THE MYSTERY OF MR WONG.
US, 1939, 70 minutes, Black and white.
Boris Karloff, Grant Withers.
Directed by William Nigh.
Mr. Wong, Detective is the first of the Mr. Wong murder mysteries featuring Boris Karloff as the very polished but enigmatic detective in San Francisco. There were five films in all, from 1939 to 1941.
Asian detectives were very popular in series at this time, the Mr. Moto series as well as the Charlie Chan series.
The film opens with scenes of San Francisco Harbour and big liners. However, interest is in a small craft which collects a package thrown overboard by the liner. After this the rest of the film is inside the one house. The context is the owner of the house obtaining a fabulous jewel, smuggled out of China, in a museum in Nanking, stolen after the siege. An interesting point that the siege of Nanking is incorporated into the film, contemporary events in China and the Japanese invasion.
Mr. Wong, being the expert in Chinese and history, is invited to view the jewel. However, the owner puts a letter in his safe containing the name of the person he thinks will attempt to kill him.
There is tension in the house with the wealthy man’s secretary in love with his wife, his second wife, after having driven the first to suicide. There is also a visitor from China, a Russian posing as a singer. He is actually in league with the maid, wanting the jewel, whereas she wanted him to marry her so that she could migrate to the United States and stay.
There is a party with many guests, Mr. Wong being invited as well as a previous collaborator, a criminologist, Professor Janney. During charades, the wealthy man is shot. His secretary is immediately suspected. However, it is proved that the gun in the play was not the gun used to kill.
Detective Street is invited, rather low key in this particular film, rather than the overacting in other films of the series. Mr. Wong also investigates and his shot at in the garden.
The maid is also found dead, wanting to mail the letter to Mr. Wong after she had taken it from the dead man’s safe. Also involved is the lawyer who drew up a rich man’s will, wanting to disinherit his wife.
Mr. Wong surprisingly unmasks the professor as the killer, because his sister had been the first wife of the murdered man and he was getting revenge.
This film is rather more like an Agatha Christie story than many of the others.
The film is interesting of its kind, but a modest small-budget supporting film, of historical interest. San Francisco police headquarters must be the smallest and barest offices in cinema history.
But the film will be of particular interest to followers of Boris Karloff’s career. This performance is quite far from his many appearances in horror films, a much more urbane and intelligent performance than many of his fans might be used to.
