He's Mysterious Alright

 

THE MYSTERIOUS MR. WONG-1934-The sinister Mr. Wong (Bela Lugosi in Asian makeup and Hungarian accent) is searching for the 12 coins of Confucius. Everyone suspects a Tong war but annoying, wise-cracking reporter Jason Barton (Wallace Ford; FREAKS (1932)) thinks otherwise. When one his henchmen fails, Wong has him thrown in a basement with rats (not shown). 

By day, Wong poses as Li See, a herbalist. He treats his niece Moonflower (Lotus Long) and her attendant pretty badly and she says he's mad. Jason & and girlfriend Peg (Arline Judge) team up to figure out the mystery when Jason gets a hold of the coin. 

Corny cliché talk and sometimes racist dialogue. Also with Richard Loo. Directed in fast fashion by William Nigh who ironically later did the Boris Karloff series of Mr. Wong detective films. It's based on the short story “The Strange Adventure of the 12 Coins of Confucius” (1927) by once popular mystery writer Harry Stephen Keeler. This was Lugosi's first film for the “poverty row” studio Monogram.

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Are They?

 

ARE THESE OUR CHILDREN?-1931-An early talky exploitation mortally tale about Eddie (Eric Linden), a too self confident high school student who lives with his grandmother (Beryl Mercer) and younger brother (Billy Butts) and has a nice girlfriend Mary (Rochelle Hudson). But after he's humiliated at school he falls into a life of crime while romancing a floozy (Arline Judge). He shoots and kills his grandma's deli owner friend over a bottle of "hooch". When he and his cronies are arrested Eddie likes the publicity. When his ego driven idea of being his own lawyer backfires he's convicted and sentenced to death. 

Director Wesley Ruggles (brother of actor Charlie) had made comedy shorts in the silent era. He later directed Mae West in I'M NO ANGEL. 

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What Is The Law?

LAW OF THE JUNGLE-1942-Nona Brooks (Arline Judge), an American singer is stranded in African and sings at a sleazy cafe for creepy owner Simmons (Arthur O'Connell). 

She meets American paleontologist Larry Mason (John “Dusty” King) who she hopes will help her but Simmons convinces Mason she's a con artist. When a guy is killed in the cafe, she wanders into the jungle to get away! To appease his native safari Mason agrees to re-bury some bones he dug up but the job falls to his assistant Jeff (Mantan Moreland) who hears Nona but thinks she’s a ghost. Mason takes her in but insists she return to the town. Meanwhile 2 German spies want some secret papers accidentally given to Nona. They kill Simmons and hunt for Nona in the jungle. They get another tribe (with rifles) to go after Mason's group. Mason, Nona & Jeff wind up hiding in a dark cave. After an encounter with a gorilla they are captured but things take a comic turn when a native female takes a liking to Jeff and the tribal chief (Lawrence Criner) is Oxford educated and speaks English. 

Criner was also in THE GANG'S ALL HERE and FRECKLES COMES HOME both made by LAW OF THE JUNGLE'S director Jean Yarbrough for Monogram Pictures.

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Go Directly To Jail

GIRLS IN CHAINS-1943-Arline Judge (with a weird too big hair-do) is the sister in law of gangster Johnny Moon (Allen Byron) who has a hard time keeping a job because of this connection. She winds up being a psychologist at a girls reform school. A policeman (Roger Clark) investigates the corruption at the school and tries to nail Moon.

This movie is badly made despite being helmed by the great Edgar Ulmer who usually managed to inject surprising scenes into his low budget output (he made DETOUR in ‘45). I think he must have edited it on his lunch hour from another film! There’s a real surprising lapse of continuity involving Sid Melton (as Moon’s henchman). Emmett Lynn portrays a timid guy who becomes a drunk and helps out in the end. Barbara Pepper (later Mrs. Ziffel on TV's GREEN ACRES) plays an inmate.

Star Judge spend most of her career in low budget films and was more well known for having been married 8 times! Her last film appearance was in the horror quickie THE CRAWLING HAND. She died in 1974.

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