[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":134},["ShallowReactive",2],{"movie-seo-tt0030473":3},{"movieId":4,"title":5,"year":6,"sources":7,"metadata":78,"relatedMovies":91,"similarMovies":104,"collections":130,"is_curated":131,"verified":132,"lastUpdated":133},"tt0030473","Mr. Wong, Detective",1938,[8,19,28,37,46,51,57,65,71],{"channelId":9,"sourceId":10,"id":10,"title":11,"description":12,"addedAt":13,"duration":14,"language":15,"year":6,"viewCount":16,"type":17,"channelName":18},"UCgLqpXqmEJoyDYE_lpY1DXg","qN7RntyyHX8","Mr. Wong, Detective (1938) | Colorized Public Domain Mystery Film with Boris Karloff & Grant Withers","Mr. Wong, Detective (1938) is a classic American mystery film directed by William Nigh and produced by Monogram Pictures. This colorized and digitally restored edition by Colorized Public Domain revives one of the earliest Hollywood detective films to blend Eastern intelligence with Western crime-solving. Featuring the legendary Boris Karloff in a rare non-horror role, the film introduced audiences to the calm, methodical, and brilliant Chinese-American sleuth James Lee Wong — a character adapted from Hugh Wiley’s Collier’s magazine stories. Through careful restoration and color enhancement, this edition brings new depth to the shadows and suspense of 1930s mystery cinema, making it engaging for modern viewers in the United States, Europe, and worldwide.\n\nPlot Summary:\nThe film opens in San Francisco, where the sudden death of a chemical company president, Simon Dayton, shocks the city. Although it first appears to be a heart attack, evidence quickly suggests murder. Mr. Wong, a refined and highly intelligent detective with deep knowledge of science and criminology, is called in to assist. Using his analytical skills and quiet observation, Wong uncovers a web of industrial espionage and betrayal surrounding a new secret chemical formula. When more deaths occur, the investigation becomes a race against time. Assisted by the brash but good-hearted police captain Street, Wong follows the clues through laboratories, shipping docks, and high-society offices. The tension rises as the murderer’s plan unfolds, culminating in a gripping confrontation that proves intelligence and composure can outmatch violence and greed.\n\nCast and Crew:\n• Director: William Nigh\n• Producer: Scott R. Dunlap\n• Screenplay: Houston Branch\n• Based on: Stories by Hugh Wiley\n• Cinematography: Harry Neumann\n• Studio: Monogram Pictures\nStarring:\n• Boris Karloff as James Lee Wong\n• Grant Withers as Captain Street\n• Maxine Jennings as Myra Ross\n• Evelyn Brent as Olga Goluboff\n• Lucien Prival as Anton Mohl\n• William Gould as Simon Dayton\n• John Hamilton as Theodore Meisle\n• Wilbur Mack as Devlin\n• Lee Tung Foo as Willie\n\nFilm Significance:\nMr. Wong, Detective stands as a milestone in early American detective cinema, blending mystery, science, and social intrigue. Boris Karloff’s portrayal of James Lee Wong marked a notable shift from his horror roles to an intelligent, culturally respectful character inspired by classic pulp fiction detectives. The film’s success led to five sequels, forming one of Monogram Pictures’ most popular serial franchises. It showcased the studio’s ability to create suspenseful, low-budget features that competed with major studio mysteries of the era. The story’s tone — methodical, restrained, and atmospheric — appealed to audiences who enjoyed deduction-based storytelling, bridging the gap between American mystery traditions and the logical precision popularized in British detective fiction.\n\nEnhanced Public Domain Explanation:\nThis film is in the public domain, which means it is completely free of copyright restrictions and can be legally shared, viewed, studied, and preserved without limitation. Colorized Public Domain restores and enhances these historic works through careful digital cleaning, visual restoration, and colorization techniques. Our mission is to ensure that timeless classics like Mr. Wong, Detective remain available to a worldwide audience. By presenting them in color and modern quality, we make them more engaging and accessible to younger generations who might otherwise overlook black-and-white cinema. This process respects the original film while providing a new layer of appreciation for today’s viewers.