Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938)
1h 3m | PG-13
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
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Mystery
Video: 720p
Cast
Peter Lorre
as Mr. Moto
Rochelle Hudson
as Victoria 'Vicki' Mason
Robert Kent
as Marty Weston
J. Edward Bromberg
as Raja Ali
Chick Chandler
as Chick Davis
George Regas
as Bokor
Reviews
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.