The Mysterious Mr. Wong

Bela Lugosi stars as Mr. Wong, a "harmless" Chinatown shopkeeper by day and relentless blood-thirsty pursuer of the Twelve Coins of Confucius by night. With possession of the coins, Mr. Wong will be supreme ruler of the Chinese province of Keelat, and hisevil destiny will be fulfilled. A killing spree follows in dark and dangerous Chinatown as Wong gets control of 11 of the 12 coins. Reporter Jason Barton (Wallace Ford) and his girl Peg (Arlene Judge) are hot on his trail, but soon find themselves in serious trouble when they stumble onto Wong's headquarters. Not to be confused with Boris Karloff's later Chinese detective series, The Mysterious Mr. Wong holds its own in the class of Oriental mysteries on the strength of Lugosi's performance. The Hungarian actor works in his native accent throughout the picture like his character's instruments of torture - with subtlety and finesse. This film is based on the novel The Twelve Coins of Confucius by Harry Stephen Keeler.