Mr Moto’s Gamble ** (1938, Peter Lorre, Keye Luke, Dick Baldwin, Lynn Bari, Douglas Fowley, Jayne Regan, Harold Huber) – Classic Movie Review 9064

Director James Tinling’s 1938 20th Century Fox crime mystery series thriller Mr Moto’s Gamble is the third movie in Peter Lorre’s enjoyable casebook.

The original screenplay is by Charles Belden and Jerome Cady, based on the character created by John P Marquand. After the number one heavyweight contender Frankie Stanton apparently dies from a concussion caused by hitting the canvas in a grudge match, Mr Moto investigates and finds that actually he has been poisoned during the bout, and the gambler who placed large bets against him is his suspect.

Actually, Mr Moto’s Gamble (1938) is the fourth Mr Moto to be shot (January to February 1938) but the third to be released (7 April 1938 after its premiere on 25 March). It was begun as a Charlie Chan film called Charlie Chan at the Ringside, but when Chan star Warner Oland walked out after a few days’ shooting and never returned, the script was quickly rewritten for Fox’s other Asian sleuth, Mr Moto. Accordingly, it contains much Chan-like dialogue tacked on to Moto-style action scenes, and remains a hybrid, though a popular one at the time.

Series producer Sol M Wurtzel ordered the writers to include Keye Luke’s Lee Chan character in the revised screenplay, though it is the only non-Chan film to feature Lee Chan. But Luke played Lee twice more, in Monogram’s final two Chans, The Feathered Serpent (1948) and The Sky Dragon (1949).

Also in the cast are Dick Baldwin, Lynn Bari, Douglas Fowley, Jayne Regan, Harold Huber, Maxie Rosenbloom, John Hamilton, George E. Stone, Bernard Nedell, Charles Williams, Ward Bond, Cliff Clark, Eddie Marr, Lon Chaney Jr, Russ Clark, Pierre Watkin, Irving Bacon, Don Brodie and Charles D Brown.

Mr Moto’s Gamble was released on DVD with Mr Moto in Danger Island, Mr Moto Takes a Vacation, Mr Moto’s Last Warning and (as a DVD extra) The Return of Mr Moto, in 2007 by 20th Century Fox as part of The Mr. Moto Collection, Volume Two.

The series is Think Fast, Mr Moto, Thank You, Mr Moto, Mr Moto’s Gamble, Mr Moto Takes a Chance, Mysterious Mr Moto, Mr Moto’s Last Warning, Mr Moto in Danger Island, and Mr Moto Takes a Vacation. There was a further film in 1965, The Return of Mr Moto. Though popular, the series ultimately did not run and run like the Chan franchise.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9064

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