Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation

After eight Moto films the series had run its course, as this last entry demonstrates. Peter Lorre was clearly weary of trying to pump some sort of human interest and entertainment value into the wispy character of Moto, and the dreadful idea of pairing him with a "funny" British sidekick utterly defeats all his efforts here.

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.

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

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.

Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)

** (out of 4)

Eighth and final entry in Fox's original series once again finds Peter Lorre in the role of Mr. Moto. This time he must fight off countless bad guys who are trying to steal a priceless crowd previously owned by the Queen of Sheba. This final entry isn't the weakest of the series but it might be the most disappointing. I was highly disappointed in this one because it features a pretty good cast but there's really nothing that works overly well here. The movie certainly a long way from being bad but at the same time there's just not enough good stuff here to make the film worth viewing. The actual story is a fairly interesting set up but not enough is done with it as we pretty much get cardboard bad guys popping up at various spots and doing something bad. There's really no heart or soul behind any of the writing and in the end the movie just comes off as a low grade "B" movie rather than something unique like a lot of the films in this series. Lorre finds himself giving another good performance and we've also got decent work by Joseph Schildkraut, Virginia Field and Lionel Atwill. Atwill is pretty much wasted in the film but it's always nice seeing him. G.P. Huntley plays the comic relief here and his awful character really brings the film down several notches. I'm not sure who the director thought would find this performance funny. Black character actor Willie Best also appears briefly. Fans of the series will certainly want to check this one out but it's doubtful many others will find any type of entertainment here.