"MR WONG, DETECTIVE'

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 24 June 1939, Page 6

"MR WONG, DETECTIVE'

THRILLING DETECTIVE MYSTERY DRAMA

The most seasoned follower of the adventures of screen sleuths will get a real thrill out of Monogram's “Mr Wong, Detective,” for not only is it a clever mystery drama, full of action and suspense, but it serves to introduce a new screen detective in the person of that ex-horror man and master of eerie characterisation Boris Karloff. For this first in a series of mystery films, based on the popular Hugh Wiley stories which ran in Collier’s Magazine. Karloff dons the celestial raiment of James Lee Wong, a hero well known to magazine fans. Wong, educated at Oxford and scientifically schooled in crime detecting, begins his career at Monogram by unravelling a triple murder that baffles San Francisco's police. Threepartners of the Dayton Chemical Company are killed, each alone in a room which has no access. Wong is called in t'> help solve the crime and work with | his friend. Captain Street, of the San I Francisco Police Department. With the help of test tubes and a j physios book, Wong discovers the murj derer’s method—the use of poison gas I in a glass receptacle which is shattered

, by vibration —but it is not until afti 1 the third murder that he learns bow tl glass was made to break. With til dangerous secret in his hands, Wor sets off for police headquarters, b walks into the killer's trap, where tv of his friends have preceded him. TI tense situation leads to a thrillu i climax, as Wong unmasks the kill and saves the lives of his friends by 1 I ingenious trick. Karloff is excellent as Janies Li I Wong, and it is certain that he w 1 j become the screen's No. 1 detectiv Evelyn Brent Lucien Pnval and Frai • Bruno are a sinister trio of internatio al spies. Grant Withers, as Capta ' Street, makes the man intelligent, ai therefore he is more of a person thi i the usual movie jjolicemah stooge. Jol 1 St. Polis contributes a fine portrait 1 an hysterical inventor: and Maxii 1 I Jennings, as Myra, the secretary. 1 outstanding. Other Wong pictures to follow i 1 elude: “Mr Wong in Chinatown,'' ai “The Mystery of Mr Wong." If “I Wong, Detective.” is any indication, t! I series should be extremely popular.