Mr. Wong, Detective, is a standard fare B-movie that is delightful owing to the work of Boris Karloff. One does have to stretch one's sense of disbelief to see Karloff as an oriental but what dominates is Karloff's urbane humanity. It has been widely commented that in private life Karloff was gentle and engaging. It's my guess that Karloff here is mostly acting as himself, slightly stooped, charming, and witty. As such it is a testament to his ability as an actor that he could appear in so many villainous roles. As Mr. Wong one see Karloff as one's cultured uncle, full of good cheer, common sense, and abundant with decency. I only wish that it had been Karloff's better fortune to have acted in more diverse roles giving his range and appeal a wider audience. As he was much beloved in the Hollywood community perhaps Karloff didn't do so badly after all.
As for the movie itself one requires a rather open sense of credulity. A series of partners in a chemical company are being murdered with poison gas and the police are at wit's end trying to determine the how, why, and who of the matter. Mr. Wong is called in early in the game and begins to pick out the pieces, literally, to the solution of the mystery. Grant Withers is the detective captain, Street, on the case and he lends the movie it's deepest dead spots. He is a loud, blustery, nincompoop of a detective, and in way over his head. If he is meant to lend comic relief, or to provide a dopey foil to the brilliance of Mr. Wong, I would have preferred a characterization not quite so annoying. There are other nefarious characters skulking about, providing red-herring dead ends, and a few twists a turns of the plot. In the end Mr. Wong identifies the killer and Street hauls him annoyingly away.
Mr. Wong, Detective is a nice addition for film buffs and a fine example of the film work of Boris Karloff.
