Recently I was going through my old movie collection to find "Doomed to Die" starring Boris Karloff. If my Roman numeral conversion is correct, it was dated 1949, by Monogram Pictures. The movie (complete with Chinese sounding music at the beginning) was based upon the famous Chinese Detective "James Lee Wong," as described in a series of articles contained within Colliers Magazine written by Hugh Wiley.
I was just curious if anyone had any additional insight into this Charlie Chan copy kat?
The venerable Mr. Wong comes up in discussion from time to time with some regularity. Yes, he did ride on the crest of the popularity of Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto, and, had his own, though brief, measure of popularity.
Personally, I enjoy the Wong films, and I also feel that they are technically some of the best work that was released by Monogram Pictures. Actually, these films came out in the late 1930s (1938-19400, and there were six films in the series: "Mr. Wong, Detective," "The Mystery of Mr. Wong," "Mr. Wong in Chinatown," "The Fatal Hour," "Doomed to Die," and Phantom of Chinatown." The first five starred Boris Karloff in the title role, while the final film featured Keye Luke as a younger James Lee Wong.
Many, your humble servant included, consider these movies to be very enjoyable. Of course, fans of Boris Karloff would especially find this series worthy of note, and, having Keye Luke appear in the lead role of an Asian detective is, although a tough sell, admittedly, following the five Karloff entries, a treat as well.
Thank you for this information, I do appreciate it. I had heard of Mr. Moto, but not the Mr. Wong series. I will need to keep my eye out for more of them.
In the mean time, sorry I am not able to join more often on Monday nights, but I do enjoy the web site, message board and related information. Thank you for your hard work and efforts to keep the site moving along.
