The Fatal Hour was the fourth entry in Monogram's "Mr. Wong" series, based on the gentlemanly oriental detective created by Hugh Wiley. Boris Karloff returns as Wong, supported by Grant Withers as dyspeptic police captain Street and Marjorie Reynolds as brash gal reporter Bobbie Logan. On this occasion, Mr. Wong investigates the murder of a police officer, nearly ending up murdered himself during a climactic jewelry-store robbery. The principal suspect is Belden (Craig Reynolds), the son of a crooked businessman (John Hamilton) whose perfidy has apparently caused all the trouble in the first place. The Fatal Hour was scripted by Joseph West, a pseudonym for director George Waggner (who didn't direct this one). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
lost interest.
In cheap pulp fiction, characters with names like Hardway Harry are usual just red herrings whereas distinguished-looking pillars of society remain at all times deeply suspicious. Not by the usually dense policeman in charge, though, who never fails to point his finger at the most likely candidate. Hardway Harry
Frank Puglia, for example. Happily, these little films also employed more contemplative sleuths like Charles Chan or Mr. Moto or, as in The Fatal Hour,
Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong. The case of the dead police detective is not too taxing for Wong, who not only catches the culprit almost in the act but also demonstrates how a seemingly airtight alibi may be produced by the use of a newfangled remote-controlled radio. All very ingenious but when all is said and done also a bit dull and by the numbers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide