Pluskylang Great Film overall

ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

gridoon2018 If you've seen even one "Mr. Wong" film before, you pretty much know what to expect. Unfortunately, "Doomed To Die" gives you the talky, often dull parts, WITHOUT the ingenious final twist that would make it all worth sitting through. There is nothing particularly clever about the way the murder is executed, and although the identity of the killer may (or may not) be a surprise, it doesn't seem to matter much because the motive is murky at best (and I've seen the film twice). Even Boris Karloff seems rather disinterested in the whole project. Of all the "Mr. Wong" films I remember seeing, this one is probably the worst. At least there is a funny closing gag. ** out of 4.

secondtake Doomed to Die (1940)Oh boy, poor Boris Karloff. He's the star, and the one great presence, in this cobbled together movie, the last of Karloff's Mr. Wong movies. Someone edited the heck out of this one, and the complex plot gets hard to follow (and hard to believe!) in the hour it takes from start to finish. That's not to say it's a bad movie. It's kind of fun, actually, and because so much is going on, you really have to pay attention, as the scenes keep changing and changing, and more and more characters appear and reappear. The plot itself is forced on things, with red herrings that are absurd and a huge disaster in the opening scenes that ultimately means little to the rest of it, or so it seems to me. There is deliberate comedy which is sometimes funny, and gives the movie an airiness that works pretty well. Karloff, amazingly, plays a Chinese detective, and they do something to his eyes to make him more Asian, but otherwise he's very Karloff, which is good. There are some brief scenes in a so-called Chinatown, but nothing so colorful as, say, the end of "Lady from Shanghai." No, this is from a thoroughly B-movie series of six Mr. Wong films, all but one, with Karloff as Wong. There are at least two other series of films with Asian detectives, an interesting sub-genre, for sure. There are eight Mr. Moto films (with Peter Lorre) around the same time (late 1930s), and there are the almost countless Charlie Chan films (first in the earlier 30s with Warner Oland, and then the late 30s into the 40s starring Sidney Toler). All of these stars were not Asian, but that's the way Hollywood compromised its bigotry with its sense of what the mainstream American audiences wanted.The thing that makes these Karloff films still watchable is their gritty urban settings, and the whodunnit quality that can hold even a mediocre movie together on a Sunday afternoon. "Doomed to Die" has some very dark night scenes (a third of the movie) and if they did that to save money on set design, that's fine with me because it makes them moody and inky. Nice.Check out this rather nice Mr. Wong site:cheddarbay.com/0000celebrityfiles/films/wong/wong.htmlTake them for what they are and you might end up watching all of them!

Scarecrow-88 Monogram murder mystery with Boris Karloff starring as Oriental investigator Mr. Wong, called on by a newspaper reporter, Bobbie Logan(the unflappable Marjorie Reynolds, representative of the wisecracking dame known to populate these kinds of films at this time) to solve the case of the killing of her best friend's father, a shipping magnate, Cyrus Wentworth(Melvin Lang). Cynthia Wentworth(Catherine Craig)is in love with her father's business rival's son, Dick Fleming(William Stelling). Paul Fleming(Guy Usher), also a shipping magnate, wanted to consolidate companies with Cyrus, who would have none of it. Wentworth's shipping enterprise was under water in the stock market due to, among other things, a disaster on the high seas in regards to a fire on board an illustrious ocean liner which killed 400 people. Cyrus had just finished his will and was embroiled in a smuggling operation involving Chinese bonds from a group called the Tongs. When Dick went to Cyrus to ask his permission to marry Cynthia, the result was a heated argument. Someone shoots Cyrus not long after his discussion with Dick and Mr. Wong must determine who is responsible. Captain William Street(Grant Withers)believes it's an open and shut case and that Dick is the man behind the murder because he was in the room not long before Cyrus' demise. Other suspects emerge such as a fired chauffeur, Ludlow(Kenneth Harlan), caught a couple times on the fire escape snooping(not to mention he sneaks into Cyrus' office to burn a letter found in the safe for which Wong must use an infrared technique in an attempt to read the contents from its ashes), a Chinese servant, and Matthews(Wilbur Mack), an associate of Wentworth's. Attorney Victor Martin(Henry Brandon)also knew the contents of Cyrus' will, had prior knowledge of the smuggling operation, and the combination to the safe so he can not be ruled out as a suspect either, no matter how kind and innocent he seems.Boris Karloff incorporates Wong with a sophistication, manners, confidence(in his abilities to get innocents off the hook for a murder they didn't commit), and dependability, you just know that he will catch the criminal(s) and see that justice is served. DOOMED TO DIE is actually my first in the Karloff-Wong Monogram series and I certainly plan to see the previous entries. If you enjoy 60+ minute murder mysteries where you get plenty of red herrings with multiple suspects then you could do a lot worse than DOOMED TO DIE. Reynolds and Withers bounce insults off each other as cop and reporter respectively..Bobbie loves to rub it in that Street's certainty of Dick's guilt is wrong, utilizing Mr. Wong's detective skills to get the better of him. Meanwhile Street tries to keep Bobbie in the dark so she will not report the news before the case is completely solved. There's an attempted murder of Wong, a car chase resulting in a crash, blackmail, and ulterior motives behind Wentworth's murder pointing towards greed. The key to it all is the letter Ludlow almost gets rid of..this evidence could hold the answer which rescues Dick from jail or the death penalty. Decent Asian make-up for Karloff; a direct polar opposite to his Fu-Manchu character, Mr. Wong is polite, trustworthy, and of substantial importance thanks in part to his astute talents at uncovering what the police can not.

zboston3 I'd heard of these Mongram potboilers but never seen one before, and while Karloff is the marquee attraction, several of the other actors steal large chunks of the show. There's a wise cracking chauffeur who's always climbing up fire escapes, and then there's the thick headed police captain and the chirpy news reporter - are they sleeping together - they sure bicker like a married couple. The mystery isn't too involving, and the flick suffers from the shoestring budget - the sets, the music, some of the other actors, all could have been better if more money had been spent. It's too bad for Karloff to be stuck in such a film, but everybody's got to eat.