\n\nWhy Watch This Colorized Edition:\nThe original 1938 release was filmed in black and white, typical of Monogram Pictures’ limited budgets. Through digital colorization, this edition revitalizes the moody atmosphere of its San Francisco setting, adding depth to shadows and visual contrast that highlight the mystery’s tension. The restored version offers crisp detail, balanced tones, and enhanced clarity for today’s large-screen TV audiences — who form nearly half of all modern YouTube viewers. By restoring the film’s noir-like lighting and expressive performances, this colorized edition makes early detective storytelling more immersive for modern audiences who appreciate both classic style and modern presentation quality.\n\nSubscribe and Explore More Classics:\n📌 Subscribe for more colorized classics: https:\u002F\u002Fwww.youtube.com\u002F@ColorizedPublicDomain?sub_confirmation=1\n\nWe upload restored and colorized films from the Golden Age of cinema — including mysteries, thrillers, and dramas — carefully preserved for historical and modern entertainment. Each restoration is designed to keep public domain cinema alive for viewers in the USA, Europe, and beyond.\n\n#MrWongDetective #BorisKarloff #ClassicMystery #PublicDomainMovie #ColorizedClassic #GoldenAgeHollywood #MonogramPictures #FilmRestoration #DetectiveStory",1766537363,4164,"en",145,"youtube","Colorized Public Domain",{"channelId":20,"sourceId":21,"id":21,"title":22,"description":23,"addedAt":24,"duration":25,"language":15,"year":6,"viewCount":26,"type":17,"channelName":27},"UCE34fwgW7kWr7tc7YiOWtRw","vQvPCVE2b_s","Mr. Wong Detective (1938) BORIS KARLOFF","Stars: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Maxine Jennings\nDirector: William Nigh\n\nWhen a chemical manufacturer is killed after asking detective James Wong to help him, Wong investigates this and two subsequent murders. He uncovers a international spy ring hoping to steal the formula for a poison gas being developed by the first victim's company.",1766793076,4107,676610,"PizzaFlix",{"channelId":29,"sourceId":30,"id":30,"title":31,"description":32,"addedAt":33,"duration":34,"language":15,"year":6,"viewCount":35,"type":17,"channelName":36},"UCycDFnpMeWzaITQSD1dWsOA","W6xle9vlKNk","Mr. Wong, Detective (1938) Boris Karloff | Full Length Adventure, Crime, Spy Movie","When a chemical manufacturer is killed after asking detective James Wong to help him, Wong investigates this and two subsequent murders. He uncovers a international spy ring hoping to steal the formula for a poison gas being developed by the first victim's company.\n\nDirector: William Nigh\nWriters: Houston Branch, Hugh Wiley (based on: the \"James Lee Wong\" series)\nStars: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Maxine Jennings \nGenres: Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery,Thriller\n\n@CultCinemaClassics:\nhttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.facebook.com\u002FCultCinemaClassics \nhttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.instagram.com\u002Fcultcinemaclassics \nhttps:\u002F\u002Fwww.twitch.tv\u002Fcultcinemaclassics",1766796706,4231,54386,"Cult Cinema Classics",{"channelId":38,"sourceId":39,"id":39,"title":40,"description":41,"size":42,"addedAt":43,"downloads":44,"type":38,"channelName":45},"archive.org","Mr.WongDetective-WeirdnessBadMovie","Mr. Wong, Detective - Weirdness Bad Movie","Public Access TV show \"Weirdness Really Bad Movie\" hosts public domain movies and ads clean comedy sketches enjoyable for the whole family. Today's film is the 1938 Boris Karloff film \"Mr. Wong Detective\"",8778576296,1767744398,3640,"Archive.org",{"channelId":38,"sourceId":47,"id":47,"title":5,"description":48,"size":49,"addedAt":43,"year":6,"downloads":50,"type":38,"channelName":45},"Mr.WongDetective720p1938","Title: Mr. Wong, Detective Summary: When a chemical manufacturer is killed after asking detective James Wong to help him, Wong investigates this and two subsequent murders. He uncovers a international spy ring hoping to steal... Directed by: William Nigh Actors: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Maxine Jennings Production Company: Monogram Pictures Release Date: 5 October 1938 (USA) Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1 When a chemical manufacturer is killed after asking detective James Wong to help him, Wong investigates this and two subsequent murders. He