Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938)

Wonderful character development!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It starts with scared animals running through the forest in this movie like they are afraid of something right in the beginning. I think it was the noise of a plane. The pilot a female, Victoria Mason is above Cambodia near Angkor Wat. She is suppose to fly around the world. She is up to something and she torches the plane to set it on fire and parachutes out.There are also camera men from another country in a canoe with a large camera there to take pictures of that country.Moto is at archaeological dig. He goes to where the airplane crashes and finds the torch that set the plane on fire. He knows something is not right. In the story we don't find out why she did that.Moto is Japanese and is on this island with mixed tribes. One leader wants to kill all white people including the camera men and the other leader Rahah Ali played by J. Edward Brombergrefers wants to marry Victoria the "white" woman. He is very funny.Moto has a cage with a homing pigeon that he sends with messages. He is kind of rough and the pigeon seems to fight. Moto puts a message on him and releases the bird. One of Rahah Ali wives is killed by a dart and they think it was a curse. Victoria is his choice as a wife. Whites are referred to in a bad way by the tribal people.Moto is on a mission he plays a prophet or something in disguise and also a archaeologist. In disguise he directs people away from a temple. He is searching for something and finds a room full of guns and explosives in the temple. He sends Bokor and his men away to watch Moto at the dig. At some point another shipment of guns comes and all hell breaks loose.The funny thing is that everyone's clothes are so clean in all these old movies and Rahah Ali's women are all dressed in jewels and more. Moto's suit is white and even when he comes up from the ground he is spotless. Victor Sen Yung that plays in Charlie Chan as a son is a soldier uncredited in this movie.There is lots of shooting, lots of fires, lots of people from different countries, music, humor and mystery.

MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE (20th Century-Fox, 1938), directed by Norman Foster, stars Peter Lorre in the title role of the Japanese sleuth based on the character created by John F. Marquand. For this fourth released installment out of eight, this edition, far from the greatest, has its moments, but many scenes best described as weak. In spite of its purposely slow pacing and lack of any underscoring for suspense build-up or mood tension, MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANGE interestingly was the one with the most revived on commercial television when formerly shown on New York City's WOR, Channel 9 from 1969 to 1977. As much as this being the studio's attempt for another "Charlie Chan" franchise, this short-lived movie series succeeds mostly due to the star presence by non-other than Peter Lorre.Taken from an original story by Norman Foster and Willis Cooper, the plot opens with Victoria Mason (Rochelle Hudson), an aviatrix traveling alone around the world in her private airplane, flying over Cambodia. Once near Tons-Moi, she takes out a flare that sets her plane on fire, thus parachuting to safety before the plane crashes. While in the jungles, Victoria meets with Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), a Japanese detective on assignment posing as an archaeologist searching for ancient ruins for his museum; Marty Weston (Robert Kent) and Chick Davis (Chick Chandler), a couple of newsreel photographers from Chicago; The Rajah Ali (J. Edward Bromberg), a ruler who intends on making Victoria his next wife; and Boko (George Regas), a high priest who wants all whites out of Asia, and promising a bloody day of deliverance. After Chick obtains some movie footage of the Rajah, a poison dart blown from a blowgun suddenly hits and kills Keema (Gloria Roy), the high priest's wife. The cameramen are accused of the curse and sentenced to be thrown into a well, but are saved by an ancient warrior whose "eyes can see through rocks as well as walls." As Mr. Moto sends out his informative news reports about hidden stored munitions to British Intelligence through the use of carrier pigeons, unknown to him, his birds are being shot in flight with messages read and destroyed by someone aware of Moto's secret mission. Later, Moto, Victoria and the cameramen face danger as they are held prisoners in the temple by Boko and Captain Zimmerman (Fredrick Vogeding), surrounded by high explosives inside and gunshots being fired their direction from the outside.In tradition to the series, some characters in the story have hidden secrets about their identity. For Mr. Moto, whose usually works alone on his assignments, also goes about donning various disguises in the similar manner as Sherlock Holmes. Robert Kent and Chick Chandler as newsreel photographers enact their roles in their pre-Abbott and Costello manner, with the exception that both men are thin rather than the fat and skinny combination. Kent is the romantic type interested in the lady aviatrix (Hudson), a character somewhat inspired by Amelia Earheart, while Chick Chandler is the comedy relief who gets himself in trouble with his antics, ranging from falling into a tiger's pit, to demonstrating tricks to the Rajah, one that involves the Rajah's most precious watch, and so forth.Not shown regularly on commercial television since the 1990s, MR. MOTO TAKE A CHANCE, and other installments in the series, have become available for viewing on DVD. Even at a brief 64 minutes, the film on occasion seems a bit longer than it actually is, but with Lorre's know-how performances that manages to make this a watchable little item. Next released installment: MYSTERIOUS MR. MOTO (1938). (*1/2)

Mr. Moto goes undercover in the Cambodian jungle as an archaeologist. There he tangles with a nefarious high priest and a Rajah (J. Edward Bromberg) who's more threatening than he seems. Also in the mix are a couple of goofy newsreel photographers (Robert Kent, Chick Chandler) and an aviatrix (Rochelle Hudson).In most of these Moto films, Peter Lorre seems to be having lots of fun and this one's no exception. He's great to watch. As another reviewer pointed out, Moto uses a disguise that strongly resembles Yoda. Chick Chandler is often annoying. Robert Kent isn't much better. The movie could only have been improved by removing their characters. J. Edward Bromberg seems like comic relief at first but his character's pretty sinister. He serves Mr. Moto his carrier pigeon for dinner! Next to Lorre, Rochelle Hudson is the best reason to watch this. She's gorgeous and does a great job playing the adventuress. She has more sex appeal with a ripped shirt exposing one bare shoulder than most actresses have fully nude.This one plays more like a jungle adventure film than a detective one. But it's pretty fun, with neat temple sets and nice performances from Lorre and Hudson.

Peter Lorre stars in "Mr. Moto Takes a Chance," in this 1938 entry into the series. Lorre, of course, as Moto is the main reason for watching this film, but the rest of the cast here is very good: Rochelle Hudson, J. Edward Bromberg, Robert Kent, and Chick Chandler.Working for the government, Moto is on assignment in French Cambodia to defuse two antigovernment plots, one lead by a holy man, Bokor against the local leader, Rajah Ali, and the other plot, led by Rajah Ali, who wants to start war against French rule. Parachuting into all this is Victoria Mason, aviatrix, an Amelia Earhart type but awfully pretty, flirtatious, and glamorous for someone whose plane just caught on fire. There are also two goofy newsreel photographers who keep getting into trouble.Moto plays a double role here, that of Moto and an elderly mystic who looks like he could be over 150. Lorre gives that role just the right touch - he's not fooling the audience and he knows it. Petite Rochelle Hudson is very pretty and vivacious.This film was the second Moto film but held back because it was thought to be not as strong as Thank You, Mr. Moto, to follow the first film. Like another poster, I'm not buying it, so the holdup remains a mystery. It's highly unlikely that Darryl Zanuck wasted five minutes thinking about the Mr. Moto series, except, of course, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Then he thought about the series long enough to pull it.