Mr Wong in Chinatown ** (1939, Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Marjorie Reynolds) – Classic Movie Review 5599

Boris Karloff continues to battle his odd and uneasy casting as San Francisco Chinese detective James Lee Wong, investigating an oriental princess’s death by poison dart in his hallway, in Monogram Pictures’ intriguing if modest mystery thriller, the second sequel to Mr Wong, Detective, directed by William Nigh in 1939. He finds she was Princess Lin Hwa, in the US on a secret military mission for Chinese forces fighting the Japanese invaders.

Grant Withers returns from the original as Captain Sam Street. Also in the cast are Marjorie Reynolds as reporter Roberta ‘Bobbie’ Logan, Peter George Lynn as Captain Guy Jackson, Aviation Corp president, William Royle as Captain Jaime of the Maid of the Orient, James Flavin as Police Sgt Jerry, Richard Loo and Guy Usher.

It runs 70 minutes, is written by Houston Branch, is shot in black and white by Harry Neumann, is produced by Scott R Dunlap and is scored by Art Meyer.

It was released in the US on 1 August 1939.

It follows The Mystery of Mr Wong (1939), released in the US on 8 March 1939.

Sequels: The Fatal Hour (1940), Doomed to Die (1940), Phantom of Chinatown (1940).

In the public domain, it is available for free download at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/Mr_Wong_in_Chinatown

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5599

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