Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937)

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