The Mysterious Mr. Wong

A Hungarian with a thick regional accent plays a Chinese man, and there is a line where a cop actually says 'Them Chinamen are jabbering like monkeys' in a real casual off the cuff way. There are also several 'jokes' about the Chinese language. If it wasn't for Lugosi, it would be unwatchable, but its complete lack of cultural sensitivity combined with Lugosi's camp performance makes it a curious oddity today. They don't make them like they used to, and in this case that is definitely a plus.

Bela Lugosi as a chinaman! Man, did that look w(r)ong. This was really a Wallace Ford vehicle as a reporter trying to hunt down this Wong that Lugosi was playing. Can't say this was much to brag about. It's a Monogram production so that's not surprising. Very pale story and not much suspense either. Ford was okay in his usual cocky form, but there's limited how much fun one can make of the Chinese language before it gets old. But as a low budget film this was a decent time filler I guess.

Lugosi is horribly miscast as Chinese, the plot is incoherent, and the romantic leads don't work at all (beyond Arline Judge's good looks). Still this has its moments, owned almost entirely by Lugosi.

After watching Flash Gordon I had a hankering for Fu Manchu criminal masterminds. Besides white people cast as Chinese, the movie wasn't as racist as it could be. Lugosi doesn't waste your time with Confucius proverbs like Charlie Chan. Wallace Ford's protagonist reporter doesn't demonstrate any more racism than apathy. The idea of sneaking into a secret hideout is neat. Movie gets more lively when Arline Judge joins in. Fav scene: seeing the door of the Department of Orientalogy.

One of the two films based on works by Harry Stephen Keeler...one of the greatest oddball novelists of all time. One could only wish that the company had done something weirder with the source material. Surely Lugosi would have enjoyed it.