The Fatal Hour [PG]

When his boyhood friend and partner is found murdered in the bay, police officer Captain Street vows to stop at nothing until the murderer is caught. Assisting him on the case is renowned detective James Lee Wong and indirectly assisting is the persistent Herald journalist Bobby Logan. The only trail they have begins with a piece of jade worth thousands that was found in Street’s partner’s desk, which leads them into a web bigger than ever imagined where more murders occur closer and closer to home. 

A classic little thriller, The Fatal Hour is a reminiscent fusion of the Sherlock Holmes detective genre and popular murder mystery. Having a cop and a detective share the spotlight fuses the two mystery subgenres together quite well, making this movie a relatively entertaining little one. Whilst the mass of characters are bit hard to get a full handle on, the story itself is pretty good because it follows all the rules of the mystery genre and therefore, gives you that freedom to stop and try to acquaint yourself with the many characters that seem to be caught up in everything. 

When his boyhood friend and partner is found murdered in the bay, police officer Captain Street vows to stop at nothing until the murderer is caught. Assisting him on the case is renowned detective James Lee Wong and indirectly assisting is the persistent Herald journalist Bobby Logan. The only trail they have begins with a piece of jade worth thousands that was found in Street’s partner’s desk, which leads them into a web bigger than ever imagined where more murders occur closer and closer to home. 

What’s good about this movie is that it’s nicely balanced. We’ve got drama, suspense, tension, and mystery surrounding the case itself, then there’s the personal and emotional level brought to it through the connection of the first murder victim to the police captain, we’ve got comedic conflict that comes in the form of the Captain and the journalist constantly butting heads, and finally this coolness in the character of detective Wong who really is the character that elevates the movie by bringing a certain suaveness and sophistication to it. Always the voice of reason, this character is. 

Whilst I quite enjoyed the character of Detective Wong, indeed the film is based on a book series about him a bit like Sherlock Holmes, the casting was a bit awry because he’s a Chinese detective being played by Boris Karloff. Admittedly, I’m not sure what the casting policies were back in 1940 when this movie was made, but I would have thought that some effort should have been made by Karloff or the makeup team or whoever to at least try and adhere to the nationality of his character. He swans through the movie as more of a dapper English detective rather than Chinese, if Breakfast At Tiffany’s had been around then maybe he could have conversed with Mickey Rooney for pointers… at the very least. Aside from the one casting hiccup, this movie sits as an engaging and entertaining thriller that I rather enjoyed. 

Starring Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, Charles Trowbridge, Frank Puglia, Craig Reynolds, Lita Chevret, Harry Strang, Hooper Atchley, and Jason Robards Sr. The Fatal Hour is an engaging little flick filled with action, drama, murder, mystery, and comedy. It’s nothing overly amazing, but it’s intriguing and entertaining for what it is.