Moto Rising

Reviewer: James Van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½ for Thank You, Mr. Moto; *** for Think Fast, Mr Moto; ***½ for Mr. Moto Takes a Chance, and **** for Mysterious Mr. Moto.

Think Fast, Mr. Moto, the first in the famous Asian detective series that gave Peter Lorre his rare chance to play the hero (and disc 4 in Volume One of 20th Century Fox's "Mr. Moto Collection") is quite an entertaining piece of work. Clocking in at just over an hour, this 1937 movie is exotic fun that features Lorre surprisingly subtle, underplaying a smart guy who's not averse to simply shooting a sleazbag or dumping him overboard into the middle of the ocean. (Some of our current cinematic heroes and heroines could take a lesson from Lorre and stop stupidly allowing the villain to live - thus making a dumb movie continue for another unnecessary half-hour.) Moto's side-kick here is the heir to a shipping line, nicely played by Thomas Beck, who provides a rather innocent counterpart to Lorre's all-wise-all-the-time sleuth. The first Moto I've seen, it was good enough to have me queuing up for the rest. The DVD quality is rich and sharp, as well.

If life is cheap in Think Fast, Mr. Moto, it's devalued even more in the darker Thank You, Mr. Moto (the second in this series and disc 3 in the Mr. Moto Collection). Within the film's first few minutes Moto has "offed" a couple of villains, with more to come before the full 69 are finished. Beck again plays the decent, clueless romantic figure, with an intelligent, attractive Jayne Regan as the object of his affection. But the real interest here comes from the Chinese characters: Prince Chung, played by Philip Ahn, and his mother, played by Pauline Frederick in her final role. (Typical of Hollywood casting back in the 1937, Asian characters were often given to Caucasian actors, as exemplified by Lorre and Frederick.) The movie works up a surprising head of steam and some real emotion as the Chungs face problems over which they have little control and must handle in differing manners: the mother, because of her sense of family tradition; the son, torn between his own sense of that tradition and love for his mother. The pair's varying response takes the movie into heavier emotional territory - and provokes a moving few moments, which Ahn, Frederick and Lorre handle nicely. Look for stalwart character actors like Sidney Blackmer and John Carradine doing their usual fine job. This movie, too, is filled with plenty of back-lot exotica, and the DVD transfer is dripping with textures of black, white and grey.

"The cinema is not dangerous," an Asian potentate (played nicely tongue-in-cheek by J. Edward Bromberg) assures Amelia Earhart knockoff Rochelle Hudson in Mr. Moto Takes a Chance. If this juicy line - argued now ad infinitum by the "right" and the "left" - doesn’t provoke a grin, you've no sense of irony or movie history. The third "Mr. Moto" movie is as much fun as the others in the set, if maybe a notch sillier. Hudson is gorgeous and Lorre clever as ever, with a wonderful disguise that may remind you of a certain "Yoda" character. Clocking in at just over one hour, into which quite a bit of action and plot have been packed, this may be the most bizarre entry in the collection. And since you'll be whisked back to a much simpler and more gullible age, you'll probably have a very good trip.

Last but not least, The Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938) is the most enjoyable of the four Moto movies released in this initial 20th Century Fox Mr. Moto Collection. It has everything down pat: twisty plot that brings several disparate elements together; clever, unprepossessing Lorre; stalwart hero (here it's hunky Henry Wilcoxon); sweet, feisty love interest (Mary Maguire); and everything whipped into an hour's time that goes by quickly and stylishly, as directed by Norman Foster. As usual, Moto dons a disguise or two and dispenses with the lead villain in a no-nonsense manner -immediate and final - rarely seen in today's overlong and generally silly thrillers. Because, with this fourth in the series everyone concerned seems to have hit their mark, members might want to view it first.