By
Hank Reineke
If we are to use history as a guide – as we should – Earl
Derr Biggers’ creation of Charlie Chan marked the first occasion of a fictional
Asian detective (Chinese-American to
be precise) to be received warmly by not only a U.S. audience but by filmgoers
worldwide. Biggers had published no
fewer than six Chan mystery novels in the years 1925-1932. The author may have even continued the series
had he not died young, age 48, in the spring of 1933. Though there had been preceding Chan film
adaptations – the first being a 1926 serial - it wasn’t until Swede Warner
Oland’s assumption of the role in 1931 that the character became an iconic
totem of detective cinema.
Though Oland had a clear lock on the public’s perception
of the inscrutable, unflappable Asian detective, the literary Chan was now moribund. Sensing a vacuum, yet another American author, John P. Marquand, would
create the friendly (and obviously pre-war) Japanese spy Mr. Moto. The missions of that character were first
serialized in issues of the Saturday
Evening Post (1935-1938), those stories soon turned into novels by Boston’s
Little Brown & Co. Following Daryl
F. Zanuck’s licensing of character rights for 2oth Century Fox in July of 1936,
the studio issued no fewer than eight Mr. Moto mystery films (featuring Peter
Lorre) in the years 1937-1939.
Whether it was Lorre who chose not to renew his Fox
contract, or whether Fox decided the series had simply played out or whether it
was the actions of an increasingly belligerent and aggressive Japan (who would formally
align with the Axis Powers in September of 1940), Mr. Moto’s final pre-WWII
film adventure, ironically titled Mr.
Moto Takes a Vacation, was released in summer of 1939. Whatever the reason, it was the success of
the Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto series that allowed Colliers magazine to coattail introduce Hugh Wiley’s Chinese-American
James Lee Wong series of detective stories in 1934.
In September of 1938 a California newspaper reported that
author Wiley had “just sold four of his detective stories, centering about the
character of James Lee Wong, to Monogram Pictures.” The proposed film series was purportedly to
feature Boris Karloff – just off production of Son of Frankenstein (Universal) – as the film’s title character. Technically, this character licensing report was
old news. In February of 1938, there
were already reports that Monogram’s Scott Dunlap was looking for the right actor
to cast as Mr. Wong. There was one sensible
suggestion that the studio was hoping to find a “Keye Luke” type. Luke was now approachable as Oland’s incarnate
of Charlie Chan had recently come to an abrupt, sad end. When Oland passed in August of 1938, Luke was
passed over for consideration as a successor. The part ignobly went to Sidney Toler, yet another actor of European
ancestry.
Keye Luke was already a familiar figure to cinemagoers –
he popularly played the “Number One Son” to Oland’s Chan in a number of films
in that popular series. Luke chose to
exit the Chan franchise following Oland’s passing: but while now available to
Monogram he was not considered a guaranteed box office draw. The Los Angeles Daily News reported on April 14, 1938 that, following negotiations
on a long-distance phone call, Dunlap had secured the promise of Boris Karloff,
age 50, to star in the proposed series. Shortly following that news, snippy Hollywood
gossiper Louella Parsons sniffed that Karloff was exhibiting more than a bit of
courage should he expect to “muscle in on the territory so triumphantly held by
Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto.”
On April 26, 1938, Variety
reported that the Monogram president had been “conferring” with producer Scott
R. Dunlap, looking to rush into production for the “1938-1939 releasing season”
four new feature films, one of which was Mr.
Wong, Detective. On 10 May Variety reported that Richard Weil, “the
author of the Charlie Chan radio adventures” had been tasked to write the
screenplay for the film. But whether due
to a “conflict of interest” concern or simply a scheduling issue, Weil soon fell
out and scripting duties went to Houston Branch, a Monogram dependable. In any
event, it wasn’t until late August of 1938 that the trades announced that Monogram’s
Mr. Wong film - suggested as the “first of four whodunits” all to star Boris
Karloff - was to go into production in a week’s time. Industry trade Box Office made further note that the four Wong serial mysteries
slated for production were Mr. Wong,
Detective, Mr. Wong at Headquarters,
Mr. Wong in Chinatown and The Mystery of Mr. Wong.
