Mystery KARLOFF—THE MONOGRAM YEARS

(1938-1940) Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Marjorie Reynolds, Maris Wrixon, Evelyn Brent, Dorothy Tree, Henry Hall, Charles Trowbridge.  A must for Karloff fans.  You get all five of Boris’ Mr. Wong films, plus his final Monogram outing, The Ape, on two dual-layer DVD discs.  With the success of the Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto series over at 20^th Century Fox during the 1930s, Monogram decided to take the plunge into an Oriental detective series.  Karloff was signed to play Mr. Wong, starting in 1938 with Mr. Wong, Detective.  But with the rejuvenation of the horror film in 1939 with Son of Frankenstein, which saw Karloff star once again as the Frankenstein monster, Monogram decided that Boris—who had one picture remaining on his Mr. Wong contract—would be put to better use in a horror film.  Thus, The Ape was concocted and released in 1940.  Here’s the lineup: Mr. Wong, Detective, Mystery of Mr. Wong, Mr. Wong in Chinatown, The Fatal Hour, Doomed to Die, and The Ape—all originally transferred from beautiful 35mm prints.