ksf-2 This one is more of a "murder melancholy" than a murder noir. Beautiful opening shot of San Francisco. Bobbie Logan (Marjorie Reynolds) is a reporter from the Herald, and is nosing around for a good story... she storms her way into the police station, and while she is there, the (its 1940, so he must be Irish) cop yells out "They've just taken Dan Grady downtown to the morgue... murdered. " Of course, Boris Karloff is our star of the day as James Wong, a role he would play many times. Wong starts visiting Grady's hangouts, and makes enemies along the way. Keep an eye out for Lita Chevret in the fancy mink...she did TONS of stuff, but most of her roles were uncredited. Family squabbles. More dead bodies. Mr. Wong finds more clues....Story and character of James Wong taken from Collier's Magazine, originally written by Hugh Wiley. Directed by William Nigh, who directed a whole slew of the James Wong films. Nigh had been an actor in the silents for years before jumping to director. Pretty average entertainment. It's on netflix, so it doesn't really cost anything to watch it. Typical who-dunnit fare, but nothing special.

TheLittleSongbird Neither of the six films in the Mr Wong series are great but they are entertaining enough. The Fatal Hour does drag a fair bit, the photography could have done with a little more finesse and while he is much better than he is in Mr Wong in Chinatown Grant Withers overacts, shouting his lines too much. I didn't find it a bad film at all and found it an improvement over Mr Wong in Chinatown. The sets and lighting are effective enough, the music is jaunty and eerie and the dialogue has good doses of humour and thoughtfulness. The story is not as predictable as it sounds, the murders are not particularly creative but the plotting is diverting, fills the short running time very well and the twists and red herrings add to the intrigue and fun(personally I didn't find it that convoluted) though would have been more effective with a brisker pace. The Fatal Hours also is one of the better acted films in the series. Boris Karloff regardless of reservations of authenticity is very magnetic and gives a dignified and thoughtful performance. Marjorie Reynolds is very sassy with the humour coming naturally to her, she and Withers do have some good chemistry. The supporting cast is one of the stronger and more consistent ones of the series, Robert Puglia is the standout as the film's most interesting character and Craig Reynolds also injects life and humour to things. In conclusion, not great but better than expected. 7/10 Bethany Cox

blanche-2 And God forbid they hire an actual Chinese actor for this - or for any lead Chinese character.Boris Karloff starred in a few films as Mr. Wong, a Chinese detective who is brought in by Captain Street (Grant Withers) when an undercover police officer is murdered.There are a few more murders as Mr. Wong, having found a valuable piece of jade in the policeman's pocket, tries to crack a smuggling ring in San Francisco.The acting is good, even though the characters are stock: the irascible police captain and the ambitious, omnipresent reporter (Marjorie Reynolds). Boris Karloff does a very good job, but he does not come off as Chinese. In a documentary about Chinese actors, one actress said that Luise Rainer in the Good Earth was perfection playing a Chinese character. I doubt they'd say that about Boris Karloff. I'm sure he had no time to prepare.I found this film hard to get into for some reason. It just didn't hold my attention. The plot is actually quite good and there are plenty of suspects. It's worth a look.

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.