Meet Mr. Moto… the foxiest detective of them all
The film opens with Mr. Moto in disguise as a street salesman and selling goods to passers-by. He sees a man leaving a shop with a tattoo of the British Flag on his arm. Moto enters the shop to sell a rare diamond to the owner. However, Moto sees a body stuffed into a wicker basket in the store and, using his judo mastery, takes down the shopkeeper. Later, he reserves a berth on a freighter headed for Shanghai. Also on the freighter is Bob Hitchings Jr., son of the owner of the freighter. Before leaving, Hitchings Sr. gives his son a confidential letter for the company’s head of the Shanghai branch. Hitchings and Moto become friends (Moto notices the note), and Moto helps Hitchings cure a hangover. Hitchings complains to Moto that he has not met any beautiful women on board. After a stop in Honolulu, a beautiful woman named Gloria Danton boards the ship, and she and Hitchings fall in love. But Gloria is a spy for Nicolas Marloff, who runs a smuggling operation out of Shanghai. She periodically sends him notes and leaves without saying goodbye to Hitchings. Moto finds a steward looking for Hitchings’ letter and confronts him, knowing he was the person who killed the man in the wicker basket, as he wears the tattoo. Moto throws the man overboard and takes the letter.
In Shanghai, Hitchings meets with Joseph B. Wilkie and gives him the letter but later learns it is a blank sheet of paper. He calls his father, who tells him the letter said to watch out for smugglers. Hitchings is determined to find Gloria, and he learns from an unknown person that she is at the “international club.” He and Wilkie go there, as well as Moto and his date, Lela Liu. Hitchings finds Gloria performing at the club and goes to her dressing room. However, the club owner Marloff discovers them together and locks them both up, knowing that Hitchings knows too much. Moto tells Lela to call the police and seeks out Marloff. Posing as a fellow smuggler, he tricks Marloff into leading him to Gloria and Hitchings. Lela is shot while contacting the police but manages to tell them where she is. Wilkie finds Marloff and demands that Gloria and Hitchings be released. Marloff finds out that Moto is not a smuggler, then Moto apprehends him. Moto tells Wilkie to get Marloff’s gun. The gun explodes as Wilkie tries to grab it, killing Marloff. Police storm the building, and Moto tells them that Wilkie headed the smuggling operation. Wilkie replaced the letter and shot Lela. Moto gave Wilkie the opportunity to kill Marloff, who knew he was in on the plot, and he did. Wilkie is arrested, and things go back to normal.
Think Fast, Mr. Moto is a 1937 film directed by Norman Foster and features a mysterious Japanese detective named Mr. Moto. It is the first of eight films in the Mr. Moto series, all based on the character Mr. Moto created by John P. Marquand. The film stars Peter Lorre as the title character, Virginia Field, Thomas Beck, and Sig Ruman. Mr. Moto works to stop a secret smuggling operation.
Cast
Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto
Thomas Beck as Bob Hitchings Jr.
Virginia Field as Gloria Danton
Murray Kinnell as Joseph B. Wilkie
Sig Ruman as Nicolas Marloff
John Rogers as Carson
George Cooper as Muggs Blake
Lotus Long as Lela Liu
J. Carrol Naish as Adram
Information is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Fast,_Mr._Moto
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