Mr. Wong, Detective (1938)

1938 was a great year for movies, by the way. Just check how many of the classics were made that year. This was the first of the Mr. Wong series, which my wife and I dearly love. Boris Karloff is great as the Chinese-American detective, and any misconceptions you may have had of his being a one-dimensional horror actor are quickly dispelled here.

Industrialist John Hamilton comes to Wong, fearing for his life. As he leaves Wong's house, an attempt is made to kidnap him. Hamilton and his two partners have been selling a poison gas invented by John St. Polis, who is angry because he does not feel he is getting his share of the profits.

Grant Withers is the police Captain involved in the case, and he and Karloff have a great rapport on the screen. (That rapport is greatly enhanced in later Wong movies when Marjorie Reynolds joins the cast as Withers' fiesty reporter girlfriend.)

These are not great movies as the movie-making art goes, but for fans of the old black-and-white detective series of movies, they are priceless.




Withers