By now the Mr. Moto series was becoming no more than the Saturday matinée filler Peter Lorre knew it would be. The greatest interest in Mr. Moto's Last Warning lies in keeping track of how many deaths Mr. Moto will cause in the pursuit of his kind of justice. By my count it was a draw with the bad guys, with one ringer thrown in. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed.
We're in Egypt and an unknown country is plotting to create an incident involving the Suez Canal that will have France and Britain at each other's throats. A master criminal and his gang, taking orders from this nameless country, will set mines at the entrance of the Canal. When the French fleet starts to pass though...kablooie! False evidence will point to Britain. However, Kentaro Moto of the International Police has been working to expose this plot for weeks. He knows the master criminal is in fact Fabian the Great (Ricardo Cortez), a smooth, quick-thinking and ruthless individual posing as a ventriloquist at a seedy Egyptian music hall. It would be hard to decide which is worse, Fabian's utter lack of scruple or George Sanders' awful German accent. (He plays Eric Novel, who tends to show up too often at places he shouldn't be.) Moto quickly finds he is alone. Every time he thinks he can call for assistance, death gets in the way. Finally, with only a foolish Englishman, played to perfection by Robert Coote, to help, Moto prevails and world peace is insured for a few more weeks. (The movie was made in 1939)
Peter Lorre continues to do a fine job as Kentaro Moto. He gives Moto an interesting blend of innocence, shrewdness and ruthlessness. Ricardo Cortez, a great success as a leading man in the silent movies, was by now doing movies like this. He may be a stolid actor, but he still is interesting enough to carry the role without breaking a sweat. George Sanders, however, is just about as bad as his accent. My heart, however, was captured by Virginia Field as Connie, proprietor of Connie's Place, a seedy dive. Connie loves Fabian too much but at least she can tell the difference between right (smuggling) and wrong (blowing up the French fleet). Field plays Connie as a kind of dime-store version of Joan Blondell...blond, plump, good-hearted and luscious.
For those who also like to keep score, here's what I came up with. Caused by the bad guys: Death by knifing; death by diving bell. Caused by Kentaro Moto: Death by judo chop; death by too much Suez water. Caused by the ringer: Death by bullet into the chest.
We're in Egypt and an unknown country is plotting to create an incident involving the Suez Canal that will have France and Britain at each other's throats. A master criminal and his gang, taking orders from this nameless country, will set mines at the entrance of the Canal. When the French fleet starts to pass though...kablooie! False evidence will point to Britain. However, Kentaro Moto of the International Police has been working to expose this plot for weeks. He knows the master criminal is in fact Fabian the Great (Ricardo Cortez), a smooth, quick-thinking and ruthless individual posing as a ventriloquist at a seedy Egyptian music hall. It would be hard to decide which is worse, Fabian's utter lack of scruple or George Sanders' awful German accent. (He plays Eric Novel, who tends to show up too often at places he shouldn't be.) Moto quickly finds he is alone. Every time he thinks he can call for assistance, death gets in the way. Finally, with only a foolish Englishman, played to perfection by Robert Coote, to help, Moto prevails and world peace is insured for a few more weeks. (The movie was made in 1939)
Peter Lorre continues to do a fine job as Kentaro Moto. He gives Moto an interesting blend of innocence, shrewdness and ruthlessness. Ricardo Cortez, a great success as a leading man in the silent movies, was by now doing movies like this. He may be a stolid actor, but he still is interesting enough to carry the role without breaking a sweat. George Sanders, however, is just about as bad as his accent. My heart, however, was captured by Virginia Field as Connie, proprietor of Connie's Place, a seedy dive. Connie loves Fabian too much but at least she can tell the difference between right (smuggling) and wrong (blowing up the French fleet). Field plays Connie as a kind of dime-store version of Joan Blondell...blond, plump, good-hearted and luscious.
For those who also like to keep score, here's what I came up with. Caused by the bad guys: Death by knifing; death by diving bell. Caused by Kentaro Moto: Death by judo chop; death by too much Suez water. Caused by the ringer: Death by bullet into the chest.