Doomed to Die (1940)

Director:

William Nigh

Writers:

Michael Jacoby (screenplay)
Ralph Gilbert Bettison (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

12 August 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The master of crime cleans up the dirty game of murder!

Plot:

Mr. Wong and a girl reporter investigate a shipping magnate's murder.

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Detective | Shipping | Mr Wong | Chinese

Cast

Boris Karloff	...	James Lee Wong
Marjorie Reynolds	...	Roberta 'Bobbie' Logan
Grant Withers	...	Capt. William Street
William Stelling	...	Dick Fleming
Catherine Craig	...	Cynthia Wentworth
Guy Usher	...	Paul Fleming
Henry Brandon	...	Attorney Victor Martin
Melvin Lang	...	Cyrus B. Wentworth
Wilbur Mack	...	Matthews
Kenneth Harlan	...	Ludlow
Richard Loo	...	Tong Leader
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tristram Coffin	...	Mr. Baldwin - Adjuster (uncredited)
Mike Donovan	...	Det. Mike (uncredited)
Gibson Gowland	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Jack Kennedy	...	Police Sgt. Casey (uncredited)
Maxine Leslie	...	Miss Reed - Secretary (uncredited)
Moy Ming	...	Aged Tong Member (uncredited)
Angelo Rossitto	...	Newsboy #3 in Montage (uncredited)
Bill Willmering	...	Det. Blake (uncredited)

Directed by
William Nigh

Writing credits
Michael Jacoby		(screenplay) (as Michel Jacoby)
Ralph Gilbert Bettison		(adaptation) (as Ralph Bettinson)
Hugh Wiley		(characters from James Lee Wong stories in Collier's Magazine)

Produced by
Paul Malvern	....	associate producer
Scott R. Dunlap	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Harry Neumann		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Robert Golden

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Charles J. Bigelow	....	production manager
Scott R. Dunlap	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Glenn Cook	....	assistant director (as Glen Cook)

Sound Department
Karl Zint	....	sound recording engineer

Music Department
Edward J. Kay	....	musical director (as Edward Kay)
Edward J. Kay	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
E.R. Hickson	....	technical director

Production Companies

• Monogram Pictures

Distributors

• Monogram Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Take 2 Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• VCI Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Navarre Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• United Artists (2004) (USA) (TV)
• FilmAnnex (2006) (worldwide) (TV)
• Digiview Entertainment (2007) (worldwide) (DVD)
• Passport Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Enterprises (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (DVD-R)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6505)

Company:

Monogram Pictures

Trivia:

The images of the burning of the fictitious liner Wentworth Castle is taken from actual news footage of the burning of the liner SS Morro Castle. The Morro Castle caught fire on 8 September 1934 during a trip from Havana to New York. The heavy loss of life combined with the beaching of the gutted hulk in New Jersey made it one of the biggest news stories of the day.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the Tong room scene with Wong, it's obvious that all of the scene, except the "Wentworth Castle" dialogue, was re-used from a previous Wong movie. The most notable clue is the Tong leader changing appearance between shots.

Quotes:

Roberta 'Bobbie' Logan:So you still think you've solved it, huh?
Capt. William Street:That's right, I do. Young Fleming did it and if he didn't, I'll eat my hat.
Roberta 'Bobbie' Logan:I'll see that you do.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: The Screaming Skull (#4.8)" (2010)

Those Kuomintang Bonds

Doomed To Die is the last film that Boris Karloff made for Monogram's Mr. Wong series. One more film was made with an actual person of Oriental descent playing Wong and that was Keye Luke.

The criticism of Mr. Wong is somewhat interesting. The criticism in fact of Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto was that these two clever detectives were constantly speaking in fortune cookie aphorisms which led to stereotyping of Oriental characters. James Lee Wong was only of partial oriental ancestry and it's made clear that he went to both Oxford and Heidelberg universities. Obviously the Oxford speech pattern is what took and we get the clear diction of Boris Karloff instead.

Wong's every bit as smart as Moto and Chan and he has to be here. It's your typical locked room mystery. Shipping magnate Guy Usher is concerned over both the shipboard fire of his vessel the Wentworth Castle and the romance between his daughter Catherine Craig and the son of rival shipper Melvin Lang. Usher is shot to death after a meeting with William Stelling, the fiancé of Craig and he's the only one in the room with the deceased.

Some Chinese government bonds were stolen during the fire and remember this film is made during the Chinese-Japanese War that predated the beginning of World War II. Those Kuomintang bonds are valuable and they're reason enough for arson and murder. A Tong leader, Richard Loo, is also killed before the case is solved.

Doomed To Die marked the farewell appearance of Marjorie Reynolds as well as Lois Lane snoop and scoop reporter girlfriend of police captain Grant Withers of the San Francisco Homicide Squad. A man never to proud to ask for the help of Mr. Wong. But in this case it turns out that Reynolds is a friend of Craig's and she brings Karloff and his super sleuthing skills to this case.

Doomed To Die is a bit more complex than the usual run of films from Monogram Pictures which didn't exactly invest to many production values in the Wong series. Not that they had much to invest. I do enjoy seeing Karloff in the role though, pity he didn't do more of them.