Before the Charlie Chan series moved to Monogram in the 1940s, that little studio had its own series about a Chinese detective, James Lee Wong, who had starred in short stories in the magazine Collier’s. The first five of the six movies star Boris Karloff as the sleuth, an expert on many things, including Chinese antiquities. Wong assists his friend, Police Capt. Sam Street (Grant Withers), in solving various murders — help that is made particularly necessary by Street’s tendency to go astray in his investigations. In this, the first movie in the series, the detective unravels a scheme targeting the principals of a chemical firm who are slain even as the police rush to their assistance, though no one is with the victims when they are killed. This is fairly standard stuff, but Karloff is, as always, well worth watching.

  Mildly recommended. Otto judiciously thinks this movie is OK.