MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE

Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) in disguise as an old guru

MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE (1938). Director: Norman Foster.

"If I was casting a horror picture I'd have him play the murderer." -- reference to Mr. Moto.

Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is on an archaeological dig in Cambodia, which is under French rule, when who should drop in by parachute but Victoria Mason (Rochell Hudson), who was flying around the world until her plane caught fire. Among the other supporting characters are filmmakers Marty (Robert Kent of Who's Guilty?) and Chick (Chick Chandler of Circumstantial Evidence), who hope to photograph some of the forbidden royal temples. Objecting to this is Bokor (George Regas), the High Priest, who is in a power struggle with the portly and deceptively amusing Rajah Ali (J. Edward Bromberg of The Mark of Zorro). Then one of the Rajah's wives is murdered by poison dart. Half of the time Moto disguises himself as an elderly guru  who gives orders to the High Priest while spies are plotting and trying to kill each other -- and Moto -- everywhere. If this sounds interesting, be warned that Mr. Moto Takes a Chance is essentially a plot-less stew with a thrown-together script that just gets duller as it goes along until a fairly exciting climax in the temple. Peter Lorre gives his customary good performance but one senses he was mighty bored with the material, along with the audience.

Verdict: Where's Charlie Chan when you need him? **. 

THOSE B MOVIE SERIES FROM BOSTON BLACKIE TO THE WHISTLER

Chester Morris as Boston Blackie

This week GREAT OLD MOVIES looks at those venerable B movie series from the golden age of Hollywood (and elsewhere). I define a "B" movie as one that generally has a running time of between fifty to eighty minutes, and a B movie series as a group of films featuring the same character. Most of these films played on the bottom half of a double-bill, or two were lumped together for an afternoon at the movies. There have been a lot of movie series from different studios -- MGM, 20th Century-Fox and Columbia down to the "poverty row" studios like Monogram and PRC. Among the more famous series were *Andy Hardy, Henry Aldrich, The Jones Family, and on the thriller side of the spectrum, Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes, The Falcon, Mr. Wong, Inner Sanctum, Michael Shayne (with Lloyd Nolan and then Hugh Beaumont), and others. (All of the classic Chan and Holmes movies -- the very best of the mystery movie series -- have been reviewed on this blog and you can find them by using the search bar on the top left corner.)

Among the series we're looking at this week are Boston Blackie; the similar Lone Wolf series; Jungle Jim/Johnny Weissmuller; Philo Vance; Mr. Moto; and the Whistler, not to mention Dr. Mabuse from Germany. Philo Vance started out as a top-drawer series starring William Powell, but degenerated into a cheaper series for PRC. The Whistler movies all starred Richard Dix in a variety of roles and were based on the old radio program. Boston Blackie and the Lone Wolf starred, respectively, Chester Morris and Warren William, but later entries, not really a part of the main series, starred other actors. Dr. Mabuse began life in a series of films by Fritz Lang, dating back to the silent period, but these, too, degenerated into ersatz spy movies by the sixties. Johnny Weissmuller played Jungle Jim in a slew of features (and later a TV series) until the studio temporarily lost the rights to the character and he simply played himself in the last four films in the series.

Many of these movies employed the same elements: gun-toting femme fatales; hoods with grudges; and most ubiquitous, police detectives who were always at odds with the (anti) heroes, thinking they were really crooks underneath no matter how many genuine bad guys they helped put away. As well, the cops were always much dumber than the heroes. A lot of directors who became famous later on, such as William Castle, cut their teeth on these "B" movies. Sometimes the choice of sidekick was key in making an entertaining series. For instance, for my money Eric Blore as the Lone Wolf's "Jamison" is far superior to George E. Stone's "Runt" in the Boston Blackie series.

* Of course the Andy Hardy movies were "A" movies aside from the very last.

THINK FAST, MR. MOTO

Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto

THINK FAST, MR. MOTO (1937). Director: Norman Foster.

"Half of the world spends its time laughing at the other half -- and both are fools." -- Mr. Moto.

"Strange people, these Americans." -- ditto.

