Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

TheLittleSongbird For Boris Karloff fans Mr Wong in Chinatown makes for good curiosity value and has good things that makes it a little more than that. Mr Wong in Chinatown is far from bad and Karloff has certainly done worse(look at the Mexican films he did) but he has also done better and deserved better. If asked whether Mr Wong in Chinatown is recommended, I'd say yes but only partially. There are some good things, Karloff is still commanding and gives a very good performance(as said many times by me one of those actors that gave his all regardless of the material). Marjorie Reynolds is the other, and in a way only other, standout in the cast, she brings a great deal of sass to Logan and really spices things up but deserved better material to do so more. Some of the sparring-constant- between her and Grant Withers is entertaining. The closing gag is great. The music has its jauntiness and eeriness. The sets are appropriate and nicely done. And Lotus Long while killed off quickly, perhaps too quickly, she makes for a sensual presence and makes things promising to begin with. However, while the sparring between Reynolds and Withers is fun their chemistry could have been better, aside from their dialogue the chemistry doesn't gel. And Withers to me is the problem, his performance more scenery-chewing rather than subtle and often of the worst kind, the shouting and frozen facial expressions did get annoying after a while. The photography is serviceable but could have been more fluid, the low-budget does show. Outside of the verbal sparring and the closing gag, the dialogue does come across as stilted and could have developed things more. The story shows good potential but peters out after the beginning but picks up at the final solution, which is a nice surprise, the mystery did feel weak because of the dull pacing(the film did feel longer than it was), lack of suspense and tension, the lacking dialogue and that really only two performances stood out. It also got very routine and didn't contain that many surprises. In conclusion, a watchable film with interest points but not great, one of the weaker entries of the series. 5.5/10 Bethany Cox

Robert J. Maxwell I get these Oriental gentlemen -- Mr. Wong, Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto -- mixed up because they all look alike. This one has Boris Karloff as James Lee Wong investigating the murder of a Chinese princess fresh off the ship from Hangkow. She's the sister of an important warlord and had intended to buy airplanes so that he could defend his province and wage battle against "the other powers." This is 1939. The war had not yet started for the United States but there was a good deal of rivalry for Pacific territories and a lot of enmity based on "the other power's" invasion of first Manchuria and then China itself in the early 30s. But of course, before Pearl Harbor, no one could use words like "Japan", "Chiang Kai-Sheck", or the Wellesly-educated and charming "Madam Chiang Kai-Sheck." The resemblance between the fictional and real elements of the story may be coincidental, but I doubt it. The Japanese equivalent of Charlie Chan -- Mr. Moto -- made his last film appearance in 1939. The Green Hornet's faithful valet, Kato, lost his Japanese ancestry in the same year, becoming first a Korean, then a Filipino.That's a bit of arcana, I know, but there isn't really much to say about the film itself. Boris Karloff has both his eyelids and his hair pasted back. He doesn't try a Chinese accent, nor is he called on to speak any Chinese, thank the merciful heavens. He's a perfect gentleman throughout. And his fulgurating intuition allows him to solve mysteries with only the slightest of clues. Having overheard one of the characters order a nice headstone for a dog's grave, Wong is able to conclude that a dwarf is actually buried there "because one does not order an expensive headstone for a savage dog." This guy makes Columbo seem dim-witted.There's a relationship between a sassy blond reporter and the police detective who is always insulting her, sometimes pushing her around, shoving an apple into her mouth, telling her to "get lost." It's supposed to be funny.Yes, it's another blockbuster from MONOGRAM STUDIOS. That means "no extras," so the story has a handful of the same characters walking or driving from one location to another. Some of the interiors use the same sets with the furniture rearranged.It's the kind of B feature that you'll either find very entertaining or dull throughout. I don't think there's any third possibility.

secondtake Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939)I've seen a number of these Boris Karloff movies where he plays the Chinese detective Mr. Wong, and I can never quite get used to the idea that they cast Karloff in that role. Oddly, he's the best part of the series (he was a great actor, really, going far beyond being a great Monster.There was the potential at first for some pre-WWII intrigue, because the key element behind the murders with the poison darts is a shipment of airplanes (which seem a bit tricky to smuggle, but whatever). Nothing really comes of it, however. Strickly low budget.For a full intro to the series, check out this very nice site: cheddarbay.com/0000celebrityfiles/films/wong/wong.htmlThis one is a routine affair, with the chipper female reporter to spice up the dialog. I'm not sure I'd recommend it in particular!

classicsoncall A distressed Oriental woman comes knocking on the door of James Lee Wong seeking his help. Before we get to learn her request, she is murdered by a poisoned dart, fired through the open window of Wong's study. She is Princess Lin Hwa, a woman of high degree from the Wang-Ki family, as evidenced by a ring displaying her family crest.As in prior Mr. Wong films, James Lee Wong (Boris Karloff) is accompanied in his investigation by Police Captain Bill Street (Grant Withers), though he needn't bother, as the detective is mostly ineffective in getting any real police work done. It's Wong himself who develops his leads and is more effectively helped by Herald newspaper reporter Roberta Logan (Marjorie Reynolds), a somewhat romantic interest for Street, though she's pretty much pushed around by the Captain for most of the film, while maintaining a wry smile and quick wit to counteract the blustering bully.In her last minutes before dying, Lin Hwa manages to scribble a curiously worded "Captain J" on a piece of paper, pointing Wong to not one but two different but connected leads - Captain James of the steamship "Maid of the Orient", and Captain Guy Jackson (everybody's a Captain!) of the Phelps Aviation Company. It's revealed that the Princess was arranging for the sale of airplanes to her brother in China, but the two Captain J's were conspiring to rid her of her money without fulfilling their end of the bargain.The real villain behind the murders though is the outwardly helpful bank president Davidson (Huntley Gordon), having had access to Lin Hwa's bank account and freely forging checks to relieve her account of a million dollars. The giveaway - Davidson claimed to have had a vicious dog buried with an expensive headstone, but Wong correctly surmises that the grave actually conceals the body of a mute dwarf that was a friend of the Princess.Monogram Pictures released this movie in 1939, and later remade the film in 1947 with another Oriental Detective in the lead role, casting Roland Winters in his first screen appearance as Charlie Chan. "The Chinese Ring" is virtually a carbon copy of the Wong movie, with the "Captain J" clue changed by one letter to "Captain K". From there it moves along at pretty much the same pace until Chan's revelation of the killer. Both films are passable, but if you've seen one, you've seen both.