The Mysterious Mr. Wong

The Mysterious Mr. Wong is a tongue-in-cheek 1934 mystery film starring Bela Lugosi as a powerful Fu Manchu type criminal mastermind of the Chinatown underworld, and Wallace Ford as a wisecracking reporter. The film is based on Harry Stephen Keeler's 1928 short story "The Strange Adventure of the Twelve Coins of Confucius" one of three stories in Keeler's book Sing Sing Nights. Despite the name of the title character and being directed by William Nigh, it has no relation to Monogram Pictures later Mr Wong film series. The character of Mr. Wong does not appear in the original story.

The Mysterious Mr. Wong
Theatrical poster to The Mysterious Mr. Wong
Directed by	William Nigh
Written by	Harry Stephen Keeler (story) Lew Levenson
Produced by	George Yohalem
Starring	Bela Lugosi Wallace Ford Arline Judge E. Alyn Warren
Cinematography	Harry Neumann
Edited by	Jack Ogilvie
Production company	Monogram Pictures
Distributed by	Sono Art-World Wide Pictures
Release date	December 22, 1934 (1934-12-22)
Running time	63 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

Bela Lugosi stars as Mr. Wong, a "harmless" Chinatown shopkeeper by day and relentless blood-thirsty pursuer of the Twelve Coins of Confucius by night. With possession of the coins, Mr. Wong will be supreme ruler of the Chinese province of Keelat, and his evil destiny will be fulfilled. A killing spree follows in dark and dangerous Chinatown as Wong gets control of 11 of the 12 coins. Though played up as a Tong war, ace reporter Jason Barton and his girl Peg are hot on his trail as is the Chinese Secret Service. All parties soon find themselves in serious trouble when they stumble onto Wong's headquarters.

Cast

• Bela Lugosi dual role as Mr. Fu Wong and as Li See
• Wallace Ford as Jason H. Barton
• Arline Judge as Peg
• E. Alyn Warren as Philip Tsang
• Lotus Long as Moonflower
• Robert Emmett O'Connor as Officer McGillicuddy
• Chester Gan as Tung aka "Hi Strung"
• Edward Peil Sr. as Jen Yu - Wong Henchman
• Luke Chan as Professor Chan Fu
• Lee Shumway as Editor Steve Brandon
• Etta Lee as Lu San
• Ernest F. Young as Reporter Chuck Roberts

External links

• The Mysterious Mr. Wong at the Internet Movie Database
• The Mysterious Mr. Wong is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• The Mysterious Mr. Wong on YouTube