One of the features of Mr Moto films was you sometimes never knew what he was up to until the very end - you knew it was some good cause, but what exactly? Here he's at an archeologist site near Cambodia, a French territory but with a local prince and rebellious tribesmen. Into this drops (literally in her case) one of those woman aviatrixes of the 30s, plus a couple of newsreel cameramen.
The series is back to its exotic, action packed best, with forced marriages, sacrifices in ancient tombs, dagger-wielding assassins, and a glorious over the top siege at the end with Moto and his mates holed up with machine guns in a temple, blasting away.
Rochelle Hudson, plays the Amelia Earhardt style aviatrix who, in some deliriously over the top plotting, turns out to be an agent for British intelligence. She is a good looking girl and appears in a series of fetchingly revealing outfits. J Edward Bromberg is good fun as the corrupt, funny-but-actually-ruthless local rajah, who is no one/s fool - the sort of part Walter Slezak would specialise in playing.
This was actually the second Moto filmed but the fourth shown - apparently due to poor quality. Some don't like it; I enjoyed it. There is strong action, several characters who are not what they appear to be.
I admit it's not a pure detective tale - it's more an imperial adventure, with Lorre and Hudson helping defend the white man's burden in Asia (both baddies - the priest and the rajah - want to kick out the French) It's ironic in a way that a Japanese man is so imperial but history shows plenty of times the Japanese would team up with European powers to put down the locals. (Also significant that the two American characters are mostly bewildered innocents.)
No comments:
Post a Comment