The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)

Director:

William Nigh

Writers:

Harry Stephen Keeler (story)
Lew Levenson (adaptation)

Release Date:

22 December 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Horror

Tagline:

A fight for an empire behind the curtained mysteries of San Francisco's Chinatown!

Plot:

Investigating a series of murders in Chinatown, wise-guy reporter Jason Barton is captured by the megalomaniacal Mr...

Plot Keywords:

Mr Wong | China | Gold Coin | Murder | Reporter

Cast

Bela Lugosi	...	Mr. Fu Wong, aka Lysee (as Béla Lugosi)
Wallace Ford	...	Jason H. 'Jay' Barton
Arline Judge	...	Peg
E. Alyn Warren	...	Phillip Tsang (as Fred Warren)
Lotus Long	...	Moonflower, Wong's Niece
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Officer 'Mac' McGillicuddy (as Robert Emmet O'Connor)
Edward Peil Sr.	...	Jen Wu, Wong Henchman (as Edward Peil)
Luke Chan	...	Professor Chan Fu
Lee Shumway	...	Editor Steve Brandon
Etta Lee	...	Lusan, Moonflower's Attendant
Ernest F. Young	...	Reporter Chuck Roberts

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #423)

Filming Locations:

RKO-Pathé Studios - 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Monogram Pictures

Trivia:

This film is sometimes incorrectly identified as one of the films of the "Mr.Wong" series which was also produced by Monogram (in the late 1930s) starring Boris Karloff as a Chinese detective.

Quotes:

Editor: Did you ever run into a Chinaman by the name of Wong?
Barton: Have I ever run into one that ain't named Wong?

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Slanted Screen (2006)

Interesting old-time crime pulp

Modern viewers must be forgiven if they're confused over the genre of this Bela Lugosi film. It's crime pulp, something hardly seen today except in Quentin Tarantino films. The focus is on the villain, in this case Lugosi as a Chinese(!) gangster tracking down the twelve coins of Confucius. The only mystery is how he will be stopped and whether or not he will escape to cause trouble another day.

Wallace Ford is fun as the wry reporter (reminding me a bit of Chevy Chase). And Arline Judge is as cute as a button as the switchboard operator he's trying to romance. It all takes place in Chinatown, for some reason, with plenty of casual bigotry, altho its sometimes turned around on the bigot for comic comeuppance (as when Ford talks pidgin to a Chinese girl only to be answered in fluent English).

If you like the era, this is a fun film and a good example of the genre. It's got the menacing thugs, mysterious murders, and secret passageways you expect and a bit of sassy dialog to boot.