Mr. Moto - Peter Lorre

About a year ago I watched (1st time ever) some of the Mr Motos. In the first couple of films he's sort of presented as an ambiguous figure (somewhat in the manner of the novels), though he eventually becomes just another great detective like Charlie Chan. Speaking of whom, one of the Moto films began life as a Chan script -- When Oland fell ill, it was quickly rewritten for Moto -- but Keye Luke stayed in the cast as No. 1 Son!

I still haven’t seen as many of the Motos as I have of the Chans, though I’ve seen …on Vacation, which was fun. And I remember Everson actually preferred the Motos, saying they were better-paced.

Curses! That's the story I was going to write! Foiled again!

Anyway, that's the only Moto that is a true detective mystery. All the others, even though they may contain some mystery elements (who is the real head of the spy ring?), they are more spy action adventure thrillers. Peter Lorre doesn't seem to be doing much acting in the part (in later years he claimed to have only done them for the money and that he hated the paper-thin plots and characters), but considering his vivid screen presence and how he could play the part with minimal make-up, the low-key tone he took seems perfect.

There is also, occasionally , a level of violence that seems excessive for the times. In one case (I saw the entire series years ago and now can't place some good scenes I remember), Moto is on an ocean liner when attacked by a thug. Moto subdues the attacker then picks him up, holds the man up over his head, then throws him overboard. Normally, 1930s heroes didn't take such a cavalier attitude toward killing their opponents.

Never saw these but on my list after finishing up the Chan movies.

I've seen very few of the Peter Lorre Mr. Moto pictures, for some reason can't remember the titles. Only one of them appealed to me. Mostly, compared to the Charlie Chan series, which I love (Fox entries only), I find them slow, charmless, and even Peter Lorre, one of my favorite actors of all time, does nothing for me in the lead. He just seems miscast.

Many of them have fist rate supporting casts, at the level of the Fox Chans of the same period, but IMHO they aren't, on the average, near to the Chans in quality. I think it was Leonard Maltin in one of his movie guides who wrote that the Moto flicks lacked the "heart" of the Chans, and that feels about right. Lorre was maybe too subdued in the lead.

It would have been great fun to have seen Moto and Chan teamed together to solve a crime,--espionage in the Far East would have been perfect for these two--but aside from Number One son Keye Luke's appearing in the first Moto there's no formal connection between the series.

On television the Warners private eyes worked together occasionally (rarely, in fact), with characters from one series joining characters from another on some big "caper". On the small screen this works fine but in feature films it might be too strange, almost surreal. With the two Asian detectives it might have worked, if only once.

Over at MGM it would have downright bizarre for the Thin Man's Nick and Nora Charles to have visited Andy Hardy in his home town in order to get him out of a jam. Or for Dr. Kildare to have treated one of the Little Rascals at Blair General Hospital! (can't find a "bizarre" emoticon that fits)

I appreciate the thoughtful response, Richard. Yup, the Warners westerns did that crossover thing, too, and I didn't mention them due to this being a Moto thread, but that's cool with me. The production company that most like Warners as to sharing characters from different TV series seemed to be Four Star, whose Zane Grey Theater offered up a pilot episode for The Rifleman; and I believe there was crossover there, too, with Law Of The Plainsman's Michael Ansara introduced along the way (or was that Zane Grey as well?).

That's interesting about the Matt Dillon reference by Paladin. Maybe Have Gun and Gunsmoke, which both ran on CBS, were owned by CBS. There was a mention of Rod Serling, not sure if The Twilight Zone was referenced as well, on a Perry Mason. Those two were CBS, too. Outer Limits music and musical cues turn up in late Fugitive episodes, from the last season or two. ABC or United Artists television division? The Man From UNCLE's Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin made a guest appearance on Please Don't Eat The Daisies (also MGM TV), but I believe that was entirely humorous...

Quite right. That episode also featured Julie Adams, Pernell Roberts and Beverly Garland reprising roles they had played on a 1973 Mannix episode, from which the DM incorporated original scenes to serve as flashbacks. 

Another DM cast Robert Culp, Barbara Bain, Robert Vaughn, Patrick Macnee and Phil Morris as veteran spies (only Bain played her earlier role, IMF's Cinnamon Carter).

Yet another DM brought together cast members of M*A*S*H, from both film (Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman, Christopher Norris) and TV (Loretta Swit, Jamie Farr and William Christopher) incarnations. 

And still another DM assembled TV doctors Jack Klugman, Chad Everett, Wayne Rogers and Bernie Kopell (none playing their earlier series roles).

In another instance of allusion rather than crossover, Jerry Van Dyke appeared as Dr. Mark Sloan's brother Stacy, who - like his Dick Van Dyke Show namesake - was afflicted by sleepwalking during which he underwent personality changes.

Another actual crossover episode brought on Andy Griffith as Matlock for a two-parter in which he defends a colleague of Sloan's. 

DM had a great deal of fun with their format beyond employing gimmicky casting: some episodes were comedic; some deadly serious; some followed the Columbo-style "open murder" story form; others the Perry Mason-style "closed" one; there were explorations of controversies like euthanasia or the profit motives of corporate management and health insurance compromising medical care, dabblings in the occult, and even a vampire in one early episode. And one episode per season could be counted upon for a "throwaway' moment in which Dr. Sloan narrowly averts a stumble over an ottoman he's spotted at the last second.

Just watched Think Fast, Mr Moto and it was OK but not as enjoyable as Chan.