Cinema Revisited: Doomed to Die (1940)
Directed by William Nigh. Cast: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Marjorie Reynolds, Henry Brandon. Released August 12, 1940. 68 minutes.
The success of the Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto series over at 20th Century Fox prompted the low budget Monogram studios to have their own series featuring an Asian American detective.
Mr. Wong was created by writer Hugh Wiley as a series of short stories collected in Colliers magazine from 1934-1938. Monogram adapted these stories into B movies that ran just over an hour, but had a bit of a hiring coupe by placing Boris Karloff in the title role as James Lee Wong. Karloff is able to extend beyond his monster portrayals and offer a shrewd, calculating, but overall pleasant character. Grant Withers is the bumbling detective whom Wong assists, and Marjorie Reynolds is the feminine interest, a sharp lady reporter. Four films had already been produced in rapid succession when they began shooting “Doomed to Die” during mid-June of 1940. It was ready for release as soon as that August.
“Doomed to Die” deals with two rival shipping magnates. The son of one wants to marry the daughter of another. While the son is arguing with his intended’s father, a gunshot is heard. It’s murder. Naturally the young man is the suspect and is arrested for the murder, but both the lady reporter and Mr. Wong intend to investigate further.
What is most delightful about these low budget B movies is allowing a cinematic window into an area of filmmaking that is too often dismissed as insignificant. It’s a real by-the-numbers narrative structure, with an opening that establishes relationships, the crime, the culprit, and, after fifteen minutes, the entry of Mr. Wong who plans to carefully investigate while the Withers cop character jumps to immediate conclusions. The lady reporter is in full support of Wong.
The narrative flows nicely and never becomes complicated, breezing through its 68 minute running time without challenging the viewer. But it also remains entertaining, with Karloff in command of every frame as the wily detective. In our more enlightened times, it is perhaps unsettling to some that Englishman Karloff is playing an Asian American character (complete with his noted lisping delivery with a trace of the British accent he never completely lost).
But in this context it works.
Director William Nigh flirts with pre-war noir, keeping the scenes dark, and the pacing taut, with bursts of action that maintain a consistent energy. The car chases, some from stock footage, sometimes belie the low budget (a realistic accident is especially impressive), and the performances are all first rate, handled by a cast of recognizable B movie stalwarts like Henry Brandon, William Sterling, and Tristam Coffin. It also features one of the very few film appearances of Melvin Lang, who plays the ill-fated shipping magnate. Lang made five movie appearances in 1940, which is the extent of his film career, as he died that November.
This would be Karloff’s final appearance as Mr. Wong. Monogram chose to immediately restart the series with “Phantom of Chinatown” and cast Keye Luke in the Wong role – the first time an actual Asian American played a Chinese detective in an American sound films. Luke was signed to do four films, with Grant Withers and Marjorie Reynolds continuing in their roles. Sadly, Luke's initial effort received scant bookings. Apparently it was Karloff, not Wong, who was the draw. Luke was paid off and no other films were made.
“Doomed to Die” is in the public domain, so the print that I screened was likely burned to DVD from an old VHS tape that contained a splicy 16mm dupe. But somehow that was part of this movie’s charm.
It can perhaps be argued that, despite the murders and the presence of Karloff, "Doomed to Die" is more a mystery than a horror movie. True. But it still fits into any Halloween movie marathon.