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The Mysterious Mr. Wong

  • 19341934
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 1h 3m
IMDb RATING
4.8/10
808
YOUR RATING
Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford, and Arline Judge in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
  • Mystery
Mr. Wong stops at nothing to gain the possession of 12 coins of Confucius, which will bring him great power.Mr. Wong stops at nothing to gain the possession of 12 coins of Confucius, which will bring him great power.Mr. Wong stops at nothing to gain the possession of 12 coins of Confucius, which will bring him great power.
IMDb RATING
4.8/10
808
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • William Nigh
  • Writers
    • Harry Stephen Keeler(suggested by the story: "The Twelve Coins of Confucius")
    • Lew Levenson(adaptation)
    • Nina Howatt(screen play)
  • Stars
    • Bela Lugosi
    • Wallace Ford
    • Arline Judge
Top credits
  • Director
    • William Nigh
  • Writers
    • Harry Stephen Keeler(suggested by the story: "The Twelve Coins of Confucius")
    • Lew Levenson(adaptation)
    • Nina Howatt(screen play)
  • Stars
    • Bela Lugosi
    • Wallace Ford
    • Arline Judge
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 35User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos17

    Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford, Chester Gan, and Arline Judge in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Bela Lugosi, Edward Peil Sr., Wallace Ford, and James B. Leong in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Bela Lugosi and Wallace Ford in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Wallace Ford and Arline Judge in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford, Arline Judge, and E. Alyn Warren in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Bela Lugosi and Wallace Ford in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Wallace Ford in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Bela Lugosi in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Wallace Ford and Lee Shumway in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)
    Wallace Ford and Arline Judge in The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Bela Lugosi
    Bela Lugosi
    • Mr. Fu Wong aka Li See
    • (as Béla Lugosi)
    Wallace Ford
    Wallace Ford
    • Jason H. 'Jay' Barton
    Arline Judge
    Arline Judge
    • Peg
    E. Alyn Warren
    E. Alyn Warren
    • Tsi Tung
    • (as Fred Warren)
    Lotus Long
    Lotus Long
    • Moonflower - Wong's Niece
    Robert Emmett O'Connor
    Robert Emmett O'Connor
    • Officer 'Mac' McGillicuddy
    • (as Robert Emmet O'Connor)
    Edward Peil Sr.
    Edward Peil Sr.
    • Jen Yu - Wong Henchman
    • (as Edward Peil)
    Luke Chan
    • Prof. Chan Fu
    Lee Shumway
    Lee Shumway
    • Steve Brandon - Editor
    Etta Lee
    • Lusan - Moonflower's Attendant
    Ernest F. Young
    • Chuck Roberts - Reporter
    Chester Gan
    Chester Gan
    • Tung's Secret Service Agent
    • (uncredited)
    James B. Leong
    • Wong Henchman
    • (uncredited)
    Richard Loo
    Richard Loo
    • Bystander Outside Store
    • (uncredited)
    Theodore Lorch
    Theodore Lorch
    • Wong Henchman Thrown Into Pit
    • (uncredited)
    Constantine Romanoff
    Constantine Romanoff
    • Bystander at Store with Chinese makeup
    • (uncredited)
    Forrest Taylor
    Forrest Taylor
    • Wong Henchman
    • (uncredited)
    Beal Wong
    • Killing Bystander
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • William Nigh
    • Writers
      • Harry Stephen Keeler(suggested by the story: "The Twelve Coins of Confucius")
      • Lew Levenson(adaptation)
      • Nina Howatt(screen play)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This film is sometimes incorrectly identified as one of the films of the "Mr.Wong" series which was also produced by Monogram (in the late 1930s) starring Boris Karloff as a Chinese detective.
    • Quotes

      Mr. Wong: A few hours with the rats will loosen his tongue to tell the truth!

    • Connections
      Edited into Who Dunit Theater: The Mysterious Mr. Wong (2015)
    • Soundtracks
      Le Roi Lépreux
      (uncredited)

      Music by Henri Poussigue

    User reviews35

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    A Lot of Fun
    Bela Lugosi changes genres in 1934's "The Mysterious Mr. Wong"; a detective mystery set in LA's Chinatown. As Li See he is the low profile owner of a herb shop patronized for comic relief by a stereotypical Irish cop. But he is secretly the title character who will stop at nothing to gather all twelve of the Coins of Confucius. Once he has all twelve he will have special powers in Keelat (a Chinese province) from where he apparently can inflict his evil on a wider scale.

    All these coins have found there way to 1930's LA for some reason and Wong's minions spend the first part of the movie murdering assorted Chinese characters to gain possession of each coin. You quickly learn which guys are his minions because they are the only ones in the movie who wear "Billy Jack" style flat brim hats.

    Newspaper reporter Jason Barton (Wallace Ford) begins to investigate the murders, both alone and in the company of his paper's cute and plucky switchboard operator Peg (Arline Judge). Judge becomes one of the earliest scream queens as talking pictures had only been around a few years. The chemistry and banter between Ford and Judge is the best thing about "The Mysterious Mr. Wong". It is the equal of Gable and Colbert in "It Happened One Night" but unfortunately their scenes together are not the central focus of the story.

    Wong has a beautiful niece (played by Lotus Long) who periodically appears in short scenes of no actual consequence to the plot. She is in a constant state of great distress about her uncle's evil activities and it is implied that Wong kills her after she leads Barton and Peg to him.

    The movie never explains why Wong regards this as a bad thing because it appears to be exactly what he wanted her to do. But this is an illustration of many logic problems in the screenplay, which are best ignored. Just enjoy the great dialogue despite the flaws in storyline logic. Some stuff essential to the plot was probably trimmed to reduce the running time. Barton and Peg are given one of the coins by a disembodied hand while they are having dinner in a Chinese restaurant. Viewers have to fill in a lot of missing action to connect this improbable coincidence with earlier events.

    The Hollywood racist and ethnic stereotypes abound, my favorite is a Chinese university professor who heads up the Department of Orientology.

    Lugosi is sinister in a nice self-parodying way, with an accent that is more vaguely foreign than Chinese. His Mr. Wong is entirely unrelated to Boris Karloff's later detective series of the same name.

    If you enjoy early cinema this one is highly recommended. The suspense won't keep you on the edge of your seat but the Ford and Judge interplay is timeless

    Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
    helpful•15
    4
    • aimless-46
    • Feb 16, 2006

    FAQ2

    • Does this movie have anything to do with Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong series?
    • Is this available on DVD?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 22, 1934 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Mysteriet Mr Wong
    • Filming locations
      • RKO-Pathé Studios - 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Monogram Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 3 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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