I've just recently watched, in chronological order of release, all five of the Boris Karloff episodes of the Mr. Wong series. The fifth entry in the series, *Doomed to Die*, is definitely the worst of the bunch, by a big margin.
The film starts out reasonably well, with a good character conflict between two business rivals setting up an apparent murder in which no one is sure quite how the killing was accomplished, but the obvious suspect is the son of the murdered man. But within a short time the film spirals into mediocrity, and at points approaches the abominable.
First of all, the journalist girlfriend of Captain Street, "Bobbie" Logan, though supposedly played again by Marjorie Reynolds, whose combination of perkiness, sweetness, and feistiness did so much to lift the two previous entries in the series, doesn't sound at all like the same actress. Her voice is different -- lower and harsher in tone, and less delicate and more lower-class in speaking style. It's almost as if another actress's voice has been dubbed in; one wonders if Reynolds had laryngitis or something, necessitating a substitute. But it's not just her voice. In many scenes, especially as the film progresses, she even *looks* different from the way she looked in the earlier two films. Her hair is darker; her hairdo is different; her facial expressions are very much unlike those in the earlier films. Again, one suspects that in some scenes the actress had to be replaced due to illness or for some other reason.
Even the expected humorous banter between the girl reporter and the detective doesn't seem as good. Sometime it is not bad, but other times it seems harsher, less witty than in the previous two outings. It's as if the writing staff changed, or the regular writer dashed off the screenplay in a hurry.
The direction of the film is poor. It is almost as if the nominal director William Nigh passed off the job to some uncredited assistant director on his first assignment. The scene where Wong goes to his Tong friends for advice is particularly badly done. The head Tong man at the table is at first the same guy who spoke for the group in an earlier Wong film; but then, when it goes into close-up, one can see that they have switched actors! The guy Wong speaks to has a much longer moustache, and his cap is differently shaped. It's as if they used stock footage for the opening, and then shot a new scene with a different actor. More generally, the Tong consultation is lamer and weaker than in the previous film.
The print I watched (and I have the six-film set put out by VCI) is extremely dark. I don't know if the film was shot that way deliberately, or whether it is just a defective print. The darkness works out not too badly in the scenes in the old warehouse district, but other times it is irritating. However, the music in the film is atmospheric, and in many scenes fits in with the dark film atmosphere. But it's pretty sad when in order to find something good to say about a detective mystery one has to cite the music rather than the plot, script, or acting.
From the perspective of the viewer, the exposition is flawed. Whereas in the previous Wong movies, the information released is sufficient that the viewer has at least a reasonable chance of guessing who the culprits are, in this one important information (including the existence of an important household member) seems to be deliberately withheld until late in the film, and even in the wrap-up the motivation of some of the folks involved is never tidily explained.
Mr. Wong also acts out of character at one point, arrogantly bypassing Capt. Street by withholding information from him -- something never before seen in the series. Further, whereas in earlier films Wong tried to maintain a neutral, bemused stance toward the bickering between Bobbie Logan and Street, in this one he seems to lower himself in dignity by abandoning neutrality and deliberately teaming up with Bobbie against Street. When you combine this new partisan and superior attitude of Wong with the generally less pleasant execution of the female reporter's role, the overall effect is negative. Indeed, this is the first Wong movie where I was actually more sympathetic with the bellicose Street than with either Wong or "Bobbie"!
Most of the earlier Wong films had several good supporting actors beyond the three leads. (E.g., *The Fatal Hour* had Charles Trowbridge and Frank Puglia.) The supporting actors in this one are mostly weak and unimpressive.
The IMDb voters have given this one an average of 5.6. Normally I find IMDb voters stingy, but in this case they may be too generous. I'm giving this one a 5 out of 10. (By comparison, I give most of the Motos and Torchy Blanes 7s, and some of the Charlie Chans 8s.)
Clearly the director, the writers, and Karloff were walking through this one on autopilot. I suspect that Karloff was bored with the series by this point, because he left the series after this one and Keye Luke played Wong in the final film. I haven't seen the Keye Luke film yet, but it's hard to imagine that it could be worse than this one.
If you want to sample the Mr. Wong series, do yourself a favour and don't watch this one first. It will turn you off the whole series. Any of the first four films would be a better introduction.
