For the sixth and final film in the Mr. Wong detective franchise, Keye Luke took over the starring role from Boris Karloff as James Lee Wong. It was the first time and Asian actor played a lead Asian detective in an American sound film. (I'm looking at you, Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto.) In this film, Luke played a young "Jimmy" Wong and is introduced to Police Captain Street, whom th Karloff Wong had worked with in the previous films. Luke was signed to make four Wong pictures a year but exhibitors lost innterest after Karloff left and the series was cancelled.
Explorer John Benton (Charles Miller) was giving a lecture on his recent expedition to Mongolia when he took a drink of water, collapsed, and died, uttering the words "Eternal fire." Benton's secretary Win Lee (Lotus Long) explains that the scroll refers to a map pointing to the location of rich oil deposits. Wong and Captain Street (Grant Withers) must search among Benton's associates to find the killer.
Directed by Phil Rosen (Jim Hanvey, Detective, Spooks Run Wild, Charlie Chan in the Secret Service) from a screenplay by George Waggner (The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, Father Steps Out, The Fighting Kentuckian). Original story by Ralph Gilbert Bettison (You're in the Army Now, South of the Rio Grande, 1984 [1956 version]) from the James Lee Wong series of short stories by Hugh Wiley in Cosmopolitan.
Enjoy.
https://archive.org/details/Phantom_of_Chinatown_1940
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