Watch The Mystery of Mr. Wong For Free

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Absolutely Brilliant!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The Mystery of Mr. Wong (1939) ** 1/2 (out of 4)An antique dealer comes into possession of a rare Chinese artifact and before long he is dead. At first it appears to have been a stunt gone wrong but soon Mr. Wong (Boris Karloff) realizes that it was murder but was it connected to the artifact?THE MYSTERY OF MR. WONG was the second of six films that Monogram did in the series. If you're a fan of the first then you'll probably enjoy this one, although there's no question that it's not quite as good. Still, for a "B" movie from this era there are enough entertaining moments to make it worth watching and especially if you're a fan of Karloff.As you'd expect, Karloff is the main reason to watch the picture as he turns in another good performance as Mr. Wong. He's certainly not believable as an Asian but I guess this was to be expected. With that said, he doesn't even appear to be trying to come across as Asian but I still enjoyed his performance for the laid-back approach that he took with the character. Grant Withers returns as Captain Street but the screenplay doesn't offer him as good as a role. The supporting cast is mostly good with the exception of Dorothy Tree who plays the victim's wife.The biggest issue with this film is the fact that the story itself isn't quite as interesting as that of the first film. There's really not as many interesting supporting characters and this here takes away from the whole film. With that said, it's a "B" movie and on that level it's entertaining enough for what it is.

This is one of the better mystery films where Boris Karloff stars as Mr. Wong. This one deals with a man, Brendan Edwards, who is an antique collector and loves the Chinese arts and he has just acquired the rare sapphire known as Eye of the Daughter of the Moon. Mr. Edwards also suspects he will be murdered soon but has decided to put the name of the person who he suspects in a sealed letter in his safe - he did show that letter to Mr. Wong and explained a few thing to him. One night Mr. Edwards and his wife throw a party and had a few party games to entertain their guests, one of the games played that evening was "charades" - it turned out to be a deadly game for Mr. Edwards. Mr. Wong, who was one of the many guests that evening, is on the case.What is good about this particular Mr. Wong mystery is that there are a handful of suspects with good motives to kill Mr. Edwards, so there are couple of twist and turns that will keep this Mr. Wong film interesting.9/10

Boris Karloff attempts to become the male version of Gale Sondergaard in this second entry in the fortunately short-lived series, the worst of the three continuous mystery programmers starring obvious Caucasians in Asian roles. At least, Peter Lorre was slightly believable as Mr. Moto, and all four Charlie Chans were too. But the tall Karloff isn't at all believable in any sense, even if he utilizes his all too frequent over- the-top sincerity to spout out the ridiculous lines in a wretched screenplay.At least this second in the series is somewhat watchable, even if every cliché of every dime store mystery novel is utilized, from the line-up of predictable suspects to details added into the plot during the last minutes of the movie. The story surrounds the theft of an ancient Chinese gem which apparently carries a curse, and the murder of the man whose hands it ended up in. The set-up for the murder is a neat twist, occurring in a game of charades where the clues for the answer are somewhat obscure and the answers almost impossible to guess. This is a slightly above average entry, the others extremely slow moving in spite of short running times, and all filled with stereotypes. This film is ripe for parody (especially for one suspect who goes by the name of Strogonoff!) and some of the tackier moments are downright unintentionally comical. Film history students will have a fun time dissecting this, especially those who are interested in the poverty row studios which sometimes turned out surprising sleepers and an occasional masterpiece. In the final scene, try not to be distracted by Mr. Wong's parrot in the background who steals the scene from the talking actors.

When compared to the typical genre mystery of it's time, this movie is quite good. Karloff raises the level with his measured acting, and the film is mercifully free of the comic relief clowning that was so common at the time.This is one of those 'house' mysteries. Most of the action occurs in one house - the house of a wealthy man, as always. And, as is so often true in the genre, the detective just happens to be on the scene when the murder occurs. Another plus for this film is that the policeman - Detective Street - is not a buffoon. Street is less a foil than an aid to Mr Wong, allowing us to take the story seriously - although we can't be too serious. There are obvious red herrings, and sudden reveals of facts we didn't have. For all that, the Wong series came after the clunkiness of the early talkies had been worked out, and the acting is much closer to what we would come to expect from classic studio products.Although I always struggle with Karloff as a Chinese - unlike the Chan series, for some reason - I have to say the role he played got the job done. This film is out of copyright, and is available online for free, and on at least one low-priced mystery collection. I found it at the library in a 5 CD Mystery and Murder set.