Mr. Moto und der Dschungelprinz

A watchable Moto entry, though it takes a little time to get going, but once it does you're engaged. The final is especially a cracker.

Peter Lorre stars in "Mr. Moto Takes a Chance," in this 1938 entry into the series. Lorre, of course, as Moto is the main reason for watching this film, but the rest of the cast here is very good: Rochelle Hudson, J. Edward Bromberg, Robert Kent, and Chick Chandler.

Working for the government, Moto is on assignment in French Cambodia to defuse two antigovernment plots, one lead by a holy man, Bokor against the local leader, Rajah Ali, and the other plot, led by Rajah Ali, who wants to start war against French rule. Parachuting into all this is Victoria Mason, aviatrix, an Amelia Earhart type but awfully pretty, flirtatious, and glamorous for someone whose plane just caught on fire. There are also two goofy newsreel photographers who keep getting into trouble.

Moto plays a double role here, that of Moto and an elderly mystic who looks like he could be over 150. Lorre gives that role just the right touch - he's not fooling the audience and he knows it. Petite Rochelle Hudson is very pretty and vivacious.

This film was the second Moto film but held back because it was thought to be not as strong as Thank You, Mr. Moto, to follow the first film. Like another poster, I'm not buying it, so the holdup remains a mystery. It's highly unlikely that Darryl Zanuck wasted five minutes thinking about the Mr. Moto series, except, of course, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Then he thought about the series long enough to pull it.

I have recently gotten into watching the Mr. Moto series and what a treat I have discovered. Peter Lorre's diminutive Mr. Moto was an exceptional series. The series was created by the studio to compete with the Charlie Chan series and compete it did even gaining as much popularity as Oland's Charlie Chan. Now, you can't really call Kenjaro Moto, a detective,because, he is an art collector, an archaeologist, an international police person, he is what ever the episode has him being. What he is is entertaining. The soft spoken Moto, has a mean streak in him a mile wide too. No shooting the gun out of the hand of the villain...he shoots to kill. If guy comes at him with a knife...they get it back..MULTIPLE times. Shocking, really, in his ruthlessness and overt violence when dealing with crooks. This particular film has him playing a Nippon Indiana Jones type on a dig. When a female aviator, an Amelia Earhart type, whose a spy, on an around the world trek, deliberately crashes her plane near Moto's Tell. A film crew captures the plane crash on film...while shooting crocodiles in the nearby river. Kind of an interesting scene, rather unique too, one of the characters falls out of the boat in the crocodile infested waters. Of course, they were alligators, but the stunt man was at one end of the canoe and two 'live' alligators were at the other, those bad boys can fly in the water and it took some brave stunt man to hop in there with them.

Anyway, the plot involves a revolution in a tiny Asian..Siamish type country that was French controlled. Moto disguises himself as a Tibetan monk guru...and when you see him...you will know, where they came up with the character...Yoda, in the Star Wars series. There was some similarities to the Indiana Jones..Temple of Doom too. Lucas and Spielberg HAD to be watching Mr. Moto sometime. Of course, Moto puts out the mini revolt before it starts, blows up the ammunition dump...after throwing the Rajah down into the powder room..head first. The good guy gets the girl. Moto diffuses a revolution and all live happily ever after. Good cast, crisp direction, back lot adventure of the highest quality. The Mr. Moto series was as popular as Charlie Chan back in the thirties and I can see why. I think Lorre's mean streak, flipping guys all over the place, then killing when he had to was more entertaining than the cerebral Charlie Chan, at times. There was also a nice added feature on the life of Peter Lorre. It also stated why he quit the series...to avoid type casting, to get more and better parts AND get more money. He only was paid $10,000 per episode and there were 8 in all. When he found out Warner Oland was making $40,000 per and they were on par, popularity wise...well...Mr. Moto left to all of our losses. Don't miss any of the Mr. Moto series they are fun viewing and Lorre is a real charmer!

In the jungle near Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) poses as an ineffectual archaeologist and a venerable holy man with mystical powers to help foil two insurgencies against the government.

When one of the characters say this of Lorre, you know the film is a winner: "If I was casting a horror picture, I'd have him playing the murderer." Just a brilliant nod to Lorre's career at that point, with such notable films as "M" and "Mad Love" under his belt.

One cannot deny the excellent makeup, which remains creepy even close up. Although uncredited, the work seems to have been done by Bill Cooley, a largely unknown figure. Of the mere twelve makeup jobs IMDb lists for him, only three were actually credited on screen. How much other work did he do and go unrecognized?

Mr. Moto is posing as an archaeologist but in reality he's investigating reports that there is soon to be an uprising against the colonial government. Soon after he arrives, an Amelia Earhart-like woman conveniently "drops in" as well as two wildlife documentary film makers--making this part of rural Thailand about the busiest place in the entire country!!

Some things about MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE are very good and make this a stand out film. First, instead of being stuck on a cruise ship or in the big city, Moto is in Thailand--a nice departure indeed. Second, like the earliest Moto films, our hero is NOT above killing his enemies--making Moto quite the different from Charlie Chan. Later Moto films are quite different, with Moto acting almost exactly like Chan--so in general, the later the films were made the worse they were.

Unfortunately, the film also had more than its share of dopey moments, such as the bats that flew up out of the trap door. Not only were they obviously fake, but you could very, very clearly see the strings! There was also an overuse of stock footage. While fortunately the animals were correct (such as Asian elephants, tigers and orangutans) but sometimes the clips were a bit grainy and seemed like they were thrown in for padding. In addition, the one cameraman character (the obviously "goofy" one) was a bit annoying. He seemed to be some sort of unnecessary comic relief and really detracted from the film.''

Overall, not a particularly inspired film and far from one of the better films in the series. Watchable but it's only a time-passer for everyone but Moto fans.