Sun 21 Jun 2020
Mystery Movie Review: THE FATAL HOUR (1940).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[5] Comments
THE FATAL HOUR. Monogram Pictures, 1940. Mr. Wong #4. Boris Karloff (James Lee Wong), Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, Charles Trowbridge, Frank Puglia, Craig Reynolds, Lita Chevret. Based on the “James Lee Wong” series in Collier’s Magazine written by Hugh Wiley. Director: William Nigh.
When an undercover policeman and a good friend of Captain Bill Street of San Francisco Homicide is found murdered, it is his friend Mr. Wong who steps in and gives him all the help he needs to catch the killer. Spunky female reporter Bobbie Logan is also on hand, but she’s there mostly for eye appeal and doesn’t do much in the way of actual detective work.
But since I’ve mentioned “detective work,†this is, I think, is one of the better B-movies in that regard that I’ve watched in a while. There are a lot of suspects crammed into a movie that is only about an hour long, and all of the plot points click off like clockwork. There is even a brand new invention involving a common home [Redacted] that’s part of the solution.
To tell you the truth, Boris Karloff doesn’t look Chinese to me, but any movie that he appeared in was far better off than if he wasn’t, and The Fatal Hour is no exception. I haven’t seen one of these Mr. Wong movies since I was 15 or 16, and it’s only me who’s the worse for wear.
June 22nd, 2020 at 6:34 am
The cheesy white-guys-playing-Oriental-detectives series of that time were just so wrong, yet I continue to enjoy them. Shame on me.
June 22nd, 2020 at 9:31 am
In the mid sixties , Diana Sands a lovely black woman starred on Broadway in Shaw;s St.Joan; not at all cheesy, but if black man was employed to portray james Bond that would, or might be. Depends on your point of view. Same here. I don’t care for these pictures but not for any reason other than personal preference.
June 22nd, 2020 at 10:32 am
As it so happens, when now I read a Charlie Chan novel, my mind’s eye sees either Warner Oland or Sidney Toler. I’ve never read one of Hugh Wiley’s Mr. Wong short stories. Has anyone? What are they like?
June 22nd, 2020 at 6:36 pm
Keye Luke played Mr. Wong in one film, sorry to say not exactly a triumph, but Luke is good and presented as educated, intelligent, and very American more like the character in the stories by Wiley. It is presented as the origin of his relation to Wither’s police Captain who has never met him before despite the Karloff films.
In one grace note where the Chan films where Number Whatever Son meets a cute Chinese girl who is a maid, or student here the cute Chinese girl turns out to be a smart agent of the Chinese government investigating antiquities theft.
I won’t kid you, the Wong stories aren’t classics. If they were you would see more of them in anthologies when the editor is bemoaning the lack of a Charlie Chan short. They aren’t bad though.
Luckily you can find them in ebook fairly cheaply since it is hard to find the COLLIERS issues they appeared in. I think there is a copy of the paperback you can download at Internet Archive.
Wiley, from the best I can tell in the stories, intended Wong as an Anti-Charlie Chan, an educated modern American Chinese with no pidgeon English or eccentricities — faithful and respectful of his culture and ethnicity, but neither as comical or questionable as Chan. He is a respected and successful professional sleuth who uses science to solve crimes and not given to Charlie Chan like aphorisims.
Alas casting Karloff in the role after Fu Manchu and all his villains, many Asian, somewhat undermines that effort.
Still the films aren’t bad, largely thanks to Karloff and some half decent scripts despite the budget.
June 23rd, 2020 at 12:56 am
Thanks, David. Especially helpful was your take on Hugh Wiley’s original stories. I have owned the paperback several times, but I never read it, any of those times. I once looked it up. The book included about half of the total run of Wong stories.
Who knows. I may still have a copy of the book. I will have to look and see.