Mr. Moto Collection, Vol. 1 (1938)

A collection of films starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto, a Japanese spy working at an international police agency.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 14-AUG-2007
Media Type: DVD Product Description

Mr Moto

Great mysterys on parr with Charlie Chan.They are a little more enjoyable however as they don't have the "assembly line" atmosphere of the Charlie Chan material. May 31, 2008

MR. MOTO

I HAD SEEN ALL THE CHARLIE CHAN MOVIES, AND ONLY ONE OF THE MR. MOTO SERIES AND WANTED TO SEE MORE OF THE LATTER. I WAS NOT DISSAPOINTED IN GETTING VOLUME 1. IT WAS VERY ENTERTAINING AND ENJOYABLE. I WILL MOST LIKELY PURCHASE VOLUME 2 TO SEE MORE OF THE INSCRUTABLE DETECTIVE. ONLY REGRET MORE FILMS OF MR. MOTO WERE NOT MADE. PERHAPS THE SERIES WILL BE REVIVED IN THE NOT TOO FAR DISTANT FUTURE. March 28, 2008

Master of disguises and judo, smart, polite...and he doesn't worry much when a villain dies. He's Mr. Moto and he's a lot of fun

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). Sure, this being Hollywood Lorre wears glasses but they're not thick. There's some overly polite dialogue for Lorre, but Lorre's distinctive Hungarian accent makes it more piquant that demeaning.

Mr. Moto 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. 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
This first in the series is fast-paced, well constructed and amusing. 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.

--Thank You, Mr. Moto
"Adventurer, explorer, soldier of fortune...one of the Orient's mysteries. No one knows much about him, except that when he shows up something usually happens." It would be wise to remember, also, that when Kentaro Moto fights an opponent, he most often wins by killing the man. Mr. Moto, in his second film adventure for Twentieth Century Fox, is on the hunt for a rare scroll painting, one of seven that together hold the key to where in the Gobi desert lies the lost tomb of Genghis Khan...a tomb filled with gold, gems and legendary treasure. The scrolls themselves are priceless works of art from the time of Kublai Khan that had been in the possession of a noble handmaiden to the last great Chinese empress. But the seventh had been stolen from her and her son. Mr. Moto is on the trail, but so is a group of unscrupulous collectors and fortune hunters who won't stop at murder to achieve their end. Mr. Moto's death toll is not excessive considering the provocations.

--Mr. Moto Takes a Chance
After the great start of the series with Think Fast, Mr. Moto and Thank You, Mr. Moto, this third in the outing sticks us back firmly in the low budget, do-what-it-takes, quickie category of predictable programmers. Take away Peter Lorre as Moto and we'd have a tired jungle drama of nefarious natives, banana plants and the occasional crocodile. The only real mystery is how Mr. Moto keeps his white suit so clean in the jungle.

--Mysterious Mr. Moto
Five minutes into this movie and we suddenly realize that Kentaro Moto had himself sentenced to Devil's Island in the guise of Ito Masuko just so he could engineer Paul Brissac's escape...and then, hired by Brissac, who is a member of the League of Assassins, foil a murder and crush the League. This case will call for all of Moto's ingenuity, subtlety, skill in hand-to-hand combat and insouciance in dealing out death to villains.

Mr. Moto has bounced back from the Jungle Jim programmer that Mr. Moto Takes a Chance turned out to be. We've returned to civilization. Twentieth Century Fox's back lot never made London look more substantial. We're taken from posh hotels to swank art galleries, from foggy dark streets to smoky, dangerous pubs, from Trafalgar Square to Soho. The movie is filled with more Cockney accents coming from the mouths of American bit players than anything until the Sherlock Holmes series got underway. We've lost a bit of the happy surprise we felt when we met Mr. Moto for the first time. Still, Mysterious Mr. Moto is well crafted and fast paced (it's only 63 minutes long). Identifying the leader of the assassins is fun; there's not too much pidgin English; there is skulking danger and a pub fight that would put most Western saloon brawls to shame; Mr. Moto's way with death is not excessive and, of course, there is a first-class performance by Peter Lorre. By now Lorre knew he had become trapped in a typecasting series and was being underpaid to boot. He didn't like it one bit. Lorre was a fine actor and it doesn't show.

The black and white DVD transfers of the four movies in this collection is quite good. March 12, 2008

"Oh so?" The Moto Collection is Excellent!

Peter Lorre is wonderful as the "action" detective of the times (the 1930s), providing an excellent counterpoint to the more analytical Charlie Chan and Sherlock Holmes fare. I own the complete DVD collections of Moto, Chan, and Holmes, and enjoy viewing all of these films over and over again in rotation. The Moto films are terrific - I haven't found a clunker in the bunch. Highly recommended! February 28, 2008

Mr. Moto Cinema

This was like finding an old freind! Every bit a s entertaining as it was when made. Peter Lorre is great, and the supporting casts were really classic character actors. All it requires is a little imagination, and some popcorn - really fun! February 8, 2008

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