This was the first of eight films Peter Lorre made as Mr. Moto, the unflappable Japanese spy/detective. Here he gets to the bottom of a smuggling operation in Shanghai and if the plot doesn’t hold any real surprises at least Lorre is worth watching.
These were low budget ‘B’ pictures but dear old Pete gives an ‘A’ class performance. There are those who might find the idea of the Hungarian born actor playing a Japanese character racially offensive but he plays it straight with a lot of respect for Moto and while the accent certainly isn’t Japanese it’s a great performance.
Moto is by far the coolest character in the film, a Japanese miniature Bond who often gets involved in physical confrontations with his opponents and always comes out on top. It’s the characters sense of control that really makes him special, no matter how dire the situation you always feel that Moto has it covered.
Apart from Lorre there really isn’t much to recommend the film. None of the other performers stand out, the story is far from original and the director gets the job done, which is all you could really expect given the budget and speed with which this kind of thing was made. Lorre makes it worth a look though, particularly if you’re a fan of the actor (as I am).
