Interesteg What makes it different from others?

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Tweekums Shortly after a fire at sea that lead to the death of over four hundred passengers Cyrus Wentworth, the owner of the shipping line, is murdered. The police are convinced that the killer is Dick Fleming, the son of a rival shipping magnate, who was engaged to Cynthia, the dead man's daughter, against his will... he had also been head arguing moments before the fatal shot was heard. Cynthia is friends with reporter Roberta 'Bobbie' Logan and she calls in the detective Mr Wong to prove Dick's innocence. He soon finds another potential motive for murder; the ship was carrying a large number of Chinese bonds which have disappeared along with the passenger who was carrying them. There is also a disgruntled, recently sacked chauffeur and a Chinese servant who has disappeared to consider.With these films one has to accept having a Chinese character being played by an actor who clearly isn't Chinese... this isn't too difficult as apart from his name it is easy to forget where Mr Wong is meant to be from! The mystery is intriguing enough and there are a decent number of suspects to keep the viewer guessing right up until the final reveal. There is also a fair amount of humour; mostly due to policeman Capt. William Street being exasperated by Bobbie Logan; in a running gag the feather in her hat keeps poking him... silly but amusing. The cast are solid enough with Boris Karloff being reliable as Wong and Marjorie Reynolds putting in a spirited performance as Bobbie. Overall this is far from a classic but it is fun if you enjoy films of the era.

arfdawg-1 This movie would never be made today because some clown would call it racist. It's amazing how the crazy left in its pretending to be open minded actually squelches freedom.That is not to say this is a great movie or that your life would be negatively impacted by not seeing it.It's a B picture with Boris Karloff playing what in 1940 would be called a "China-man." Oddly, Karloff doesn't change his speech pattern for the role -- at least not that I can tell -- so he plays an Asian with a Brit accent!The Plot Shipping magnate Cyrus Wentworth, downcast over a disaster to his ocean liner 'Wentworth Castle' (carrying, oddly enough, an illicit shipment of Chinese bonds) is shot in his office...at the very moment of kicking out his daughter's fiancé Dick Fleming. Of course, Captain Street arrests Dick, but reporter Bobbie Logan, the attractive thorn in Street's side, is so convinced he's wrong that she enlists the help of detective James Lee Wong to find the real killer.

bkoganbing Doomed To Die is the last film that Boris Karloff made for Monogram's Mr. Wong series. One more film was made with an actual person of Oriental descent playing Wong and that was Keye Luke. The criticism of Mr. Wong is somewhat interesting. The criticism in fact of Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto was that these two clever detectives were constantly speaking in fortune cookie aphorisms which led to stereotyping of Oriental characters. James Lee Wong was only of partial oriental ancestry and it's made clear that he went to both Oxford and Heidelberg universities. Obviously the Oxford speech pattern is what took and we get the clear diction of Boris Karloff instead.Wong's every bit as smart as Moto and Chan and he has to be here. It's your typical locked room mystery. Shipping magnate Guy Usher is concerned over both the shipboard fire of his vessel the Wentworth Castle and the romance between his daughter Catherine Craig and the son of rival shipper Melvin Lang. Usher is shot to death after a meeting with William Stelling, the fiancé of Craig and he's the only one in the room with the deceased.Some Chinese government bonds were stolen during the fire and remember this film is made during the Chinese-Japanese War that predated the beginning of World War II. Those Kuomintang bonds are valuable and they're reason enough for arson and murder. A Tong leader, Richard Loo, is also killed before the case is solved. Doomed To Die marked the farewell appearance of Marjorie Reynolds as well as Lois Lane snoop and scoop reporter girlfriend of police captain Grant Withers of the San Francisco Homicide Squad. A man never to proud to ask for the help of Mr. Wong. But in this case it turns out that Reynolds is a friend of Craig's and she brings Karloff and his super sleuthing skills to this case.Doomed To Die is a bit more complex than the usual run of films from Monogram Pictures which didn't exactly invest to many production values in the Wong series. Not that they had much to invest. I do enjoy seeing Karloff in the role though, pity he didn't do more of them.

zboston3 I'd heard of these Mongram potboilers but never seen one before, and while Karloff is the marquee attraction, several of the other actors steal large chunks of the show. There's a wise cracking chauffeur who's always climbing up fire escapes, and then there's the thick headed police captain and the chirpy news reporter - are they sleeping together - they sure bicker like a married couple. The mystery isn't too involving, and the flick suffers from the shoestring budget - the sets, the music, some of the other actors, all could have been better if more money had been spent. It's too bad for Karloff to be stuck in such a film, but everybody's got to eat.