Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

11/6/1938 1h 3m 5.8/10

Overview

In the jungle near Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Mr. Moto poses as an ineffectual archaeologist and a venerable holy man with mystical powers to help foil two insurgencies against the government.

Director

Norman Foster

Top Billed Cast

Peter Lorre

Peter Lorre

Mr. Moto

Chick Chandler

Chick Chandler

Chick Davis

Rochelle Hudson

Rochelle Hudson

Victoria 'Vicki' Mason

Robert Kent

Robert Kent

Marty Weston

J. Edward Bromberg

J. Edward Bromberg

Raja Ali

George Regas

George Regas

Bokor

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

6/20/2022

6/10

Maybe not one of the more substantial of the "Moto" stories, this one, but Peter Lorre still has some fun as the eponymous detective. He is, ostensibly, working on an archaeological dig in the tiny kingdom of Tong Moi. Things all start to get mysterious when famed aviator "Victoria Mason" (the tomboy-ish Rochelle Hudson) sabotages her own flight (mid air) crashes near his workings before being presented to the local rajah "Ali" (J. Edward Bromberg) who takes quite a shine to her. There is a bit of friction from local high priest "Bokor" (George Regas) and we soon discover that he and his guru (guess who??) are plotting a regime change. Much like the Venetians did with the Parthenon, these would be revolutionaries are using the ancient temple, complete with secret passages and creepy statues, to store their munitions. There is an American newsreel crew in the locale too. They seem to be there to provide some comedic interludes, but the thing is all so light-hearted as to not really require their services, indeed they're actually a bit annoying. The dialogue is a bit on the stilted side, but Lorre does his best and Bromberg is quite fun too and the ending is quite action-packed. Not great, but not bad either.

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