Even though the very first Mr.Wong movie was just a inexpensive little fluff, filmed at the parking lot and what it appears inside two closets, it was popular enough to get a sequel. And what a sequel it was! Far better produced, with several actual outside scenes and typically exquisite, elegant Hollywood house full of nicely dressed dinner guests amassed in order to provide Agatha Christie kind of whodunnit, this was markedly upscale product that gave Boris Karloff proper setting to be unusually gentlemanly Mr.Wong and this time nobody screams or shouts at him, in fact he is treated kindly and respectfully. Even the rest of Asian characters are all ether servants or evil (or both) Mr.Wong belongs right there with the elegantly dressed smart set, almost like some kind of Asian Sherlock Holmes - others serve him drinks, greet him warmly and remind him on parties where they met previously. He is exotic looking outsider and naturally, Karloff actually don't look Asian at all, since he is unusually tall man.
At the beginning of the movie we encounter wealthy Mr. Edwards who is some sort of Bluebeard with history of cruelty towards his wives and current wife is similarly taunted by his jealousy though it makes you wonder why is house full of young men who could be her potential lovers - almost like he is dangling them in front of her just to see her reaction. Mrs. Edwards is actually more than ready to fall into temptation anyway, being oh-so-sensitive and unhappy, so what else is wealthy wife to do. There are also several Asian servants who we suspect have mysterious agenda, as they all behave very unusually and the cursed gemstone smuggled from China, fantastically named "Eye of the Daughter of the Moon" hidden in a safe (and apparently bringing bad luck to his owners) but surprisingly, this part of the story is not really so important because right in the middle of elegant dinner party someone gets killed in front of guests and this is where Mr.Wong steps in to untangle everything. First he needs to eliminate and separate suspects, find potential motives and so on - I must admit there were so many red herrings that I couldn't possibly guess the identity of murderer until the very end where Mr.Wong collect everybody in his room and than cleverly plays with their nerves until grand finale eventually points the least suspecting person. Even Agatha Christie herself might have enjoyed this movie, because it fits right up her alley. As usual, all eyes and ears are on Boris Karloff who carries the whole movie on his shoulders and without him this could have been just another contrived little parlour crime story but he is such charismatic presence that everything turns quite enjoyable. This whole Mr.Wong series are such a discovery for me, I truly like them.
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