uncovers a international spy ring hoping to steal the formula for a poison gas being developed by the first victim's company.",815690071,48933,{"channelId":38,"sourceId":52,"id":52,"title":5,"description":53,"size":54,"addedAt":43,"language":55,"year":6,"downloads":56,"type":38,"channelName":45},"Mr._Wong_Detective","From IMDb: When a chemical manufacturer is killed after asking detective James Wong to help him, Wong investigates this and two subsequent murders. He uncovers a international spy ring hoping to steal the formula for a poison gas being developed by the first victim's company. Stars Boris Karloff, Grant Withers and Maxine Jennings The Mr. Wong series of films Mr. Wong, Detective The Mystery of Mr. Wong Mr. Wong in Chinatown The Fatal Hour Doomed to Die Phantom of Chinatown",1521256176,"English",96545,{"channelId":38,"sourceId":58,"id":58,"title":59,"description":60,"size":61,"addedAt":62,"language":63,"year":6,"downloads":64,"type":38,"channelName":45},"mr.-wong-detective-1938","Mr. Wong, Detective 1938 colorized (Boris Karloff)","When a chemical manufacturer is killed after asking detective James Wong to help him, Wong investigates this and two subsequent murders. He uncovers an international spy ring hoping to steal the formula for a poison gas being developed by the first victim's company. Boris Karloff as James Lee Wong Grant Withers as Police Captain Sam Street Maxine Jennings as Myra Ross Evelyn Brent as Olga Petroff George Lloyd as Devlin Lucien Prival as Anton Mohl John St. Polis as Carl Roemer William Gould as Theodore Meisle Hooper Atchley as Christian Wilk John Hamilton as Simon Dayton I colorized this using AI software that doesn't always get the colors right, but I think it looks fairly natural. Hopefully a more professional job will be done someday.",557130491,1767744594,"eng",2670,{"channelId":38,"sourceId":66,"id":66,"title":67,"description":68,"size":69,"addedAt":62,"language":63,"year":6,"downloads":70,"type":38,"channelName":45},"mr.-wong-detective-1938_202504","Mr. Wong, Detective (1938)","A chemical manufacturer is killed just after asking detective James Wong to help him. So detective Wong decides to investigate this as well as two subsequent murders. Watch on RetroFlix:  https:\u002F\u002Fretroflix.org\u002Fmr-wong-detective-1938\u002F",442277443,58,{"channelId":38,"sourceId":72,"id":72,"title":73,"description":74,"size":75,"addedAt":76,"downloads":77,"type":38,"channelName":45},"wrongdetective4k","Mr. Wong,Detective (1938) [Colorized, 60FPS, 4K]","Mr. Wong, Detective 1938  is a black and white movie film which has been colorised, upscaled to 4K, and frames per second boosted to 60 FPS in 2021 using Artificial Intelligence (A.I) and Google Colab colab.research.google.com\u002F  Technologies used: A.I. Colorizing: \u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fjantic\u002FDeOldify A.I. Increasing frame rate 60 FPS: \u002F\u002Frife-vfi.github.io  A.I. Upscaling to 4K: ffmpeg.org  GPU: Google Colab",4290997008,1767744786,340,{"Rated":79,"Runtime":80,"imdbRating":81,"imdbVotes":82,"Genre":83,"Plot":84,"Director":85,"Writer":86,"Actors":87,"Language":88,"Country":89,"Awards":90},"Approved","69 min",6,1262,"Adventure, Crime, Drama","When a chemical manufacturer is killed after asking detective James Wong to help him, Wong investigates this and two subsequent murders. He uncovers an international spy ring hoping to steal the formula for a poison gas being developed by the first victim's company.","William Nigh","Houston Branch, Hugh Wiley","Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Maxine Jennings","English, Cantonese","United States","1 nomination",[92,93,94,95,96,97,98,99,100,101,102,103],"tt0031680","tt0032404","tt0030253","tt0029941","tt0031690","tt0031987","tt0032457","tt0030037","tt0030322","tt0030763","tt0026458","tt0034164",[105,107,110,112,115,118,121,124,127],{"movieId":92,"distance":106},0.4737,{"movieId":108,"distance":109},"youtube-fhOX2mucY6o",0.4927,{"movieId":98,"distance":111},0.5222,{"movieId":113,"distance":114},"tt0026755",0.5328,{"movieId":116,"distance":117},"youtube-_CDIo_l8HtI",0.5369,{"movieId":119,"distance":120},"tt0031704",0.5371,{"movieId":122,"distance":123},"tt0030251",0.5696,{"movieId":125,"distance":126},"tt0045219",0.5697,{"movieId":128,"distance":129},"tt0030968",0.5787,[],true,false,"2026-02-01T23:43:48.361Z",1779355504264]