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Auction History Result 4d0517 MR. WONG IN CHINATOWN Italian 1sh 1940 Asian Boris Karloff with magnifying glass, rare! Date Sold 5/3/2020 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original 1940 (from the first release of this movie in Italy) Vintage Theatrical Folded Italian One-Sheet Movie Poster (1sh; measures 27 1/2" x 39 1/4" [70 x 100 cm]) (Learn More) Mr. Wong in Chinatown, the 1939 William Nigh San Francisco California Chinese detective mystery crime thriller ("Based on the 'James Lee Wong' series in Collier's Magazine written by Hugh Wiley") starring Boris Karloff (in the title role as James Lee Wong), Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, Peter George Lynn, Huntley Gordon, and Angelo Rossitto (as the "Mute Dwarf"). Note that there was a character called "Mr. Wong" in the 1935 movie "The Mysterious Mr. Wong", and he was played by Bela Lugosi. In 1938, "Mr. Wong, Detective" was made, starring Boris Karloff in the title role, and this Mr. Wong was an Chinese detective and had no relationship to the earlier Bela Lugosi character (this was based on a series of "James Lee Wong" stories in Collier's Magazine written by Hugh Wiley). This proved popular, and there were four more movies with Karloff playing Mr. Wong in 1939 and 1940. In 1940, he left the role, and one more movie was made, "Phantom of Chinatown", starring Keye Luke in the lead role, but that was the last of the series (perhaps it was the loss of Karloff that ended the series, or perhaps 1940 was not a good time for U.S. movies with an Asian hero). NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. If you know who did the art (if any), please let us know. Important Added Info: Note that this is an extremely rare pre-World War II Italian poster (that we have never auctioned before)! Virtually no Italian posters survive from before, during, or right after World War II (mostly only pre-war heavy stock lobby cards, and even those are rare). Apparently there were many paper shortages in Italy during World War II, resulting in the destruction of almost all pre-World War II posters! Note also that this Italian one-sheet measures 27 1/2" x 39 1/4" [70 x 100 cm]. Also note that this poster was folded at one time but has been laying flat for a long time and will be sent rolled in a tube. Condition: good to very good. The poster has some staining and small bits of paper loss along portions of the blank borders and it is slightly rippled in the lower right corner. It has some impressions from writing in portions of the center of the shadow at upper right (see our image). There is a partial horizontal crease at upper right and some separation and paper loss at the lower vertical foldline. It is otherwise in pretty nice condition and after a simple linenbacking the very rare prewar Italian poster will look great! Learn More about condition grades 
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