Nonureva Really Surprised!

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

mark.waltz After the Improvement of the Mr Wong series with the previous entry, "In Chinatown", the series returns to its slow and pondering ways. It starts off intriguing, revealing the death of a pal of Boris Karloff's and Grant Withers found in the San Francisco Bay, having been working alone on a secret case involving a smuggling ring. Marjorie Reynolds returns as the ambitious reporter, and what was cute in the previous film in her rivalry with Withers now seems to be simply obnoxious. Much of the film focuses on interviewing people who claim to have seen the deceased in his last hour alive, or those who possibly could have been involved in his death or know something. That takes away time for action, making this entry boring and stagnant. There are a few interesting ing characters, most notably Charles Trowbridge and Lita Chevret as the proprietor of a fancy nightclub and his seemingly hard as nails girlfriend. This goes to show the hit or miss quality of these quickly written and even faster made B crime dramas, made to collect a quick buck when released, but thoroughly analyzed decades later. Karloff is beginning to show his boredom with the series, or perhaps that heavily lackered hairstyle was becoming as painful to deal with as his Frankenstein monster's costume.

Rainey Dawn This was a pretty fun Mr. Wong detective story. It has a few comical moments in it and the story was good. Mr. Wong is after a smuggling ring & unmasks a murderer.The Mr. Wong series is quite fun. If you like any of the Sherlock Holmes movies then it's possible you will like the Mr. Wong series starring Boris Karloff.What is interesting in this particular film, it features a wireless remote controlled radio. This radio was reality - it was not made up for the film. There is an article about the radio on CNet called "Back to the future: 1939 wireless remote control!" The article's subtitle reads: "Philco's Mystery Control (1939) was a battery-operated radio transmitter, so it didn't have to be in the same room as the radio it was controlling." Also, you can read more about this cool invention on Philco's website. That is a neat trivia fact I just learned about today.Yes this film is worth watching if you are a fan of detective stories or Boris Karloff.6/10

Neil Doyle Not only is THE FATAL HOUR a clumsy and mediocre film from the low-budget Monogram studio but it seems much longer than it is despite a brief running time. It's a strictly by-the-numbers sort of thing with very little actually happening until halfway through the story. Boris Karloff dons oriental make-up as the "Chinese copper" aiding Grant Withers and Marjorie Reynolds in solving the case of a murdered policeman on the San Francisco waterfront.With its drab sets and lack of any close-ups during long scenes, the story isn't interesting enough to hold the attention span of anyone but those determined to sit through this potboiler.Craig Reynolds, as a chief suspect, is the only player to inject any over-the-top histrionics to his role. All the others play their parts in an almost indifferent manner with the exception of Marjorie Reynolds as the newspaper lady with a perky sense of humor.Summing up: Hardly worth a peek--and certainly one of Karloff's dullest roles.

gavin6942 When Captain Street's best friend Dan O'Grady is murdered, Street enlists the help of Chinese detective James Lee Wong (Boris Karloff). Wong uncovers a smuggling ring on the waterfront of San Francisco and unmasks the killer, though not until several more murders occur. This film was including in a horror box set, and the Internet Movie Database considers it to be in the genre of horror, but I will tell you right now: there is no horror in this. None. It is a straight detective story. Yes, Boris Karloff is in it, but that does not make it horror.I was confused by the casting of Karloff as the Chinese Mr. Wong. He plays Wong in six films, but as far as I can tell Karloff is not Chinese and does not look or sound even vaguely Chinese. So why would they not cast someone else or change the nationality of Karloff's character? I really enjoyed Marjorie Reynolds as the pushy reporter, who was possibly Grant Withers' girlfriend (it is never made clear). She seems to show up at all the critical moments, adding a humorous element to the otherwise straight film. The other great character is Frank Puglia as "Hardway", the career criminal who hangs out around the police station. He was the most interesting character, providing a great red herring (actually this film is full of red herrings).If you like mysteries and old films, this is one you will want to give a fair chance to. If old movies bore you, never mind... you will fall asleep. But I liked it.