the audience applauded

Disturbing yet enthralling

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Reviewer Planktonrules nails the key problem. The movie is indeed "low-energy". Karloff walks through the Wong role with only eye makeup to suggest he's not Philo Vance, Crime Doctor, or any one of the other myriad sleuths of the 30's. Then too, count up his lines that are surprisingly few, suggesting his part was shot in a couple of days, probably all low-budget Monogram could afford for a headliner like Karloff. Instead, Withers and Reynolds carry much of the dialogue. But since their chemistry never gels, mainly because Withers is not very good at tongue-in-cheek, their supposed byplay falls pretty flat. Nonetheless, Reynolds shows both spunk and motivation, providing the movie's only real spark. Too bad the glamorous Lotus Long was killed off early. She could have remained a real object of interest as a mysterious dragon lady. Then too, what happened to sinister dwarf Angelo Rossito. He suddenly disappears for no apparent reason after making a colorful first impression. Instead, we get several badly choreographed fistfights among basically uninteresting characters. Add to these human elements a thoroughly muddled "mystery" that fails to generate either whodunit suspense or much interest, and you've got an inferior entry in the Moto-Chan-Wong series.

Poor Lotus Long the oriental actress who got murdered in two Mr. Wong vehicles. In Mr. Wong In Chinatown she no longer arrives at Boris Karloff's home when she's killed with a poison dart fired through the window of his study.Probably because the victim was Chinese, Mr. Wong would have gotten involved in any case, but won't these movie villains ever learn? Doing it that way was an open invitation.Lotus lives long enough to leave a written cryptic clue and Karloff and police captain Grant Withers go chasing leads. The victim was a Chinese princess in town allegedly to buy airplanes for her country during war time. The clue itself by the way turns out to be a bit of a red herring.Mr. Wong In Chinatown marks the first appearance of Marjorie Reynolds in this series as Withers's pesky reporter girl friend. Reynolds is in the snoop and scoop Lois Lane school of journalism. She actually does prove useful, more at times than Myrna Loy was to William Powell.But this is Monogram, not MGM so the production values are really on the cheap here. Still for that studio this isn't a bad film.

As a fan of 1930s-1940s movies with an "Oriental" protagonist, I have collected all of the Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, and Mr. Wong movies. However, this movie would have been much better had the all-too-frequent, painfully annoying, and downright noisy cat-fights between Captain Bill Street and Reporter Bobbie Logan ended up on the editor's cutting-room floor.Another problem with this film is that Mr. Wong plays a much too passive role. All he seems to do is follow the lead of either the Captain or the Reporter. Bottom line: one quickly begins to wonder why Mr. Wong is in this movie, because he doesn't seem to be necessary to the plot.

Princess Lin Hwa(Lotus Long) visits Mr. Wong (Boris Karloff) at his residence for assistance, however, she is killed by a poisoned arrow. Mr. Wong, with Capt. Street (Grant Withers), seeks the murderer. They are helped by Bobby Logan (Marjorie Reynolds), a reporter and Street's girfriend. They arrive at the princess's apartment to investigate and look for clues, at the same time they find her maid has been murdered. The only witness to the murder is a mute dwarf (Angelo Rosita) who mysteriously disappears. Karloff held this picture together and has made this film a true Mr. Wong series classic for all Karloff fans. It is difficult to critize this film, it was made with a very low budget and was considered a "B" film in 1939, which was usually shown with another picture, news and a cartoon. Boris Karloff was between filming of horror movies and this Mr. Wong series gave him a small income.(not like the large salaries of movie stars today. However, Karloff is very calm and unmoved in this film and nothing seems to bother Mr. Wong at all!!