Doomed to Die

Doomed to Die is a 1940 American mystery film directed by William Nigh and starring Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong with Marjorie Reynolds and Grant Withers. It is a sequel to the 1940 film The Fatal Hour,[1] which also features Withers and Reynolds.

Doomed to Die
DVD cover
Directed byWilliam Nigh
Written byHugh Wiley
Ralph Gilbert Bettison
Michael Jacoby
Produced byPaul Malvern
Scott R. Dunlap
StarringBoris Karloff
Marjorie Reynolds
Grant Withers
CinematographyHarry Neumann
Edited byRobert Golden
Music byEdward J. Kay
Color processBlack and white
Distributed byMonogram Pictures Corporation
Release date
  • August 12, 1940 (1940-08-12)
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Boris Karloff seated. Standing L-R: Marjorie Reynolds, Gibson Gowland, Grant Withers

Plot

When the head of a shipping company is murdered in his office, suspicion is focused on the son of a competitor who is engaged to the dead man's daughter. The girl asks the detective Mr. Wong to investigate, hoping to prove that her fiancé is innocent.

The murder occurred a few days after one of the company's liners had caught fire and sunk, with the loss of more than 400 lives. Wong is given information by the leader of a powerful Chinese tong that leads him to other suspects. The tong leader tells Wong that one of their members was smuggling a large amount of tong money aboard the ship. The smuggler survived the sinking but disappeared with the tong's money.

Wong uses technology to recover seemingly lost evidence. He uncovers multiple conspiracies within the shipping company and proves that the original suspect is not the murderer.

Cast

Production

Filming began in mid-June 1940. The film uses actual news footage from the burning of the liner SS Morro Castle, which caught fire on September 8, 1934 during a trip from Havana to New York City.[2]

References
  1. Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomahawk Press 2011 p 259-260
  2. Internet Movie Database Trivia
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