Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939) watch online HD

A Chinese princess coming to Mr. Wong for help is killed in his home by a poisoned dart. This movie introduces a clichéd nosy reporter character, Bobbie Logan, played by the beautiful Marjorie Reynolds. She would appear in the rest of the Wong films. I take it as a sign they knew the Wong series wasn't working quite right and felt it needed some more side characters. Perhaps they just wanted to rip off Torchy Blane. Who knows? Grant Withers returns as Captain Street. He doesn't bark as much as he usually does, except when Bobbie's around. She's his girlfriend and he wants her to stay out of trouble. Another Torchy Blane similarity. Curiously, 1939 was also the year Torchy Blane in Chinatown was released. This is a watchable movie, as all the Wongs are, but nothing special.

A distressed Oriental woman comes knocking on the door of James Lee Wong seeking his help. Before we get to learn her request, she is murdered by a poisoned dart, fired through the open window of Wong's study. She is Princess Lin Hwa, a woman of high degree from the Wang-Ki family, as evidenced by a ring displaying her family crest.

As in prior Mr. Wong films, James Lee Wong (Boris Karloff) is accompanied in his investigation by Police Captain Bill Street (Grant Withers), though he needn't bother, as the detective is mostly ineffective in getting any real police work done. It's Wong himself who develops his leads and is more effectively helped by Herald newspaper reporter Roberta Logan (Marjorie Reynolds), a somewhat romantic interest for Street, though she's pretty much pushed around by the Captain for most of the film, while maintaining a wry smile and quick wit to counteract the blustering bully.

In her last minutes before dying, Lin Hwa manages to scribble a curiously worded "Captain J" on a piece of paper, pointing Wong to not one but two different but connected leads - Captain James of the steamship "Maid of the Orient", and Captain Guy Jackson (everybody's a Captain!) of the Phelps Aviation Company. It's revealed that the Princess was arranging for the sale of airplanes to her brother in China, but the two Captain J's were conspiring to rid her of her money without fulfilling their end of the bargain.

The real villain behind the murders though is the outwardly helpful bank president Davidson (Huntley Gordon), having had access to Lin Hwa's bank account and freely forging checks to relieve her account of a million dollars. The giveaway - Davidson claimed to have had a vicious dog buried with an expensive headstone, but Wong correctly surmises that the grave actually conceals the body of a mute dwarf that was a friend of the Princess.

Monogram Pictures released this movie in 1939, and later remade the film in 1947 with another Oriental Detective in the lead role, casting Roland Winters in his first screen appearance as Charlie Chan. "The Chinese Ring" is virtually a carbon copy of the Wong movie, with the "Captain J" clue changed by one letter to "Captain K". From there it moves along at pretty much the same pace until Chan's revelation of the killer. Both films are passable, but if you've seen one, you've seen both.

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!!

As a fan of 1930s-1940s movies with an "Oriental" protagonist, I have collected all of the Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, and Mr. Wong movies. However, this movie would have been much better had the all-too-frequent, painfully annoying, and downright noisy cat-fights between Captain Bill Street and Reporter Bobbie Logan ended up on the editor's cutting-room floor.

Another problem with this film is that Mr. Wong plays a much too passive role. All he seems to do is follow the lead of either the Captain or the Reporter. Bottom line: one quickly begins to wonder why Mr. Wong is in this movie, because he doesn't seem to be necessary to the plot.

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.

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.

'Mr. Wong in Chinatown' is quiet but lively. Good movie, dramatic, atmospheric, suspenseful, a genuine mystery chiller, with one scene set in Chinatown (so don't expect much about colorful exotic shocker; yet the Chinese princess had charm and appeal), and the rest in offices, houses, etc.; it's also a screwball. Karloff plays Wong as a good-natured gentleman, and he sometimes resembles a bit Irons, Wong puts few questions, and sometimes needs help (he's rescued by the girl in this movie); Wong meets some really tough businessmen, who do not hesitate before the strongest measures, and his visit to the Chinese oldsters is nice, but Wong's two pals, the policeman and the newspaper girl, provide good roles. The screwball is funny. Wong, charming, soft-spoken, mild, reasonably streetwise, would of made an actor's career, but Karloff did so many interesting performances, that this one got less love. I missed such an old mystery movie, and this one did charm me. In these old movies, they disposed easily of secondary characters (like Carradine in a Moto outing, and the dwarf here), not to mention bit players and lesser parts. These movies were like episodes of the serials they made once, but on a bigger budget perhaps.

