Story: A police officer has been murdered and while the entire force is hit hard, Captain Street (Grant Withers) not only lost a fellow detective, but his friend. As such, he wants to make sure justice is served and to that end, he reaches out to master detective Mr. Wong (Boris Karloff). As he dives into the case, Wong notices some odd goings on around the case and when more murders begin to unfold, he knows he has to put the pieces together before even more people are killed. There seems to be a clear connection with the local smuggling operations, which narrows the suspects, but all the alibis seem to be airtight. Can Mr. Wong somehow crack this tough case or has the killer figured out how to get away with murder?

Entertainment Value: This is the fourth movie in the Mr. Wong series and while Boris Karloff is back in the titular role, his presence is scaled back in this sequel. I’ve always been entertained by the loudmouth cop Street, so I didn’t mind seeing his role increased for this story, especially since it makes sense in the narrative, but I can understand those who just want Karloff front and center. At the same time, the movie does suffer somewhat with the shift, as Karloff was a much stronger central performer, so while Withers and Marjorie Reynolds are enjoyable, it isn’t quite the same kind of vibe. Even so, this is a passable murder mystery with a straight forward plot, very brisk and with little downtime. I found all the Mr. Wong movies to be competent pictures to this point, but I’d have to rank The Fatal Hour a notch lower than the others. I appreciated the attempt to shake things up, but in the end, I think things would have been better left alone.

As I mentioned, Grant Withers takes a more prominent role here and since he has been in all the Mr. Wong films thus far, that decision makes sense. I don’t know if such an increase in screen time was needed, but it does help this sequel stand out from the pack, even if the experiment wasn’t all that fruitful. Withers is fun to watch as the rude, often blowhard Captain Street and he gets to flex his acting chops a little more here, usually in scenes with his costar Marjorie Reynolds. The two have decent chemistry, but the script doesn’t give them a lot to work with and perhaps that’s a big reason why The Fatal Hour stumbles. With stronger material, the two might have gotten a little more shine, but even so, their work here is passable. The cast also includes Boris Karloff, Frank Puglia, Charles Trowbridge, and Lita Chevret.

The Disc: This Blu-ray release, as part of The Mr. Wong Collection from KL Studio Classics, looks terrific and light years better than the previous versions I’ve seen. A clean print, but still some natural grain and detail is crisp, while contrast is smooth and consistent. This set also includes the other four Mr. Wong feature films, so you could scoop them all up at once, all in great looking new visual treatments.

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