There would be no shortage of Asian detective melodramas
in 1938. Monogram’s Mr. Wong was to
compete directly against 20th Century Fox’s Mr. Moto series and the
Chan films still touring the regional circuit. And all three would feature
non-Asian actors as the title characters. Karloff, of course, was no stranger to accepting East-Asian roles,
having already appeared in such films as The
Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) and, more recently, West of Shanghai (1937). On
June 20th, the Los Angeles
Evening Citizen News offered while a complete script had not yet been turned
in, cameras were set to roll on Mr. Wong,
Detective in three weeks’ time. That
deadline was apparently missed, as the first day of shooting on Mr. Wong, Detective would not start
until late August (the 25th according to one contemporary newspaper
accounting, the 24th according to this film’s audio commentary).
We do know that on 3 September 1938, a journalist visited
Monogram’s Mr. Wong set. The writer had
chosen to sit through a portion of Karloff’s grueling three-and-a-half hour
session in the makeup chair of Gordon Bau. Karloff was no stranger to make-up applications, but admitted to the
reporter that such wearying sessions weren’t the favorite part of his day. “It’s lovely to get up and go to the studio
at 6:00 A.M., stretch out in a barber chair and have somebody with hobnailed
boots crawl in and out of your eyes.” Bau defensively parried that such applications were necessary evils,
admitting his work on applying rubber cement near Karloff’s eyes to create
epicurean folds proved the most challenging part of the actor’s physical transformation.
Karloff agreed the eye make-up applications were the most
wearying to endure. “By the time you get
done,” Karloff sighed, “my eyeballs are pressed, my vision is off focus and I
walk around all day in a haze.” Turning
his attention to the visiting journalist, Karloff sniggered, “And when finally
he gets through with me, he’s proud of what he’s done. He thinks it is a work of art.” For the most part, Karloff’s reimaging is
surprisingly subtle: a slick of pressed black hair, a slim moustache and
thickened eyebrows, slight eye folds often disguised behind a set of reading
glasses.
If Bau’s reasonably understated make-up appliance was a
work of art, critics were divided on whether or not Mr. Wong, Detective was. The
story itself concerns a cabal of spies working in interest of an unnamed
foreign power and trying to steal a poison gas formula for nefarious ends. The first of Monogram’s Mr. Wong pictures,
shot in a mere few weeks’ time, was set for October 5, 1938 release – a mere
month following Karloff’s session in Bau’s make-up chair.
Upon the film’s release Variety couldn’t help but comment on the film’s rushed, bargain
basement appearance, citing the production as ranging at best from “standard to
skimpy.” The Variety critic blamed director William Nigh and scripter Houston
Branch for the film’s shortfalls: “First
picture suffers from directorial and writing troubles, plus a combination of
careless acting and haphazard casting,” the reviewer sighed. Despite such criticism, it was noted that
Karloff did the best with the lackluster material given. Fighting “vigorously”
against the odds, the scribe conceded that Karloff had at the very least proven
his utility as an actor: his presence was enough to prove he needn’t have to
affix “grotesque makeup to register.”
Other reviews were kinder. London’s Picturegoer
was less critical of the picture, describing Karloff’s Mr. Wong as “a serious
rival to Charlie Chan.” But exhibitors were
more cautious, split in their opinion of the film’s merit: when one described Mr. Wong Detective, “Worthy of a top
spot on a double,” a second complained, “Where does Monogram get the idea this
is good? Awful – slowest moving thing I
have seen in years.”
Slow or not, by late January of 1939, Monogram was
already into production of the second of the series, The Mystery of Mr. Wong. W.T. Lackey took over producing duties
from Scott Dunlap, and scripter Branch was relieved of scenario duties,
screenwriting credit given to W. Scott Darling. Darling had been the screenwriter of Charlie
Chan at the Opera (1936) which, interestingly, pitted Oland’s detective
against a villainous Boris Karloff.
This second Wong was more of a pedestrian and routine parlor
murder mystery, one concerning the theft of a rare and expensive sapphire. By
March of 1939, The Mystery of Mr. Wong
was already reported as being in the “cutting room.” The film would be released in April of
1939. Though this second entry of the
series fared a wee better than its
predecessor in critical analysis, this sophomore effort too was faulted for its
“lack of action,” the weaving of too many obvious red herrings into the script,
and an appreciable number of wooden performances by the cast.
