Better Late Then Never

Absolutely Brilliant!

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The Mr Wong series with Boris Karloff are not exactly great films(none are bad though) but they still make for decent entertainment, and Doomed to Die is no exception to that. In personal opinion it is one of the weaker entries in the series, the weakest being Mr Wong in Chinatown and the best being The Mystery of Mr Wong, but that is not knocking it really. It does get convoluted in places and plods a little towards the end, while the editing could have been smoother and Grant Withers seems to think that shouting equals good acting, in my book it's overkill and it's distracting. However, the sets and lighting do provide some good atmosphere, and as ever the music is eerie and jaunty. The story is routine and has convoluted moments in the second half around when Wong narrowly escapes being shot(the most suspenseful Doomed to Die gets), but on the most part it goes along at a snappy pace and you are kept guessing, the final reveal is unexpected and the perpetrator is fairly calculating, one you don't want to mess with. I also found much pleasure in the script, the banter between Marjorie Reynolds and Withers is deliciously witty and the police interrogations here are just as funny. The acting is fairly good, the support cast are more than competent but never really rise above being solid support. Marjorie Reynolds delights once again as the sassy reporter, her rapport with Withers does manage to gel. But the film belongs to Boris Karloff(the best make-up also of the series is in Doomed to Die), even if he doesn't exactly convince as a Chinese and Mr Wong is not one of his best roles admittedly he is still enigmatic and seems to be enjoying himself. Mr Wong has a fair sprinkle of fun moments that despite his late entrance ensures that his presence is a long way from a waste. All in all, unexceptional but still entertaining. 6/10 Bethany Cox

I confess to not being familiar with the character of James Lee Wong, and since there had apparently been several Wong movies made prior to this one, I'm at a bit of a disadvantage. The character is what seems to have been a fairly standard cliché of the era - the brilliant Chinese (or at least Oriental, in the language of the day) detective. There's Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto and apparently James Lee Wong, whom I had never heard of. He was played by Boris Karloff, who really didn't look Chinese, but there don't seem to have been a lot of high profile Asian actors available back in the 30's.Mr. Wong in this movie is hired to find out who killed shipping magnate Cyrus Wentworth (Melvin Lang.) There's an obvious suspect - the son of one of Wentworth's bitterest rivals who also wants to marry Wentworth's daughter, and who was alone with Wentworth just before the shot was fired, but we know that would have been too easy and that there must have been another killer. That's the mystery to be unravelled. There are a lot of possible killers, and it's a bit hard to keep track of at times. There's some humour rolled into this, portrayed in the relationship between police captain Street (Grant Withers) and intrepid reporter Bobbie Logan (Marjorie Reynolds.)There's nothing really wrong with this. It confronts the viewer with a pretty good guessing game, but as someone who has never before been exposed to the exploits of James Lee Wong, there was also nothing here that would make me desperate to see any of the other films in the series. (5/10)

Sly, suave Oriental sleuth James Lee Wong (the always excellent Boris Karloff) investigates the murder of fierce shipping tycoon Cyrus P. Wenthworth (a brief, but memorable turn by Melvin Lang) and uncovers a plot to smuggle contraband bonds into the country. He's assisted by gruff, hard-nosed cop captain William "Bill" Street (a perfectly huffy portrayal by Grant Withers) and perky reporter Roberta "Bobbie" Logan (the delightfully spunky Marjorie Reynolds). Competently directed by William Nigh, with a tight, clever script by Michael Jacoby, a flavorsome score, acceptable cinematography by Harry Neumann, a constant snappy pace, plenty of sharp, witty dialogue (the sarcastic rat-a-tat banter between Street and Logan is often quite funny), a couple of rousing well-staged action scenes, and a pleasingly trim 67 minute running time, this film makes for a hugely enjoyable diversion. The sound acting by the supporting cast helps a lot: Gary Usher as Wentworth's laid-back rival Paul Flemming, William Stelling as Fleming's affable son Dick, Catherine Craig as Wentworth's sweet daughter Cynthia, Wilbur Mack as sleazy blackmailer Matthews, and Kenneth Harlan as shady chauffeur Ludlow. Moreover, it's a real treat to see Karloff in a juicy change-of-pace non-horror lead role. An entertaining romp.

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.