Peter Lorre’s fourth Mr. Moto film finds him posing as an archeologist in Cambodia. After a plane crashes and an aviatrix (Rochelle Hudson) is brought to the local village, the tribal leader’s wife is murdered. American filmmakers are accused but Moto, in disguise as an elder of the local religion, manages to save them. It soon emerges that some of the tribesmen are preparing to revolt against their leader. They wish to fight the French colonials and find him to be too compliant with the invaders’ wishes. Moto eventually finds that Hudson is a spy (like him) and, along with the American filmmakers, they take hold of the arms and defend themselves inside an ancient temple with machine guns. Mr. Moto’s chance is the one he takes of threatening to destroy the temple and killing everyone (including himself).
This review is a good place to mention the virulent racism found in the Mr. Moto films. The Charlie Chan films receive a lot of attention for yellowface and racism, but the Moto films, and this one in particular, are in many ways much more racist. Lorre is given bad teeth. He is shifty and unpredictable. He is also quite murderous in a way that the passive Chan never was. The Asians in the films are often killed off as part of the plot while heroic whites are spared. From a modern perspective, the film’s condemnation of anti-colonial forces is repugnant. The pacing is better here than in Mr. Moto’s Gamble and puts the series back on track, but the racial stereotypes and callous disregard for Asian culture are difficult to condone. ✰ ✰.
MJM 01-07-2012
An evaluation of the “virulent racism” associated with these popular characters (Chan and Moto) should be tempered by due consideration of their heroic statures. Hungarian Peter Lorre was certainly an odd choice for Moto, yet he managed to do some marvelous things with the role. The first film was made without thought of more to follow, but the box-office success assured a typical B-series trajectory and decline. Glad you’re taking a look at them, though. It’s noteworthy that you believe Lorre was “given bad teeth,” as further evidence of despicable stereotyping. Actually, those awful teeth belong to the actor. He didn’t get them fixed until 1940 or so. The first film in which his new dentures make their welcome appearance is Columbia’s The Face Behind the Mask (1941).
I would just like to add that the writers did zero research on customs, cultures, and religions for this movie. Granted that it the events took place in the fictional kingdom of Tong Moi, it nevertheless was supposed to be part of French Indochina, perhaps bordering Camodia as Angkor Wat was shown at the beginning. First, the names. I begin with Rajah Ali. This is double insult to The Khmer people. As far as I know, the Cambodians never called their kings “Rajah” which is the Sanskrit for “king”. The early Khmer rulers did use the term “Chakravartin”, also a Sanskrit word, which means king of kings, or emperor; similar to “Khan” in the Turkic languages. Then, why go out of the way to give the king an Arabic name? Almost all the Khmer kings had their royal names in Sanskrit; never Arabic! Secondly, the main religion of the region is Buddhism, not Hinduism; and Shiva is the Lord Destroyer of the Hindu Trinity! And they had to throw in a yogi (though not specifically mentioned as one) from the Himalayas as well. The words and exchanges revolving around this sub-plot between the priest and the “Guru” is plain ridiculous to anyone who knows even the basics of Hinduism. And authentic yogis are spiritual masters, not priests or mediums who cummune with God!