Based on the James Lee Wong series in Collier’s Magazine written by Hugh Wiley, Mr. Wong, Detective is the first in a five-movie series starring Boris Karloff — yes, from that Asian town of Dulwich, Surrey, England — as Mr. Wong. Then again, Karloff had already played Dr. Fu Manchu in The Mask of Fu Manchu and General Wu Yen Fang in West of Shanghai.

Simon Dayton (John Hamilton) wants protection from Mr. Wong but by the time he takes the case, it’s too late. It turns out that Dayton manufactured poison that foreign powers want. That very same poison is what killed him. Could it be them? Or perhaps his business partners, who stand to get rich? Or the inventor of that poison gas that Dayton cheated?

Made by the Poverty Row Monogram Studios, the budget on these films — which are somewhat derivative of Fox’s Charlie Chan series — was so low that several actors have no dialogue. That’s because they would have had to be paid $10 for their role, per SAG rules.

Director William Nigh (The Ape) directed all five of these films, while the sixth film in the series, Phantom of Chinatown, was directed by Phil Rosen and stars Keye Luke instead of Karloff. That’s interesting, as Luke was best known as Charlie Chan’s Number One Son. He’s a younger character, Jimmy Wong, and was going to be in four movies, but distributors weren’t interested in the series without Karloff.

The Kino Lorber blu ray release of the Mr. Wong Collection has new HD masters of each of the five films — with a 2K scan of the fine grains — and this comes with audio commentary for Mr. Wong, Detective by Tom Weaver and Larry Blamire. You can get it from Kino Lorber.