Masterful Movie

An absolute waste of money

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

This eight picture movie series gets gets off to a great start with excellent production values, strong supporting cast, fast paced plot and the incomparable Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. Mr. Moto who is "a detective only as a hobby" is an expert in disguises and jujutsu. On the trail of smugglers, Mr. Moto becomes a passenger on an ocean liner going from San Francisco to Shanghai. Aboard ship, Moto soon meets Bob Hitchings (the personable and handsome Thomas Beck), son of the ship's owner who is also trying to unmask the smugglers. Young Hitchings has a shipboard romance with the mysterious Gloria Danton (Virginia Field, who I most remember from her many appearances on the Perry Mason show). There is one shocking scene where Moto throws one of the culprits overboard. A look of sadness briefly flits across his face. To assist him, Moto recruits a hotel telephone operator played by the Japanese/Hawaiian-American Lotus Lang who was very good in the part. Look for J. Carrol Naish as the baddie Adram. Naish played, among many other roles, Charley Chan in the New Adventures of Charley Chan television show of the 1950s. This movie's grand finale in the Shanghai International club has some surprises but in the end, Mr. Moto tidies everything up. A fun movie well worth a watch.

Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937) *** (out of 4)San Francisco's Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) finds himself on a ship for Shanghai where he meets a young man (Thomas Beck) whose father owns the ship. Once in China we start to uncover a smuggling ring and a mysterious woman (Virginia Field) who has started a fling with the young man. The first film in Fox's series is a winning film even though the middle of the movie seems to lose focus on the actual story as we get a tad bit too much romance. For the most part the film moves at a very quick pace and delivers some fun performances. I found the middle of the film to get too bogged down with the romance between Beck and Field but other than that this film is a pretty good success. What works best of all is Lorre and his wonderful characterization of Moto. I'm sure some might be offended by Lorre playing an Asian but we have to remember when the film was made and this type of movie did show him in a very positive light. Lorre has some perfect mannerisms and really has the style of Moto down. I loved seeing Lorre during the fighting sequences because he was very believable even with his short size. Field and Beck were also good in their roles as was Sig Ruman and Lotus Long. J. Carrol Naish has a small supporting role as well.

It's nice reading the largely warm and positive comments on this film, fans of the genre like myself seem to seek them out and enjoy them for the entertainment value they offer of a simpler time. I became a Peter Lorre fan with my first viewings of "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon", and was lucky to come by the entire Mr. Moto run over the weekend. 'Think Fast' is the first entry in the 20th Century Fox series, and as first impressions go, I'll be anxious to get through the rest of them.Right off the bat, comparisons to the Charlie Chan and Mr. Wong films of the same era offer a host of differences. The Moto character plainly enjoys getting a lot more physical with his adversaries, and I did a double take when he threw the steward Carson overboard on the cruise ship. This was one Oriental detective not afraid to mix it up Dirty Harry style.Though the ensuing films in the series may prove different, this one didn't seem to be as blatant in terms of racial references. I caught a single 'chop suey' remark, but it didn't come from any of the principal players, but a passenger on board the ship. Another consideration, whereas Charlie Chan was almost always assisted by a Number #1, 2 or 3 son, and Mr. Wong had Detective Street, Peter Lorre's Moto appears to work alone, though interacting with other characters in the story. In this one, Moto befriends the son of the cruise line owner, Bob Hitchings (Thomas Beck).Keep an eye on the scenes that focus on the tattoo convincing Moto the costumed character in San Francisco and the steward Carson are the same person. In the earlier scene, the tattoo is shown on the inside of the disguised character's arm as he closes a door. However on board the cruise ship, when Carson reaches up to close a vent, the tattoo is on the top side of his arm below the wrist!In this, Mr. Moto's first film adventure, he successfully uncovers a diamond smuggling operation, with hints for the viewer along the way as to who the villains are. However there was one surprise a la Charlie Chan, when Moto slaps the cuffs on Wilkie (Murray Kinnell) it seems to come out of left field. Not that he couldn't have been involved, it's just that his involvement wasn't telegraphed along the way. Still, it made a lot more sense than a lot of Chan's solutions, which required the detective to explain how he managed to solve the crime.Anyway, I'm on board with Mr. Kentaro Moto, and will be looking forward to the rest of his adventures. Next in the series is "Thank You, Mr. Moto".

The shame of the Japanese-American concentration camps has cast a shadow over the Mr. Moto series, giving it a sorry reputation as an artifact of Hollywood racism. The truth is that as far as European-in-yellowface portrayals of Asians went, Peter Lorre's Moto was far less racist and considerably more sympathetic than the clownish, epigram-spouting Charlie Chan. In fact, it's easy to forget Moto's Japaneseness altogether and just view him as yet another wondrous manifestation of the white-linen-suited, Austrian-accented Lorreness so prevalent between the wars in films like "Strange Cargo," "Island of Doomed Men," und so wieter. Audiences certainly took to the little fellow in this first entry in the series, which introduces Moto in all his enigmatic glory--the bemused, politely ironical man of action with his love of kittycats, preference for cow's milk over whiskey, and disdainful conviction that beautiful women only confuse a man. Though Lorre reportedly had no idea what the whole thing was supposed to mean and spent his time offstage disconsolately listening to his archenemy Hitler on the radio, the eight Moto films established him as one of Hollywood's most beloved personalities and gave millions of small men who wore glasses the hope that they, too, could be strong and adorable.