The Fatal Hour

On a murder scene that rocks the city, Captain Street turns to Wong for answers. The prime lead is Frank Belden Jr., the son of a businessman famed for success and deceit. Wong finds himself entangled in a case that grows more dangerous as suspects multiply and the stakes rise. As the numbers of dead bodies mount, the investigator threads together clues across a city scene of docks and wharves. His pursuit reveals a jewel smuggling ring connected to the San Francisco waterfront, escalating the mystery into something larger than the initial murder, with every break shadowed by risk. Wong faces growing danger and is nearly executed as the investigation deepens. The clock ticks as clues trail toward a circle.

Directed by William Nigh, The Fatal Hour stars Boris Karloff as James Lee Wong with a screenplay credited to Scott Darling, George Waggner, and Hugh Wiley, delivering a late 1930s style mystery for cinema audiences in 1940, and noir vibes.

Box office data for this title is not widely documented, a common fate for many 1940s mystery thrillers. The film circulated through drive-ins and regional theaters of its era, with modest returns typical of Monogram era productions in the US.

Critics of its time treated it as a solid, if conventional, entry in the era's detective lineup, leaning on a brisk pace and Karloff's quiet authority. The story probes crime networks, corruption in business, and the costs of pursuing truth, with loyalty and grit tested along the way for audiences.

As one of Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong appearances, the film contributes to early on screen depictions of a Chinatown detective in American cinema, reflecting its era's attitudes while delivering a compact waterfront mystery built around clues, danger, morality, and loyalty that resonates with classic thrillers that endure for time throughout cinema.