Mr. Wong Movies

This is a little embarrassing. A couple times I have been randomly picking films out of my 50 Horror Movies box set (which is a medley of public domain art and trash) and come across a “Mr. Wong, Detective” film. Something about my undying love for mysteries, the 30s, and utter garbage comes together for me in these films. I have no illusions that they are good, but they do keep me interested. And if I had to pick an aspect of casual racism, I'd pick these films over anything with a caricatured black person.

Bela Lugosi's Mr. Wong fell victim to a lot of horrible things. Firstly, he was the bad guy, which pretty much gave the guys over at Monogram Pictures the liberty to make him as despicable as they wanted. He speaks in halted English and has a ridiculous underground lair. Not even his wife or daughter like him. However, Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong is a highly respected private detective. He is most often called in when the police are dealing with a crime where they need information from Chinatown, and he is more likely to get it than they. Mr. Wong always solves the crimes the police assume to be open and shut. He performs scientific analysis and picks up clues they overlook. As far as a stereotype goes, Wong doesn't really fulfill any racial caricatures. Now, this does not entirely redeem these movies, but they are an interesting relic that is decent entertainment as a mystery.

The best one I've seen so far is The Fatal Hour. The movie starts when the main cop, Captain Street, gets a phone call that his long-time friend has been killed while working undercover. The tone is somber, which removes a lot of the overblown “comedy” banter from the picture. People look at each other with sad understanding and Wong comes in mostly to console his friend. The characters deal with much heavier issues than normal, such as who will tell the officer's wife he has been killed. As the film progresses, solving the crime comes to the forefront over the personal issues, but it never comes back to the level of annoying chatter of the other films.

I would certainly not go so far as to recommend these pictures, but maybe I feel it should be noted that they are not the racist exploitation films that it would be easy to assume they are. In fact, I always find it a little comforting that Mr. Wong is the most respectable and well liked guy in the movie. People are comforted by his presence and cherish his friendship. He is intelligent without being cartoonishly wise or enigmatic, and he is capable without using any “Oriental secrets”. He's a down to earth kind of guy, heads above the rest of the San Francisco police force.

Recommendations:
The Fatal Hour, if you absolutely must