On a liner heading for China, a mysterious Japanese man named Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) encounters a pleasant young fellow named Bob Hitchings (Thomas Beck), whose father owns the steamship company. Bob falls hard for another mysterious person, Gloria (Virginia Field), who is employed as a singer at the International Club in Shanghai. Gloria's employer, Nicolas Marloff (Sig Ruman) is up to some skulduggery and Mr. Moto seems to have an uncertain role in this. Is he good guy or bad? Although Think Fast, Mr. Moto, the first of the Mr. Moto films, has a workable script and a fast pace, its primarily the performances that put it over, with Lorre superb as the importer who dabbles in detective work as a sideline, especially where his own concerns are involved. Thomas Beck is quite appealing as Bob, and Virginia Field [Repeat Performance] offers another of her expert portrayals as the mystery woman who has, perhaps, gotten herself in too deep. John Rogers scores as ship's steward, Carson, who may be hiding a shiv under his likable exterior, and there are nice turns from J. Carrol Naish as an assassin; Murray Kinnell as a business associate of Bob's father; and Lotus Long [Mr. Wong in Chinatown] as a hotel switchboard operator who helps Moto and is nearly killed for her troubles. Thomas Beck and Murray Kinnell both appeared in Charlie Chan in Paris.

Verdict: Good, snappy introduction to the Mr. Moto series. ***.

MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE

Mr. Moto meets Lee Chan, Charlie Chan's son

MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE (1938). Director: James Tinling.

Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is teaching a course in criminology and his students include the punch-drunk "Knock-Out" Wellington (Maxie Rosenbloom of Mr. Universe) and Charlie Chan's son, Lee (Keye Luke) -- temporarily moving from one mystery series to another -- who wants to follow in his father's footsteps. These last two serve as comedy relief -- Rosenbloom instead of Mantan Moreland -- in a tiresome tale of a boxer, Frankie Stanton (Russ Clark), who is murdered in the ring during a battle. The surviving boxer, Bill Steele (Dick Baldwin), has two women fighting over him: the plucky sports reporter Penny (Lynn Bari of City in Darkness); and spoiled society gal, Linda Benton (Jayne Regan), who is sort of a groupie for boxers, dumping them whenever they lose. Suspects include not only those already mentioned, but also Clipper McCoy (Bernard Nedell); Nick Crowder (Douglas Fowley); Connors (George E. Stone, on vacation from playing the Runt in the Boston Blackie movies); nasty boxer Biff Moran (Ward Bond of Blowing Wild); and Linda's father (John Hamilton), whose racket is the fight game. Lon Chaney Jr. has a small role; Pierre Watkin plays another of his seemingly endless bland authority figures; Harold Huber is Lt. Riggs; and Irving Bacon almost runs off with the movie in his funny portrayal of Sheriff Tuttle. The comedy relief in this is quite stupid for the most part, and the script is mediocre, but at least it has a fast pace and a slightly surprising ending. With this third entry the Mr. Moto series took a real dip in quality, adding Lee Chan and the moronic Rosenbloom to make it more resemble the Chan series, but even the weakest Chan entry had a more interesting screenplay. Lorre is as terrific as ever. Mr. Moto apparently knows Charlie Chan, at least by reputation, but the two characters, I believe, never appeared together -- too bad.

Verdict: A vehicle unworthy of both Peter Lorre and Mr. Moto. *1/2.

THANK YOU MR. MOTO

Peter Lorre and Sig Ruman

THANK YOU, MR. MOTO (1937). Director: Norman Foster.

Charlie Chan had been appearing in motion pictures for some years when 20th Century-Fox and Monogram came out with competing series about Oriental sleuths. Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong appeared in films released by Monogram, while Mr. Moto had the more prestigious Fox at the wheel. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is a "confidential investigator" but his real profession, he claims, is "importer." Another character describes Moto as "an adventurer, an explorer, a soldier of fortune." In any case, Moto never quite seems altogether on the up and up although in essence he's a good guy. In this second Mr. Moto film, he is in Peping when it develops that certain parties wish to obtain scrolls that will lead to the hidden tomb of Genghis Khan in the Gobi desert and all of its treasures. Prince Chung (Philip Ahn) and his mother Madame Chung (Pauline Frederick) own the scrolls and will not part with them at any price because they fear the Great Khan's (!) tomb will be desecrated. Assorted individuals are murdered for the scrolls by an unknown party, but Thank You, Mr. Moto is less a mystery than a film of action and intrigue. Characters include Colonel Chernov (Sig Ruman), who tries to purchase the scrolls from the prince; his wife, Madame Chernov (Nedda Harrigan of Charlie Chan at the Opera); Periera (John Carradine), an antique dealer who knows more than he's telling; and Eric Koerger (Sidney Blackmer of The House of Secrets). The romantic interest is supplied by Thomas Beck and Jayne Regan. Lorre is fine as Moto, and Blackmer, Ruman, Harrigan and Carradine are also notable. The best performances, however, come from Ahn as the prince and Frederick as his mother; there's an especially good scene when the prince tries to keep his mother from being tortured. Philip Ahn [Red Barry] was an extremely talented actor, one of those who graces every film he appears in. There is a moving conclusion as well.

Verdict: Creditable if imperfect Moto vehicle. **1/2.