The lukewarm reviews were of little consequence. That
same April, it was announced that scripter Darling was to return and write the
series’ third entry, Mr. Wong in
Chinatown (aka Mr. Wong’s Chinatown
Squad). At Monogram’s sales convention at Chicago’s Drake Hotel in spring
of 1939, it was evident - despite the lackluster reviews - that studio bosses
were pleased with the box office takes of the first two Wong serials. They promised four more titles were already
in the pipeline: Mr. Wong Vanishes, Mr. Wong in Havana, Mr. Wong’s Chinatown Squad and Mr.
Wong in New York.
By June of 1939 Mr.
Wong in Chinatown was already well in production, screenwriter Darling
reported mid-month to have already begun scripting duties on what would be the
fourth of the series, Mr. Wong at
Headquarters. The scenario for Mr. Wong in Chinatown concerns his
investigation into the murder of a royal princess who had been visiting the
United States on a mission to purchase airplanes for defense of her country
against a hostile nation-state.
When Mr. Wong in
Chinatown was previewed in July of 1939, the reviews remained consistent
with the first two, tagging the film a “slow whodunit.” Though the picture was lacking
in any appreciable action, there was a concession that enough, “color and
mystery [was] attached to the proceedings to attract fair trade” – well, if
exploited properly. One exhibitor agreed,
reporting good box office receipts and anointing Mr. Wong in Chinatown, the “Best of the Wong series” to date.
The blandly titled Mr.
Wong at Headquarters went into production in November of 1939, and was already
in the cutting room by December’s end. By January of 1940 the film’s working title
was officially changed to the more mysterious and exotic The Fatal Hour and scheduled for a January 15, 1940 release. This time Wong is called to investigate the waterfront
murder of a fellow detective, the scenario intertwined with a bit of a
smuggling subplot. New York’s Daily News thought it a not particularly
“absorbing of murder mysteries, although it is filled with enough complications
to make a Philadelphia lawyer’s head spin.”
In late January of 1940, the Los Angeles Times reported, erroneously, that a fifth Mr. Wong
serial - tentatively titled Chamber of
Horrors – was in the works, Dorothy Reid cited as readying a script. Some months later the trades reported, far more
reliably, that William Nigh was, for a fifth time, signed to direct a Mr. Wong
mystery. Though Reid would not be
associated with this final Karloff Mr. Wong effort, there was no reason to
disbelieve the Times initial report: Reid had served as a producer and writer at
Monogram and had previously collaborated with Nigh on such productions as A Bride for Henry (1937) and Rose of the Rio Grande (1938). There was in fact a Monogram horror flick
titled Chamber of Horrors produced in
1940, but this was a Norman Lee film, based on the creaky Edgar Wallace novel of
1926, The Door with Seven Locks. Neither Reid nor Nigh was publically
connected to that film’s production.
When the final Karloff Wong film, Doomed to Die (aka Mystery of
the Wentworth Castle from a script penned by series’ newcomer Ralph G.
Bettinson), played Manhattan’s Rialto Theatre, the Hollywood Reporter caustically reported the picture was, if nothing
else, “aptly named for it died within a few days” of its showcase. The Baltimore
Sun coldly piled on with a bad notice of its own: “The direction, writing
and acting are slipshod beyond the limit of that large tolerance accorded this
extravert type of drama.” Still more
harsh criticism of the picture lie ahead. “Charlie Chan would shake with professional pity,” wrote the New York Herald Tribune, sighing that the
great Karloff “has never had a duller, more unexacting role.”
It was the last of Karloff’s involvement in the Mr. Wong
series. There was really no reason for the
actor to continue on in the role as he certainly did not need the work – nor did
he need the piling on of bad notices that continued to accumulate. In 1940, the year that Doomed to Die was released, Karloff would star in no fewer than
nine additional features for Columbia, Warner Bros., Universal, RKO Radio and
Monogram. He would certainly survive his
departure from the role. But would Mr.
Wong?
