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.

Mr. Moto was a B-movie series from 20th Century-Fox Studios and it was made at the same time they were cranking out Charlie Chan films. Both series are similar in that Western actors played Asians and both usually fought against crime and offensive vocal stereotypes such as Moto saying "chop-chop". However, unlike Chan, Mr. Moto was more of a mercenary and his conscience was not particularly bothered by killing his enemies--one difference that made the Moto films more interesting. This was most evident in this early film--later, unfortunately, the films were almost indistinguishable from the Chan movies. In this film, he drowns one man, shoots another and arranges to have one bad guy murder another! This certainly is NOT Charlie Chan!! As for the plot, it's very similar to Chan films in that Moto is working to uncover the truth about a smuggling ring--something that Charlie did in at least a couple movies himself. However, given that there is no Number One Son or other sidekick, the film does seem more serious and not quite as entertaining--but also more intelligent. Had Keye Luke or Victor Sen Yung been on hand, the film might have been a tad more interesting. Plus, the son of the shipping line owner seemed like a bit of a lazy weasel, so it was hard to care about the secondary characters--a weakness of the film.By the way, for a Russian expatriate, the lady sure has an unusual accent--and it's even less authentic than Peter Lorre's Japanese accent. Still, despite these shortcomings, it's a dandy film and along with the next film, probably the best ones in the series

This series of Mr. Moto films were very low budget films and during the year 1937 the country was not in prosperity like it is today. Actors like Peter Lorre had to find work and therefore, we find him in pictures like Mr. Moto. Lorre was also starting out his career in America and this was a great opportunity for Peter Lorre to become a great character actor! Peter Lorre (Kentaro Moto), "The Beast With Five Fingers",'46, did a great job of performing a role like Charlie Chan and manged to keep you guessing just who the criminal really was. Virginia Field, (Gloria Danton),"The Earth Dies Screaming",'65 gave a great supporting role and appeared in quite a few of these Mr. Moto films. Sig Ruman, (Nicholas Marloff),"Doom of Dracula",'66, played a different role and did all he could to trick Mr. Moto. If you look real close, you will see J. Carrol Naish,(Adram,Shop Keeper), who adds some mystery to the plot. These Mr. Moto films were usually shown as a second feature at the local movie houses along with Newsreels and Cartoons which created a big Saturday night treat for the local families during 1937!

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.