Doomed to Die (1940)

I love Boris Karloff so much in this 5-pack of early films he made that it doesn't bother me that he plays an Oriental detective. He threw himself, vitally, into every role he portrayed, and that's why he's so beloved today.

When a fire engulfs the "Wentworth Castle" at sea, the owner "Cyrus P. Wentworth" is devastated: very shortly afterwards, and after altering his will, he is dead! Enter "Mr. Wong" ( a thickly-accented Karloff) who has to navigate some quite choppy waters to establish a trail for this crime; particularly when it emerges that the ill-fated ship was carrying 1½ million dollars worth of bonds and that his daughter is in love with a man (the son of his bitterest rival) - who was also the last man to see "Wentworth" alive. It's actually quite a fun feature with plenty of action and quite a bit of humour. What is odd here, is that Karloff hardly features at all - much of the detection is done by Police Captain "Street" (Grant Withers) and local reporter "Bobbie" (Marjorie Reynolds). It certainly passes an hour with plenty of scope for Wong Tong puns....