Paularoc 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.

Michael O'Keefe 20th Century Fox presents its first in a series of eight mysteries based on a character in novel's by J.P. Marquand. Kentaro Moto(Peter Lorre)boards a ship from San Francisco to Shanghai. Moto gives the impression he is involved with international jewel smugglers. Aboard ship is the ship line's owner's son Bob Hitchings(Thomas Beck), who falls heavy for an intriguing White Russian Gloria Danton(Virginia Field). Moto suspects trouble with this shipboard romance. Bob's father also happens to be a legitimate gem dealer and warns him there may be smugglers aboard. Moto gets the idea that Miss Danton may be involved with criminal activity. And wouldn't you know it...there is a known murderer also making this trip. The story gets rolling when the ship docks in Shanghai and Gloria is nowhere to be found. As this crime caper concludes the quiet and compactly built Mr. Moto reveals himself as a special agent of the International Police. At times a bit silly, but overall very interesting. Other players include: Sig Ruman, Murray Kinnell, George Cooper, J. Carrol Naish and John Rogers.

Terrell-4 Mr. Moto, at least for me, is a surprise. The Hollywood caricatures of other races -- the foot- shuffling and eye-rolling of black males, the "Ah-so'ing,' "honorable son" and awful pseudo- Confucianism of Charlie Chan -- is not much present with Kentaro Moto (Peter Lorre), executive director of an import-export firm "with a hobby for magic." Sure, this being Hollywood Lorre wears glasses but they're not thick. He uses a dental appliance with slightly protuberant and poorly spaced choppers, but it's only a slight exaggeration. There's some overly polite dialogue for Lorre, but Lorre's distinctive Hungarian accent makes it more piquant that demeaning. Mr. Moto also is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, an occasional detective and good at disguises. He's smart and clever. It also helps at times that Mr. Moto is ruthless, and seems more amused than anything else when he causes the death of a bad guy. He doesn't seem perturbed in the slightest when one night he tosses a man off the side of a passenger liner in the middle of the Pacific. The next morning he even inquires about the missing man's health. Peter Lorre, short and innocent looking, with the hint of something that might be disturbing just below the surface, is excellent. Think Fast, Mr. Moto is the first of the Moto series. For a low-budget movie supervised by a Twentieth Century Fox B-movie producer and directed by a man with little experience, the movie is fast-paced, well constructed and a lot of fun. It's no more than what it is, and what it is was put together in a craftsman-like way. The story has to do with the smuggling of gems and drugs between Shanghai and the States. A passenger line is being used in this dangerous game, and most of the movie takes place either on the high seas or in Shanghai. There are a lot of people about either in evening dress or pulling rickshaws. Among the well-groomed are the young, handsome scion of the cruise ship firm and the beautiful and mysterious young woman who won't discuss her past. We'll also meet her White Russian protector who is based in Shanghai and is almost as good at cards as Mr. Moto. And, of course, there's Mr. Moto, himself, who smiles a lot, asks innocent questions and can deal decisively with a man holding a switchblade. The movie is so fast- paced that in the first six minutes of this hour-and-three-minute film we will encounter a Chinese New Year's dragon parade in San Francisco, a wondrous jewel, clever bargaining, gunplay, oriental treasures and curios, a man in disguise, a corpse in a basket, most of the main characters...and a letter to Wilkie. The letter proves to be as important as the jewels. It's no spoiler to say that Mr. Moto solves the case and traps the villains. We expect that the young couple will enjoy a happy and wealthy relationship. I watched the movie with a smile.

John Wayne Peel I love these Moto flicks. I'll tell you that right out of the gate, and the history of these low budget detective films is almost more interesting then the films themselves. First of all, Peter Lorre was one of the most underrated actors in cinema history. In fact, those who knew him thought he would have been a psychiatrist had he not been an actor, which tells me he studied people and learned a lot about how a little goes a long way in a portrayal. The director reportedly wanted character actor J. Edward Bromberg to play the lead but the studio gave him this Hungarian Jew just out of Hitler's Germany to play the part, which made the director go berserk. He needn't have worried. Forget the fact that Lorre was in such poor health in those days after starving in Europe for most of his adult life and had to have a stuntman do his jiu-jitsu scenes for him. (Harvey Parry was his name. Another underrated genius in cinema history who did stunts for everyone from Douglas Fairbanks Sr. to Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd) Lorre is just terrific and with almost no make-up, he is damned convincing as a Japanese detective. A short side note here. Please pretend that there was never a 1960s Moto movie with Henry Silva. The eight 20th Century Fox Motos are to be treasured. It's only a shame that World War II stopped the series for good.As for J. Edward Bromberg, he even acted in one of the Moto films as a Rajah in Thailand (which acerbic yet clever critic referred to as "Indoors China") before he was hurt by the blacklist and died a sad and broken man, who unintentionally hurt the career of actress Lee Grant when she attended his funeral and was herself blacklisted until the movie "In The Heat Of The Night."Watching Peter Lorre in any film is always a delight and the Motos never disappoint for pure entertainment value.