seems to be natural causes. The big mouthed Capt. Street (Grant Withers) works with Wong but usually disagrees with him. Later another partner Wilk (Hooper Atchley) is killed alone in a locked room. The only clue seems to be shards of shattered glass. Their chief suspect is Karl Romer (John St. Polis), a guy who says he was cheated out of a stake in the trios' company. The third partner Meisle (William Gould) seems like a good lead but then he's killed the same way. And then there's the mysterious Countess (Evelyn Brent) and her friend The Baron. A nosy reporter Bobby Logan (Marjorie Reynolds) manages to get in Wong's way several times. There's not much action in this first in a series of 5 quickly made Monogram mysteries (the first 4 directed by William Nigh who apparently didn't mess around) but Karloff is fun to watch and the manner in which the victims are killed is a doozy!
The Wong character was created by Hugh Wiley and was popular in its time (there were even some comic books). In the stories (a dozen or so from 1934-1941 in Collier's) Wong was a agent for the US treasury but in the films he's a regular private eye. Withers and Reynolds would reprise there roles in the sequels.
Big note: Some of my Mr. Wong info came from http://www.thrillingdetective.com/index.html
Thanks for reading!
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