That question was answered in June of 1940 when Monogram announced
Keye Luke as Karloff’s successor in the role. It was a sensible progressive move on Monogram’s part, a UPI
correspondent writing a glowing tribute to Keye Luke who would now serve – at
long last – as “cinema’s one and only genuine Oriental detective.” Though Monogram signed the actor to a
four-picture “Mr. Wong” deal, the only entry produced with Luke in the
detective role was Phil Rosen’s Phantom
of Chinatown, released in November of 1940. The change of actor (and director) was mostly seamless and arguably
refreshing: Luke did bring a bit more energy and excitement to the role. (Karloff
was often cited by critics as a miscast who, largely unchallenged, chose to
sleepwalk through the role). Most
reviews of Luke’s Wong were complimentary, echoing those of a Variety critic who thought Phantom of Chinatown “worthy of the
average ‘B’ thriller of this type.”
There was some industry talk in January of 1941 that Paul
Malvern (an associate producer of Doomed
to Die and the producer of Phantom of
Chinatown) was preparing Luke’s return as Mr. Wong for the actor’s second outing,
provisionally titled Million Dollar
Mystery. Had that film been
produced, it would have been the seventh in the Monogram series. But no such film was greenlit (perhaps due to
Malvern’s 1941 defection to Universal) making Phantom of Chinatown the last of Monogram’s Mr. Wong series. Luke would fulfil his four-pic Monogram
contract in a waste of his talent making small appearances in The Gang’s All Here, Bowery Blitzkrieg and Let’s Go Collegiate, all released in
1941.
It’s of some disappointment that Phantom of Chinatown was excluded from this new Kino Lorber Blu-ray
collection. Perhaps Kino is planning a
standalone release of the title sometime in the future… at least I hope so. In the meantime, I suppose sad Completists
will have to hang on to their copies of VCI’s Mr. Wong Detective: The
Complete Collection DVD set for a bit longer. (Luke’s Phantom
of Chinatown can be found on that 2008 set in far better quality than you can
find any of those bargain-priced PD multi-film “mystery collection” type
collections… although the DVD issued by Film Detective in 2015 is also a
worthwhile seek out).
The five films featured on this Kino Lorber Studio
Classic Blu-ray issue of their Boris
Karloff: Mr. Wong Collection are all presented in 1920x1080p, in 1.37:1
aspect and DTS monaural sound. The films
have been sourced from new Hi-Definition masters made from 2K fine grain scans. The films are not visually perfect. There are moments of flickering, and
scratches and print damage, but this is likely the best we’ll ever get of these
dimly-recalled throw-away programmers. I’m certainly not complaining.
Other than the usual removable English subs, the Kino set
includes only a single feature – an audio commentary for Mr. Wong, Detective courtesy of Tom Weaver and Larry Blamire. On first pass, it might seem the inclusion of
only a single commentary on a
five-film set is sparse and ungenerous. But the behind-the-camera artisans of Wong series were a particularly
insular if clever and creative cabal: William Nigh, director of all five
Karloff entries, actor Grant Withers as “Captain Street” in all five as well, William
Lackey, an associate producer of four, and W. Scott Darling the screenwriter of
three. The contributions of these and
others in front of and behind the camera are duly noted on this set’s single
but informative and engaging commentary.
Weaver suggests at the commentaries front end that his
plan is to “keep things fun,” and he most certainly does. Both Weaver and Blamire have done their
homework, digging out practically every morsel of historical information they
could source for these uncelebrated Monogram quickies: this includes their deep
dig into (less reliable) information gleaned from ballyhoo appearing in the
film’s pressbook and other publicity materials, alongside contemporary reviews
from the Hollywood trades and newspapers. Blamire has really gone the extra mile, choosing to preemptively read
twelve of the twenty Hugh Wiley’s Mr. Wong short-stories so he might pick out
the moments and small bits the filmmakers used for the series.
I wasn’t as admiring of the
“actor re-creations” of interview transcripts of Karloff and others scattered
about the commentary. It seems
unnecessary and distracting - a simple “quote/unquote” recitation of such
material is preferable to badly-mimicked vocal imitations. The (thankfully)
occasional insertion of MST3K-style sound effects and dubbed-in jokey one-liners
were also unnecessary IMHO, but I’m admittedly a grouch. If you prefer your Wong with a dash of irreverence
then have at it. Weaver and Blamire also
sidecar their commentary with several detours touching on the Charlie Chan and
Mr. Moto series, all fair game. All in
all, the commentary track serves as an excellent primer for fans wishing to
learn a bit more about Mr. Wong on page and film. To summarize, this excellent package from
Kino Lorber is a “must-have."
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