Mr. Moto va in vacanza

Disguised as a German archaeologist, Moto (Peter Lorre) helps unearth the priceless crown of the legendary Queen of Sheba and sans disguise defends it from a variety of thugs and criminals.

Plenty of good fights, an excellent plot, and the beard... man, what a beard. Lorre should have had a beard in more of his films.

At this point, the Moto series was winding down, Lorre was getting sick of doing them, and it would not be the least surprising if director Norman Foster was ready to move on, too. At least they had one thing going for them in this installment: Lionel Atwill, an actor probably best known for his 1930s horror films.

Peter Lorre is Mr. Moto in "Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation" from 1939. Moto is in Egypt helping with the security of a precious crown, that of the Queen of Sheba. He accompanies the crown on board ship, and he's undercover until Archie Featherstone (G. P. Huntley) announces his true identity for all to hear.

Once on terra firma, Moto's work becomes more difficult as it seems some people are not what they seem. And Moto isn't sure the famous crook Metaxa is really dead - in fact, he thinks he's hovering around. Moto plans on drawing him out.

Fairly easy to figure out, but I won't say why.

Some good character actors, including Joseph Schildkraut and Lionel Atwill, appearing with Virginia Field.

As a side note, the lovely Ms. Field could perhaps have reached major stardom had she knocked Darryl Zanuck on a head with a decanter when he made a pass at her. She was also very outspoken, which didn't help her either.

As we all know, #metoo was always very prevalent in Hollywood. According to many actresses, if you didn't "cooperate" you didn't get big parts. The starlet Rita Gam, an astonishingly beautiful woman, refused to go to Hollywood until someone offered her a $1250 a week contract. Why? Those who made $750 a week and under were part of the "visiting firemen" brigade. Sad but true.

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.

This is one of my favorite Mr. Motos, and I have seen them all. As usual Lorre is his charming self as the debonair Mr. Moto. Lionel Atwill plays a delightfully zany museum curator, the usual comic relief is quite funny here, and there are lots of suspects on whom to cast an eye. It's fast paced and fun.

The archaeologist doesn't have quite the same flair as Thomas Beck, the usual second lead in these programmers, but he's adequate. Stepin Fetchit is on board, and while he speaks in a stereotypical manner his lines are funny, not demeaning to his intelligence, and he actually saves the day in his brief time on screen.

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