Mysterious Mr. Moto
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Norman Foster
Peter Lorre
Mary Maguire
Henry Wilcoxon
Erik Rhodes
Harold Huber
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Disguised as Ito Matsuka, Japanese murderer Kentaro Moto, an agent of the International Police, leads Paul Brissac, a Frenchman, in an escape from Devil's Island. In London, Moto becomes a houseboy for Brissac, a member of a group of hired killers of diplomats and economic leaders, which the newspapers have dubbed "The League of Assassins." Moto is trying to learn the identity of the group's leader and the reason that they are in London. Meanwhile, Prague steel king Anton Darvak, a pacifist, has refused to sell to armament manufacturers a formula for a new type of steel. After he receives a threatening telephone call at his London hotel, Moto learns of the call from one of his agents, Lotus Liu. On his way to visit Darvak, Moto witnesses a lorry back up and kill a man in a street market. Darvak at first refuses to tell Moto about the threat against his life, despite the urging of his secretary, Ann Richman, and his business associate, David Scott-Frensham. However, when he learns that the man run down by the lorry, Lord Gilford, was killed as a warning to him, Darvak confides to Moto that he was told he would be killed the next afternoon at three if he does not part with the formula. Moto visits the Limehouse tavern where Lotus lives. After he hears the accordion player play the same tune that an organ grinder played before Lord Gilford was killed, a brawl begins. Moto takes Lotus to her room to pack, and they find the body of a member of the league, who was killed because he confided in Lotus. At Brissac's residence, Ernst Litmar tells Brissac that Moto was seen in the bar speaking with Lotus. They send Moto to a certain store for fruit, and when Moto gets there, he hears a street violinist play the tune he heard before the two previous murders. A number of toughs crowd around him, but he escapes in a cab. The next day, Moto goes to Coventry Galleries, knowing that Darvak plans to be there that afternoon at three to see an exhibition. He overhears Litmar explain to Brissac the plan to kill Darvak: the leader of the group will position Darvak in front of a particular painting and say his name in a loud voice; the orchestra will then play the same tune used previously to identify men to be murdered; Brissac, in the gallery loft, will cut the chandelier, and its fall will kill Darvak. After Ann tells a surprised, but very pleased Darvak that she loves him, Moto visits. David also arrives and says that he has brought two men from Scotland Yard to protect Darvak. When Moto is stopped by the two plainclothesmen in the hall, he sees that one of them has a gun and knocks them over a bannister. As three o'clock nears, David arrives alone at the gallery, and as he stands in front of the painting, an eccentric German artist complains about the art exhibited. When Darvak arrives with the plainclothesmen, the crank artist loudly calls David "Darvak," and the orchestra plays the tune. Brissac cuts the chandelier, and it kills David. The crank artist then removes his disguise and reveals himself to be Moto. He explains he knew that the leader must be David because the plainclothesmen had guns, while Scotland Yard officers do not carry any. As the gang is apprehended, Brissac shoots from the loft, but Moto fights and subdues him.
Director
Norman Foster
Cast
Peter Lorre
Mary Maguire
Henry Wilcoxon
Erik Rhodes
Harold Huber
Leon Ames
Forrester Harvey
Fredrik Vogeding
Lester Matthews
John Rogers
Karen Sorrell
Mitchell Lewis
Frank S. Hagney
Barney O'toole
Val Stanton
Ernie Stanton
Colin Kenny
Cyril Thornton
William Austin
Harry Depp
Evelyn Beresford
Pat O'malley
Leyland Hodgson
Kenneth Hunter
Dick Rush
Bruce Sydney
Les Sketchley
Paul Mcvey
Clive Morgan
Major Sam Harris
Cecil Weston
Tiny Jones
James Kilgannon
Yorke Sherwood
Harry Allen
Reginald Barlow
Dave Thursby
Jimmy Aubrey
Clyde Cook
May Beatty
Herbert Evans
Major George C. Mcbride
Adia Kuznetzoff
Billy Bevan
Noble Johnson
Eugene Borden
Charles Bennett
Norman Foster
Leonard Mudie
Crew
L. B. Abbott
Joseph E. Aiken
William H. Anderson
John Paul Lock Barton
Douglas Biggs
Jasper Blystone
Harry Brand
Fred Casey
Norman Colbert
Lewis Creber
Louis De Francesco
Stanley Detlie
Ed. Ebele
Charles Faye
Norman Foster
Tad Gillum
John Grady
Don Greenwood
Fred Hall
Virgil Hart
Herschel
Bernard Herzbrun
Billy Jones
Harry Jones
Samuel Kaylin
Le Vaughn Larson
Monroe Liebgold
Philip Macdonald
Bert Massee
C. J. Mazzoletti
Virgil Miller
Roger Murphy
Ben Nye
Harvey Perry
Harry Roberts
Wilma Ryan
Sandy Sandeen
Walter [m.] Scott
Rose Steinberg
Frank Tuttle
Ted Weisbarth
Ben Wurtzel
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was also reviewed under the title Mysterious Mr. Moto of Devil's Island. According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, twenty feet of stock footage entitled "Chase Through Devil's Island" was purchased from Columbia Pictures for use in this film. According to publicity, director Norman Foster disguised himself as a hoodlum for the brawl scene in the Limehouse tavern. According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Michael Whalen was originally cast for the role of "Anton Darvak," but he was needed for more shooting in Racing Blood, the working title of Speed to Burn (see below). The song "Black Black Sheep" was used earlier in Fox's 1934 film Springtime for Henry (see below). This film had a Los Angeles preview for the trade press on May 27, 1938, months before its national release. Hollywood Reporter commented in their review, "The progressive development of the Mr. Moto pictures has been one of Hollywood's most interesting evolutions of series films during the past year." For information about the series, please for Think Fast, Mr. Moto and consult the Series Index.