For Boris Karloff fans Mr Wong in Chinatown makes for good curiosity value and has good things that makes it a little more than that. Mr Wong in Chinatown is far from bad and Karloff has certainly done worse(look at the Mexican films he did) but he has also done better and deserved better. If asked whether Mr Wong in Chinatown is recommended, I'd say yes but only partially. There are some good things, Karloff is still commanding and gives a very good performance(as said many times by me one of those actors that gave his all regardless of the material). Marjorie Reynolds is the other, and in a way only other, standout in the cast, she brings a great deal of sass to Logan and really spices things up but deserved better material to do so more. Some of the sparring-constant- between her and Grant Withers is entertaining. The closing gag is great. The music has its jauntiness and eeriness. The sets are appropriate and nicely done. And Lotus Long while killed off quickly, perhaps too quickly, she makes for a sensual presence and makes things promising to begin with. However, while the sparring between Reynolds and Withers is fun their chemistry could have been better, aside from their dialogue the chemistry doesn't gel. And Withers to me is the problem, his performance more scenery-chewing rather than subtle and often of the worst kind, the shouting and frozen facial expressions did get annoying after a while. The photography is serviceable but could have been more fluid, the low-budget does show. Outside of the verbal sparring and the closing gag, the dialogue does come across as stilted and could have developed things more. The story shows good potential but peters out after the beginning but picks up at the final solution, which is a nice surprise, the mystery did feel weak because of the dull pacing(the film did feel longer than it was), lack of suspense and tension, the lacking dialogue and that really only two performances stood out. It also got very routine and didn't contain that many surprises. In conclusion, a watchable film with interest points but not great, one of the weaker entries of the series. 5.5/10 Bethany Cox

Hugh Wiley's Chinese detective Mr. Wong(Boris Karloff)finds a pretty Chinese Princess Lin Hwa(Lotus Long)dead on his study floor. Why did someone shoot the poison dart that killed her? An enterprising and attractive female newspaper reporter, Bobbie Logan(Marjorie Reynolds), seems to keep getting in the way of Wong and Police Captain Street's(Grant Withers)investigation. It is discovered that Princess Lin Hwa came to San Francisco's Chinatown to purchase airplanes to help defend her homeland. And embezzlers find it hard to outsmart Mr. Wong. This low budget movie from Monogram runs 71 minutes with Mr. Wong as a poor man's Charlie Chan. Also in the cast: Huntley Gordon, James Flavin and Bessie Loo.

Poor Lotus Long the oriental actress who got murdered in two Mr. Wong vehicles. In Mr. Wong In Chinatown she no longer arrives at Boris Karloff's home when she's killed with a poison dart fired through the window of his study.

Probably because the victim was Chinese, Mr. Wong would have gotten involved in any case, but won't these movie villains ever learn? Doing it that way was an open invitation.

Lotus lives long enough to leave a written cryptic clue and Karloff and police captain Grant Withers go chasing leads. The victim was a Chinese princess in town allegedly to buy airplanes for her country during war time. The clue itself by the way turns out to be a bit of a red herring.

Mr. Wong In Chinatown marks the first appearance of Marjorie Reynolds in this series as Withers's pesky reporter girl friend. Reynolds is in the snoop and scoop Lois Lane school of journalism. She actually does prove useful, more at times than Myrna Loy was to William Powell.

But this is Monogram, not MGM so the production values are really on the cheap here. Still for that studio this isn't a bad film.

This has to be the best of the low budget Monogram series of crime programmers made briefly from 1938 to 1940, more for the sense of fun it provides, and partially for the more interesting plotline. The set-up is fascinating, too, showing the murder of Tong princess Lotus Long in Mr. Wong's apartment, shot in the neck by a teeny tiny poisoned darts. Long takes her time in expiring, dramatically writing down a clue for Boris Karloff's Wong to follow. A nosy reporter (Marjorie Reynolds) becomes a thorn in police detective Grant Withers' side, delighting in showing him up with her expertise in the breaking down of a murder investigation. Karloff, too, has a glint in his eye this time around, perhaps pleased by the fact that some thought went into the script which makes it more fun for the audience too.

For once in the series, the investigation drops enough hints for the audience to get more involved, bringing in some interesting supporting characters, most notably Angelo Rossito ("Freaks", many Monogram programmers as Bela Lugosi's sidekick) as a mute Chinese dwarf and Bessie Loo as a Chinese matron. There's also a bit more action than normal, crisp dialog and not a lot of dramatic poses that made me fight to stay awake in others in the series. I really enjoyed the playful rivalry between Reynolds and Withers which had the potential to become a series itself. It reminded me of the later Monogram two part crime comedy/drama with Jean Parker as Detective Kitty O'Day and Tim Ryan as the flustered police detective. This is an example of how sometimes you can make a silk purse out of a sow's war.

There was a documentary on public television some time ago about the Chinese in the movies. It was short because they were mostly background in early films. God forbid a Chinese person was ever cast as a Chinese person in a movie.

