The Mysterious Mr. Wong

1934's "The Mysterious Mr. Wong" casts Hungarian Bela Lugosi in something of a dual role: Fu Wong the titular character a 'Mad Manchurian' (a Poverty Row Fu Manchu) seeking 12 coins given out by Confucius on his death bed, which would enable the owner to command the Chinese province of Keelat, and his elderly masquerade as herb dealer Li See, whose shop is connected to Wong's inner sanctum through a secret panel. The picture begins with a series of murders that have authorities believing there's another Tong war, Wong's henchmen successfully delivering 11 coins, each corpse identified by a piece of Chinese writing. The downward spiral introduces Wallace Ford as roving reporter Jason Barton, wisecracking with Irish cop McGillicuddy (Robert Emmet O'Connor), various comings and goings repeated endlessly as the elusive final coin is passed from person to person. Arline Judge gets in a few shots as Barton's sweetheart, but the comic relief overwhelms the rest of the film, leaving Lugosi in a vacuum to carry the burden on his own, as he so often did in low budget productions (not enough screen time at 18 minutes). Ford also opposed Bela in "Night of Terror" and "The Ape Man," but this nauseating newshound is his worst yet, on par with Lee Tracy's unfunny antics opposite Lionel Atwill in "Doctor X." This was Lugosi's only film for the original Monogram company, soon to be absorbed into Herbert J. Yates' Republic Pictures, a new Monogram emerging from the ashes to kick off Sam Katzman's infamous 9 picture deal in 1941. An entirely new Mr. Wong inspired by Charlie Chan would later allow Boris Karloff a crime solving respite during the horror blackout of the late 30s, a six film series concluding in 1940 with one shot Wong Keye Luke doing the honors in the closer "Phantom of Chinatown." Concluding a year playing heroes in "The Black Cat" and "The Return of Chandu," Lugosi returned to full time villainy back to back in both this and Columbia's forgotten programmer "The Best Man Wins," before well remembered roles in MGM's "Mark of the Vampire," and Universals "The Raven" and "The Invisible Ray."