Think Fast, Mr. Moto
Directed by Norman Foster
Written by Howard Ellis Smith and Norman Foster based on a story by J.P. Marquand
USA/1937
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing
[box] Kentaro Moto: Half the world spends its time laughing at the other half, and both are fools.[/box]
This was the first in the series of eight Mr. Moto films with Peter Lorre. Lorre is meant to simulate a Japanese with the addition of glasses and some funny teeth but he is still 100% Lorre, complete with German accent. In this one, Mr. Moto has his eye on a diamond smuggling gang during a Pacific crossing en route to Shanghai. It’s well-made B fare. With Sig Ruman as a bad guy and J. Carrol Naish as an Arab henchman.
Trailer
Another of those programmers that we love even though an Oriental is played by a German Jew. These films were fun and I call them rainy Saturday afternoon fare. (I never could figure out the buck teeth that all Japanese have in films of this time……why is that?)
I can’t explain the buck teeth either but I went digging just now and a site says that Tojo had very buck teeth. Don’t know if that explains the stereotype in the 30’s though.