Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

The characters are what make this movie intriguing, and stupid.....at the same time! One is never quite sure who is what except we know Mr. Moto is a good guy and the two cameramen are innocent but too goofy. This, the fourth in the Peter Lorre-starred series of Moto films, re minded me of the Monogram latter-day Charlie Chan films, with Mantan Moreland, in which some silliness sometimes overtook the crime story. It also reminded me a bit of some old Tarzan films where you see stock footage of animals.

The mystery starts right in the beginning when we see "Victoria Mason," a Amelia Earheart- type female who flying solo around the world, suddenly sabotaging her plane and parachuting to safety. We never find out until the end what that was all about. The pretty and nicely- shaped Rochelle Hudson plays Victoria.

Anyway, to summarize briefly, the story is about a few Cambodian revolutionaries and a secret tomb- like cache for munitions. Along the way, we see Lorre in another one of his disguises, this one as an old "guru" with magical powers. I do enjoy Moto's disguises even though they fool everyone but us, the audience.

The story is fair, nothing super, but the characters in here are odd, which is good because it keeps our interest in the film. The silliness is supplied by a two-man American two-man film crew working the jungles of Cambodia. Robert Kent and Chick Chandler play "Marty" and "Chick," respectively. Yes, an actor named Chick playing a guy named Chick!.They are more like Abbott and Costello than documentary filmmakers, and their lines are really dumb most of the time.

What looked even more unrealistic but, in reality, wasn't as much as I thought, were the two main characters of from the host country in this story. They are George Regas, who plays the villain "Bokar" and J. Edward Bromberg who plays "Rajah Ali." Both these guys look and sound American, especially Bromber but Regas, who looks like comedian Henny Youngman, is from Greece and Bromberg is from Hungary/Romania! Go figure!

Hudson was an attractive actress whom I remember from the 1935 Shirley Temple movie "Curly Top," in which she was only 19 but looked more mature. When this film was shot, she was 22 or 23 and still could have passed for a good-looking 30-year-old. Sadly, this actress died of pneumonia while only in her 50s.

Anyway, if you don't mind some of the sappy dialog and you still enjoy Lorre and his disguises, this Moto episode should be worth your time checking out. It's a pretty fast-moving story and these restored editions out on DVD offer outstanding transfers. They really look good!

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?

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.

Indeed this movie is a great deal like a Republic serial. For those who like their meat raw, that's a good thing, and fun can be had here. Granted, there is more than enough silliness to go around -- Lorre's disguise as an Asian sage is, to be blunt, not *entirely* successful, but he plays the impersonation tongue in cheek, and the end result is nothing if not amusing.

I cannot imagine what is offensive except possibly the dreaded racial stereotypes, which surely are endemic to the whole series. The idea that a B picture would be "held back for a few months" because of a matter of taste doesn't seem likely. Zanuck didn't expect Bs to be any good, and rarely screened them. There's no reason to single this film out as any sillier than many Bs of the period. There's more than enough to enjoy, and the running time is mercifully short. I'd rather watch this than any of the interminable Charlie Chan films.