Boris Karloff, who was a wonderful actor, is Mr. Wong. I'm not sure where this comes in the series but I'll give you two words to describe it - Monogram Studios.

A woman visits Mr. Wong, but before she can speak to him, she is killed with a poison dart. She has time to write a partial note with the words "Captain J." Naturally there are two Captain Js here.

The film has to do with airplanes she was buying for her brother, an important person with the Chinese air command, and the apparent smuggling of them. Don't ask me how one does that. Aren't they kind of large? It also has to do with stealing money.

It's just okay but it's nice to see Karloff as someone other than Frankenstein.

Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939)

I've seen a number of these Boris Karloff movies where he plays the Chinese detective Mr. Wong, and I can never quite get used to the idea that they cast Karloff in that role. Oddly, he's the best part of the series (he was a great actor, really, going far beyond being a great Monster.

There was the potential at first for some pre-WWII intrigue, because the key element behind the murders with the poison darts is a shipment of airplanes (which seem a bit tricky to smuggle, but whatever). Nothing really comes of it, however. Strickly low budget.

For a full intro to the series, check out this very nice site: cheddarbay.com/0000celebrityfiles/films/wong/wong.html

This one is a routine affair, with the chipper female reporter to spice up the dialog. I'm not sure I'd recommend it in particular!

Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939)

** (out of 4)

Princess Lin Hwa frantically rushes to Detective Wong (Boris Karloff) but before he can see her she is dead. It turns out that she was shot with a poisonous dart so Wong investigates and finds that the Chinese woman was in America trying to buy warplanes. Pretty soon more bodies are found so Wong and Captain Street (Grant Withers) must try and figure out what's going on.

MR. WONG IN CHINATOWN was the third film in the series and it was certainly a step down from the previous two entries. The first two films were obviously cheap "B" pictures but they at least featured decent stories and benefited from having someone like Karloff in the lead. This film has a fairly bland story and there's just not much life to it.

The biggest problem with the film is that the screenplay just doesn't offer us anything we haven't seen countless times before. This time out we have a female reporter thrown in who of course is the girlfriend to Captain Streets, which leads to a bunch of arguing between the two. None of the dialogue is overly clever or charming so the fighting just comes across as annoying.

Karloff is once again good in his role, although, as with the first two films, he doesn't even bother trying to act or loo Asian. He at least keeps the film mildly amusing and I'd also say that Withers gives the film a little entertainment as well. Marjorie Reynolds does what she can as the reporter and come off mildy charming at times.

MR. WONG IN CHINATOWN isn't a horrible movie but at the same time it's just too routine and bland to make much of an impression.

I get these Oriental gentlemen -- Mr. Wong, Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto -- mixed up because they all look alike. This one has Boris Karloff as James Lee Wong investigating the murder of a Chinese princess fresh off the ship from Hangkow. She's the sister of an important warlord and had intended to buy airplanes so that he could defend his province and wage battle against "the other powers." This is 1939. The war had not yet started for the United States but there was a good deal of rivalry for Pacific territories and a lot of enmity based on "the other power's" invasion of first Manchuria and then China itself in the early 30s. But of course, before Pearl Harbor, no one could use words like "Japan", "Chiang Kai-Sheck", or the Wellesly-educated and charming "Madam Chiang Kai-Sheck." The resemblance between the fictional and real elements of the story may be coincidental, but I doubt it. The Japanese equivalent of Charlie Chan -- Mr. Moto -- made his last film appearance in 1939. The Green Hornet's faithful valet, Kato, lost his Japanese ancestry in the same year, becoming first a Korean, then a Filipino.

That's a bit of arcana, I know, but there isn't really much to say about the film itself. Boris Karloff has both his eyelids and his hair pasted back. He doesn't try a Chinese accent, nor is he called on to speak any Chinese, thank the merciful heavens. He's a perfect gentleman throughout. And his fulgurating intuition allows him to solve mysteries with only the slightest of clues. Having overheard one of the characters order a nice headstone for a dog's grave, Wong is able to conclude that a dwarf is actually buried there "because one does not order an expensive headstone for a savage dog." This guy makes Columbo seem dim-witted.

There's a relationship between a sassy blond reporter and the police detective who is always insulting her, sometimes pushing her around, shoving an apple into her mouth, telling her to "get lost." It's supposed to be funny.

Yes, it's another blockbuster from MONOGRAM STUDIOS. That means "no extras," so the story has a handful of the same characters walking or driving from one location to another. Some of the interiors use the same sets with the furniture rearranged.

It's the kind of B feature that you'll either find very entertaining or dull throughout. I don't think there's any third possibility.

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.