M. Moto dans les bas-fonds

One of the weakest gimmicks in the Sol Wurtzel-Peter Lorre Moto series was Moto's occasional attempts to lurk about in disguise a la Sherlock Holmes. It's surprising therefore that one of the most successful (and dramatically strongest) films in the series featured Moto doing an extended undercover operation as "Ito," the pidgen-English-speaking Japanese houseboy of a British gangster. The scenes in which Ito/Moto is treated with condescending contempt by his employer and roughed up by Cockney barflies are clearly intended to stimulate the audiences' outrage against their stupidly bigoted treatment of "his kind"--racism here being portrayed as a specifically British tendency, in stark contrast to the friendly respect with which Mr. Moto is treated by American characters. Considering that the Moto series itself has been labeled racist--the assumption being that casting the "ugly" Jew Lorre as a Japanese was an insult to Asians, never mind the way the character was actually treated in the films--it may be time to take a more objective second look.

A well-conceived story in the Moto series with Lorre escaping from Devil's Island with a British gangster and then parading as his houseboy/servant. Lorre never gets enough credit for his skill as an actor as he gives us two performances as a Japanese, one as Mr. Moto and one as the houseboy as played by Mr. Moto. Both portrayals are markedly different and his Ito performance does suggest a lot of racism that was going on at the time to the Japanese. Watch the film for the mystery involved, Lorre's great performance, and bear in mind the context of the times when the film was made. The scene with Lorre and some pub roughs is a gem as is the finale scene in an art museum. For all the press that goes out about the inherent racism in these films, few ever talk about the fact that Mr. Moto is a cultured, intelligent man who always bests his adversaries in whatever endeavor they partake of.

Peter Lorre is "Mysterious Mr. Moto," a Japanese detective who seems to know everything that's going on. A very likable character, Moto, not surprisingly, stopped solving crimes after Pearl Harbor.

In this, the fifth entry into the series, Moto escapes Devil's Island with another man, Paul Brissac (Leon Ames), as Moto is on the trail of an assassination group, of which Brissac is a member. Moto wants the top man. Since Brissac trusts him, Moto becomes his houseboy and gets a look at the rest of the group. But not the leader. The group is threatening the life of a man, Anton Darvak (Henry Wilcoxon), who has a steel formula the group wants. Moto works to protect him.

The film has a very lively denouement, and Moto dons several disguises during the film. Peter Lorre is wonderful. Moto has it all over Chan, as it takes Chan time to figure things out. Moto seems to know it all pretty early on, and he's quite an active participant in whatever it takes to solve the crime.

It's impossible to believe, however, that a man one step up from the village idiot, Anton Darvak, has any type of a formula unless it's for adding 2 and 2. He's not worth protecting, that's for sure.

This is a short movie, and the main thing it's got going for it is Lorre. The plot isn't great. And as short as it is, some of it moves slowly. But what action there is, is very good.

Of all the yellowface performances I've ever seen from classic Hollywood, Peter Lorre's Mr. Moto strikes me as the least offensive. The only times the character comes off as too stereotypical are when Mr. Moto is trying to trick dumb white people into thinking he's an ignorant heathen. Most of the time he's exceedingly intelligent, a Japanese Sherlock Holmes. He even has a couple of action sequences (apparently the audiences at the time ate up the Judo stuff). Lorre's just great in the role. The rest of the cast here is fine, too (the most recognizable actors are Henry Wilcoxon and Erik Rhodes). The Asian detective character was extremely popular at the time, the most famous of them being Charlie Chan (there's also Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong). I'm planning to take in a Charlie Chan and Mr. Wong film (n.b. I did end up watching Mr. Wong, Detective afterward, and it was pretty good, too) just for comparison. I also plan on watching all the other Mr. Moto films available to me. I love Lorre and very much enjoyed this film.

Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), under a fake ID, escapes from Devil's Island with another man who he follows to London. Once there Moto helps Scotland Yard try to crack the case of an assassination group. This fifth film in the series is a step up from the previous one but it doesn't quite have enough to put it on the level of the first three. The biggest problem is the actual story, which just isn't very entertaining and it actually makes for a rather slow and boring first forty-minutes. I never really could get into the story once we hit London because it was never quite clear what was going on and even worse is that we had an incredibly stupid character that Moto kept helping. The amount of dumb things this guys does is downright crazy and it really got under my skin. The final ten-minutes is when the action really picks up and the finale, with Moto having a very good fight, really packs a punch and delivers the goods. I also enjoyed the opening sequence on Devil's Island. Lorre is is usual very good self here as he's certainly got all of Moto's moves down. The supporting cast is also pretty good and that includes Henry Wilcoxon and Leon Ames.