As I write these words, there is an unhinged effort to undo diversity, equity and inclusion policies around the U.S., a movement that was collectively known as DEI when it was being used to shape policy under the previous administration. Despite there being much talk of a change to a “merit-based” leadership, it really comes down to not who is best qualified of all people, but only who is the best among White males.
This is on my mind enough lately that I kept reading the title of 1940’s Doomed to Die as Doomed to DEI. Never mind the title it was released as is Mystery of the Wentworth Castle. And that is still confusing because that is the name of an ocean liner and not, in fact, a castle.
The ship was part of Melvin Lang’s ocean vessel empire before it caught fire and was destroyed. Lang seems very dismayed about it and also regrets getting involved in some shady dealings that his lawyer (Henry Brandon) had advised against. As if those aren’t sufficient motives for various parties to kill Lang, there is also the owner of a rival business (Guy Usher) who once again finds Lang unreceptive to his offer to merge their ventures. Usher’s son (William Stelling) also wants to engage in a merger, except that would be marriage to Lang’s daughter (Catherine Craig), a union the father continues to block.
Boris Karloff returns for the fifth and last time as detective James Lee Wong. Just like the previous installments, the extent of trying to pass him off as Asian is only facial makeup that lengthens his eyes. Mercifully, no attempt at an accent is made, though he says a couple of things here that are more fortune-cookie-ish than I can recall from the previous installments. Consider this tossed-off inanity: “Time is cheap for those who have it to spend.” That superficially scans as deep without actually conveying much of anything.
At least he approaches the case with no preconceived notions, unlike police detective George Withers. To the best of my knowledge, Withers is the only person other than Karloff to appear in all five installments. His continues to be a one-note performance, the straight man supporting Karloff, always charging off boldly in the wrong direction at every opportunity.
Returning for a third time is Marjorie Reynolds as a reporter and, inexplicably, Withers’s girl. She continues to be functional, at best, yet is still a welcome presence.
In a strange way, I feel like I have come to know these three very shallow figures, and I actually wish the series had continued beyond this. It is like a short-run television series, especially since the runtime for each film is just over an hour.
I especially like how Karloff’s detective is direct without being abrupt, and is always the first to admit when he does not know something. He even takes a bullet graze in stride, making even less of a fuss over a genuine flesh wound than the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail did over far more grave injuries which were also dismissed as such. Karloff is even amused his assailant wasn’t found after the suspect’s vehicle overturned: “Then it must have been a phantom…” And the place Reynolds takes him to be treated is a “receiving hospital”. What an odd term, and it made me wonder if there were also departing hospitals. If not, then I have a suggestion for what we should start calling hospices.
Please allow me a couple of random observations before we leave the Mr. Wong series. First, in one scene, there are some older Chinese men around a table, and they have tea cups so tiny that I would normally think they were only appropriate for dolls. I’d be surprised if one could get even a thimble’s worth of tea in one of those. Also, I continue to chew on this exchange between Reynolds and Withers which left me deeply baffled: “You left me unconscious downstairs!” “It’s not the first time that’s happened.” It is perhaps for the best we never learn more about their relationship.
And with that, I bid adieu to Doomed to Die, as well as the entirety of Karloff’s Mr. Wong series. There is actually one more installment which had a different actor as its lead, and I don’t even care to see that. Even if it is a yellowface performance, Karloff has been a joy to watch in these. And I can understand why somebody would want to star in a series like this—Mr. Wong is always the smartest person in the room. I feel an analogy there for the world of today, where a White actor plays a Chinese person, when a person of genuine Asian heritage is excluded from consideration due to the end of DEI initiatives.
Dir: William Nigh
Starring Boris Karloff, Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers
Watched on the Kino Lorber blu-ray set Mr. Wong Collection