Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

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 tombo ... y-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. read more