A less exotic Moto film - no international locales, it's all set in the one American city and involves boxers and gangsters (the plot is about a boxer who is killed), and has a lot more comedy.This is explained by the fact the script was originally written to be a Charlie Chan film but Warner Oland left the series due to illness and soon died, so they reworked it for Moto. This means Keye Luke as Chan's son makes an appearance (as a student of Moto's), as does an Inspector played by Harold Huber, who used to work with Chan. This is kind of fun - it's like a cross over David E Kelly show.
Less forgiveable is the way Moto's character changed. In the first two movies he was this mysterious, rather ruthless figure - he could have easily been a baddie, he did a lot of fighting, and would kill people. Here it's clear he's a detective from the beginning (we meet him lecturing on crime), he only fights once, and spouts a lot of exposition. Also, there are slabs of comedy courtesy of Keye Luke and dumb boxer Maxie Rosenbloom which feels more like Chan. It's not directed by Norman Foster and lacks his pace.
However, once I got over the fact it wasn't a pure Moto and appreciated it on its own terms - as a curio in the series - I enjoyed it. The plot is fast moving as always, I genuinely couldn't pick the killer until the very end, the boxing scenes have real atmosphere and are very well done, there is some bright dialogue and entertaining low life characters, including Maxie Rosembloom as a kleptomaniac student of Moto's, the always likeable Lynn Bari as a wisecracking reporter, and Jayne Regan (who was in Thank You, Mr Moto - more actor recycling) as a rich girl with a taste for hunky boxers who she uses and disposes.
There's also some famous faces in the support cast (albet in small roles): Lon Chaney Jnr as a henchman, and Ward Bond as the boxer in the final fight. No classic but entertaining.
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