Watch Mr. Wong in Chinatown For Free

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Reviewer Planktonrules nails the key problem. The movie is indeed "low-energy". Karloff walks through the Wong role with only eye makeup to suggest he's not Philo Vance, Crime Doctor, or any one of the other myriad sleuths of the 30's. Then too, count up his lines that are surprisingly few, suggesting his part was shot in a couple of days, probably all low-budget Monogram could afford for a headliner like Karloff. Instead, Withers and Reynolds carry much of the dialogue. But since their chemistry never gels, mainly because Withers is not very good at tongue-in-cheek, their supposed byplay falls pretty flat. Nonetheless, Reynolds shows both spunk and motivation, providing the movie's only real spark. Too bad the glamorous Lotus Long was killed off early. She could have remained a real object of interest as a mysterious dragon lady. Then too, what happened to sinister dwarf Angelo Rossito. He suddenly disappears for no apparent reason after making a colorful first impression. Instead, we get several badly choreographed fistfights among basically uninteresting characters. Add to these human elements a thoroughly muddled "mystery" that fails to generate either whodunit suspense or much interest, and you've got an inferior entry in the Moto-Chan-Wong series.

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!!

It certainly doesn't waste any time getting started: the murder occurs in the first three minutes, and in Mr.Wong's house, no less! And with the always dependable and dignified Boris Karloff in the title role again, you'd think this could develop in a pretty interesting mystery. Wrong! This film is tremendously boring. Mr.Wong has boring conversations with boring suspects who have boring motives. I had stated once that every whodunit is inherently interesting if it is at least executed with a minimum level of competence...this film proves the importance of the "competence" part. 1 star out of 4, strictly for Karloff.