Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation

Moto (Peter Lorre) starts out in the North African desert, where the fabled crown of the Queen of Sheba is unearthed by archaeologists. Moto travels with the artifact first to Hawaii and then to San Francisco, where various parties try to steal it, including a legendary criminal mastermind known only as "Metaxa".

This one is a bit over-stuffed with characters, and at times it seems a bit muddled, but it's still fun, and Lorre is a hoot. The identity of "Metaxa" isn't too difficult to figure out, but I liked seeing Moto get his own Moriarty

Mr. Moto takes on a mysterious jewel thief known as Metaxa out to steal the recently-unearthed Crown of Sheba. This last Peter Lorre Mr. Moto movie starts out fun but then unwanted comic relief George P. Huntley shows up. Huntley as Archie Featherstone ranks among the worst examples of forced comedy I've ever seen. Why they felt they needed to ruin an otherwise enjoyable Mr. Moto movie with this idiot is beyond me. He even appears in blackface at one point! To make matters worse, he teams with racist caricaturist Willie Best not long after.

A good supporting cast including Lionel Atwill, Joseph Schildkraut, and pretty Virginia Field can only do so much. The writing is pretty thin, as well. They even reuse a bit from the previous Moto film, Mr. Moto in Danger Island. In that one, Moto (faking appendicitis) arrives by ship and is picked up by an ambulance. After the ambulance departs, two men come rushing up in a cab exclaiming that they are the real ambulance drivers and the two men with Moto are imposters. Well a very similar bit is used here, except instead of an ambulance it's an armored truck with two imposter drivers.

It's not surprising this is the end of the Moto series. The U.S. would be at war with Japan in a couple of years so it would have been impossible for Fox to continue making movies with a Japanese hero. Besides, if this is an example of where the series was headed it's better they stopped here. It was a decent series with Peter Lorre always giving a good performance even when the material didn't deserve it. This one's probably the worst of the lot but still watchable. When Huntley's not around, it's actually entertaining.

Between 1937 and 1939, Twentieth Century-Fox made a ton of Mr. Moto films. However, towards the end of the series, it was obvious that the studio had "jumped the shark", so to speak. This phrase indicates that a TV show has passed its prime and the executives in charge decided to invigorate the show by fundamentally changing the formula. For example, with "The Brady Bunch" they introduced the annoying 'Cousin Oliver' and with "Family Ties" they introduced a freak baby who grew up six years in only one season! With the Moto films, they'd jumped the shark by introducing comic relief because they thought that these intelligent films needed to be re-tooled. In the previous film, Warren Hymer played an annoying wrestler. And, in this film the character Archibald Featherstone appears. Featherstone might just be one of the most annoying examples of comic relief ever, as you kept hoping someone (preferably Moto) would kill him just to shut him up!! Although he's supposed to work for the famed Scotland Yard, he shows all the intelligence and acumen of a brain damaged turnip. Again and again, his scenes were boorish and unnecessary and Peter Lorre just looks pained as he stands there and watches this buffoon "act". It's so bad that it truly destroys what COULD have been one of the better Moto films due to its clever plot.

As for the plot, the crown of the Queen of Sheba is discovered in the opening scene. Moto, now more of an international policeman than the amoral character he originally was, is on hand to protect the precious item from being stolen. In a great twist, several thieves all try to steal the crown independently of each other.

Overall, the film is watchable but is also ample evidence that the Moto series should have ended here. With WWII approaching, the films couldn't have survived much longer anyway, as having a sympathetic Japanese leading character simply wouldn't have been accepted in the US or in allied countries.

The fact that this story mostly takes place in Honolulu certainly gives credence to the idea that this film was originally meant by 20th Century Fox to be for the Charlie Chan series. So instead of Honolulu PD's finest going undercover during an archaeological expedition its the soft spoken Japanese private investigator that does.

Peter Lorre is undercover, but that's soon blown on shipboard by G.P. Huntley playing an upper crust British twit who has a knack for turning up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but actually by accident helping Moto. Some priceless artifacts are recovered from the dig and are to be displayed in a museum in Honolulu. And there's a mysterious master crook at large known to be seeking said items for theft.

With such likely suspects as Joseph Schildkraut and Lionel Atwill in the cast you can imagine either of them as the master crook, but there are others whose behavior might make them suspicious. I will say it isn't Huntley although if he had been the brains behind all the villainy that would have been a real interesting twist.

The Moto series came to a close with relations with the Japanese getting downright unfriendly. And certainly Peter Lorre was going on to bigger and better things.

It's hard to dislike a Mr Moto film, not only because of the stylishness with which they were all made but because, of course, Peter Lorre is so ingratiating in a role tailor-made for him. He is just excellent in the part and it is a pity there were only eight entries in this charming series. As for MR MOTO TAKES A VACATION, I can recommend it quite highly.

Like others I will offer the one caveat: the rather irritating "comic relief" character. Hollywood had such marvelous actors available to play the typical "silly-ass" Englishman that it is a wonder why they allowed this gentleman to take the role and to overplay it so gratingly. The writing here could have been tightened up a bit, and the reliable Norman Foster could have toned him down a few pegs.

But much of this is balanced by other delights in the film, starting with dear, old Willie Best in a wonderfully funny (and beautifully directed) cameo. Bob Hope called Best one of the best actors he'd ever worked with. It's easy to see why here. He is as lovable as everyone's favorite bumbling Uncle, a sort of compendium of both Laurel and Hardy. Also distinguishing its interesting cast is the great Joesph Schildkraut, an actor incapable of giving a bad performance. He was one of the masters of his profession.

Charming, fun, and magnificently photographed in rich, lustrous black and white, I really don't think you could go wrong with this one.