Doomed to Die (1940)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

William Nigh

Writers:

Hugh Wiley (characters from James Lee Wong stories in Collier's Magazine)
Ralph Gilbert Bettison (story)
(more)

Release Date:

12 August 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

The master of crime cleans up the dirty game of murder!

Plot:

Mr. Wong and a girl reporter investigate a shipping magnate's murder.

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Detective | Shipping | Police | Murder

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	James Lee Wong
Marjorie Reynolds	...	Roberta 'Bobbie' Logan
Grant Withers	...	Capt. William 'Bill' Street (Homicide Squad)
William Stelling	...	Dick Fleming
Catherine Craig	...	Cynthia Wentworth
Guy Usher	...	Paul Fleming (Dick's father)
Henry Brandon	...	Victor 'Vic' Martin (attorney)
Melvin Lang	...	Cyrus P. Wentworth
Wilbur Mack	...	Matthews (Wentworth's assistant)
Kenneth Harlan	...	Ludlow (chauffeur)
Richard Loo	...	Tong leader
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tristram Coffin	...	Baldwin (insurance adjuster) (uncredited)
Mike Donovan	...	Det. Mike (uncredited)
Gibson Gowland	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Jack Kennedy	...	Police Sgt. Casey (uncredited)
Maxine Leslie	...	Miss Reed (Cyrus' secretary) (uncredited)
Moy Ming	...	Aged Tong member (uncredited)
Angelo Rossitto	...	Newsboy #3 in montage (uncredited)
Bill Willmering	...	Det. Blake (uncredited)

Directed by
William Nigh

Writing credits
Hugh Wiley		(characters from James Lee Wong stories in Collier's Magazine)
Ralph Gilbert Bettison		(story) (as Ralph Bettinson)
Michael Jacoby		(screenplay) (as Michel Jacoby)

Produced by
Paul Malvern	....	associate producer
Scott R. Dunlap	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Harry Neumann

Film Editing by
Robert Golden

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Charles J. Bigelow	....	production manager
Scott R. Dunlap	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Glenn Cook	....	assistant director (as Glen Cook)

Sound Department
Karl Zint	....	sound recording engineer

Music Department
Edward J. Kay	....	musical director (as Edward Kay)
Edward J. Kay	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
E.R. Hickson	....	technical director

Production Companies

• Monogram Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Monogram Pictures Corporation (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Take 2 Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• VCI Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Navarre Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Digiview Entertainment (2007) (worldwide) (DVD)
• Passport Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (????) (USA) (VHS)
• United Artists (????) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

The Mystery of Wentworth Castle

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6505)

Company:

Monogram Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The images of the burning of the fictitious liner Wentworth Castle is taken from actual news footage of the burning of the liner SS Morro Castle. The Morro Castle caught fire on 8 September 1934 during a trip from Havana to New York. The heavy loss of life combined with the beaching of the gutted hulk in New Jersey made it one of the biggest news stories of the day.

Movie Connections:

Follows Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939)

Cant go "Wong" here!

As far as mystery B-movies go, you cant go "Wong" with this one. Karloff returns once again as the famous Chinese detective James Lee Wong to solve the murder of a shipping tycoon. What seems like an open and shut case to Capt. Street (Grant Withers) quickly becomes a web of deceit, lies and murder! I've only seen two Wong films, this and "The Fatal Hour", but I really enjoyed them both, largely due to Capt. Street and his "sidekick" reporter Bobbie Logan. The banter between them is cliché, but often pretty funny anyway. They have great chemistry together on screen. Karloff is, of course, great as Wong. I loved his entrances from the most unlikely places, such as windows or fire escapes. The plot was pretty straight forward, though it was full of red-herrings and false suspects that made the conclusion a bit hard to guess. Not that that's a bad thing mind you, I quite enjoyed the ending. To sum up, I recommend this as well as the slightly better "Fatal Hour" as two of the best mystery B-movies you'll find out there.

8/10