Thank You, Mr. Moto

...from 20th Century Fox and director Norman Foster. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is in China tracking down members of a smuggling ring specializing in local artifacts, especially anything pertaining to the tomb of Genghis Khan. Also featuring Thomas Beck, Pauline Frederick, Sidney Blackmer, Sig Rumann, Jayne Regan, Philip Ahn, Wilhelm von Brincken, Nedda Harrigan, John Bleifer, Richard Loo, Victor Sen Yung, and John Carradine.

This was as enjoyable as the first. It's more outrageous than most of the other B mysteries of the period. Moto is still presented as an odd, creepy character that others in the story have trouble figuring out. He's ill-defined, with characters saying that he's a soldier of fortune, an adventurer, a freelance detective, or something in between. He's also very violent, a master of judo who seems to revel in throwing people around rooms and occasionally off balconies. He's also quick with a gun, and more people are shot and killed on screen in these first two Moto movies than in all of the Charlie Chan movies combined.

Peter Lorre is in top form as Mr. Moto in "Thank you, Mr. Moto," the 1937 second entry into the series.

Here Mr. Moto is on the trail of ancient scrolls that, once put together, lead one to the grave of Genghis Khan and millions of dollars. Moto has one scroll; the rest of them are owned by Madame Chung and her son (Pauline Frederick and Philip Ahn), who protect them as a duty to their ancestors, to keep the grave of Genghis Khan from desecration. Naturally there is a nefarious bunch after the scrolls, including Sidney Blackmer, Nedda Harrigan, and Sig Rumann. John Carradine is on hand as an unscrupulous antique dealer, rounding out a good cast with Jayne Regan and Tom Nelson as the young leads.

Chase scenes, murder, and gunfire all are aplenty here, but the end is very touching. Peter Lorre is marvelous. It's a shame that once Pearl Harbor was bombed, we had to say goodbye to Mr. Moto.

Exemplary Mr Moto entry is the darkest in the series and boasts a compelling emotional undertow that's as effective as it is unexpected. For once, the lame comic relief is expunged (studio execs, no doubt, forced its quick return) which allows Peter Lorre's wonderful characterization an extra bit of space to work in while following the procedural detective tropes and handling Moto's apt witticisms. (That's Lorre's stunt double handling the physical stuff.) The basic story involving some antique Chinese scrolls that make up a sort of treasure map was (atypically) based on a novel by Moto creator John P. Marquand and this may add to the tough, blunt tone hiding just below the surface. All the Moto films entertain, but this one sticks with you.

This is a fairly typical Mr. Moto film from the superb B-unit at Twentieth Century Fox, but I was quite surprised by certain elements of depth in the film. There are moments of brutality that exceed what was standard in films, especially B-films, of the time. But more interesting was the emotional factor. One scene, the last scene between Peter Lorre's Moto and Philip Ahn's Prince Chung, is really amazing for its humanity and poignant quality, something not readily found in 67-minute programmers of the period. The Moto films, like the Charlie Chans Fox made, are all splendidly made little pictures. This one is better than most.

Treasure maps have always intrigued viewers. I remember seeing a lot of television shows when I was a kid where a hidden treasure was buried somewhere and people fought for the maps to find the treasure. The stories have run the gamut from Superman episodes to the big screen with "Long John Silver" and "Indiana Jones." Usually the stories are fun, and suspenseful.

In this second-of-eight "Mr. Moto" movies, the treasure lies in the tomb of Madeline....er, Ghengis Kahn. I won't divulge too much of the story because what happens right at the beginning isn't fully revealed until the end but it ties the whole thing together.

This is my second look at this series and one thing I really get a kick out of is the vocabulary of Mr. Moto, played by the great Peter Lorre. He has a great way with the English language and he's fun to hear. He doesn't crack jokes like Charlie Chan, but he's very well-spoken and very polite like his counterpart. He's also very physical when he needs to be. Unlike Charlie, Mr. Moto will stab you to death if need be, as he does several times in this film! Shocking! He also likes to literally jump through the air and attack his adversaries. Cool! This guy would be embraced by the WWF, if that wrestling federation had been around in the 1930s.

There are plenty of surprises, so I'll leave it just at that. Fans of the series should enjoy the "Oriental intrigue" in here. I only wish - not for PC reasons but for credibility - they had Asian actors playing the roles. I actually laughed when I saw John Carradine playing an Asian! There is one "real one" in here: Philip Ahn as 'Prince Chung." Actually, he was Korean-American. Speaking of roles, Jayne Regan as "Eleanor Joyce" was a bit intriguing in the female. She had a nice wholesome, pretty look to her and

Another interesting real-life story is Pauline Frederick who played "Madame Chung." A proper Bostonian, she looked anything but Asian but the sad story with this actress is that this was her last movie. She died at the young age of 55 the following year, of asthma.

These Mr. Moto movies always have a lot of interesting facets to them, and have a good combination of intelligent and sometimes witty dialog (i.e. "Well, there's nothing like a murder to ruin a perfectly good evening,") along with an ample supply of action and intrigue.