Sat 24 Aug 2019
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: THINK FAST, MR. MOTO (1937).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Suspense & espionage films[4] Comments
REVIEWED BY WALTER ALBERT:
THINK FAST, MR. MOTO. 20th Century Fox, 1937. Peter Lorre, Virginia Field, Thomas Beck, Sig Rumann. Based on the novel by John P. Marquand. Director: Norman Foster. Shown at Cinevent 27, Columbus OH, 1995.
The first of the Moto series, several of which I have on tape but have never watched. I will have to remedy that, since this was a charming 70 minutes, with Lorre in fine form.
Odd to see Sig Rumann as a villain. I remember him best as the manic impresario in A night at the Opera.
— Reprinted from Walter’s Place #108, July 1995.
August 25th, 2019 at 1:36 am
The Moto films are much more even than the Chan films, but then there aren’t nearly so many. Lorre, fine guest casts, Norman Foster direction, and screenplays by the likes of Philip MacDonald all add up to a fun product.
August 25th, 2019 at 2:11 am
Mr Moto has always been my favorite of the low budget movie series. The acting and writing is superior to the typical level of the B-movies at the time.
I also have an attachment to the Mr Wong films but more because of the male cop and female reporter characters than anything else.
Sad to say these films are doomed to fade away in these intolerant PC times.
August 25th, 2019 at 9:07 am
Actually, both the Moto and Wong films are for sale on DVD.
Are PC folks going to take Mr. Moto away? Maybe. Possibly. Well, probably not ever.
I’d rather worry about REAL problems than about something that will likely never happen.
August 25th, 2019 at 10:42 am
Mike, I hope you are right but there are fewer and fewer watching black and white films and in this era of negative reactions to white face casting Charlie Chan films are at times attacked. Moto and the rest are all ready becoming more and more forgotten.
It is not a problem it is just sad these films especially when they are as enjoyable as the Moto films will end up in the bin with silent movies and Stepin Fetchit.