Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)

I had never seen the Mr. Moto movies until recently. They really had potential when the first couple featured a kind of dark mysterious character. But then Hollywood got involved and created fluffy romances and silly plot elements and, if it weren't for Peter Lorre, almost ruined the series. The character of Featherstone, the British idiot who showed up in a previous episode, is not funny. He is pathetic as a drunken busybody. I agree with a previous reviewer that he could have been killed falling off the boat and it would have improved the story. He destroys all the flow to this episode. It is exciting enough, with two different criminal elements trying to steal the crown of the Queen of Sheba. Also, considering supposed seriousness of the efforts to protect this priceless artifact, the authorities are bumbling dunces. Lionel Atwell is tiresome and overstuffed. There is also the handsome, boring young guy who is in love with the obligatory attractive young woman. They contribute nothing. It's a shame that Peter Lorre's wonderful character has to shine in the face of all this. I know it's a B movie, but I guess they were trying to appease the Saturday afternoon crowds.

I generally love these 1930 mystery/police Charlie Chan type of movies, and this is no exception. However, something seems bad with this movie. A late attempt to switch from cerebral Moto movies centered around the plot contrivances to a salad bar spoilt by comedy relief that is as relieving as sore feet. A typecast buffoon appears from nowhere impersonating a clumsy Englishman who plays the detective, and even other characters seem entangled into providing comedy relief. The plot may seem odd or a bare excuse to us today, but back then the possibility of epochal archaeological discoveries was not only real, but a commonplace occurrence.

...but jest barely. It's nothing great, the final Heave of a series getting the heave Ho by the studio, cast, writers, etc. Nonsense about Cleopatra, Jewels in London and the like. You can watch this and enjoy it-but don't be fooled-this wasn't going anywheres.Peter Lorre while making the best of the situation and the role, knew that he was fast becoming typecast as the little Japanese, inscrutable Karate-chopping detective, and therefore made a point of getting away from it.Plus you knew w/ the War coming on, he wasn't gonna stick to it.** outta ****

Like most of the Charlie Chan movies of the same era, it might help to keep a score card here to keep track of all the players. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), true to characterizations in earlier films in the series, relies on his skills as an anthropologist as well as a detective to solve this, his final case. He's on the trail of a psychopathic criminal genius long presumed dead, coaxed out of hiding by the discovery of the crown of the Queen of Sheba on an Arabian dig. Not only does Moto don a disguise in the film, so does his adversary, the evil Metaxas, before the case is put to rest.The last couple of Moto films paired the Japanese detective with a comic sidekick, this time around it's G.P. Huntley as the Brit, Archibald Featherstone. His gimmick consists of outing Moto's undercover alias a number of times and taking numerous pratfalls. Someone like Reginald Denny might have been more effective in a less physical role, but hey, we take what we get in the Moto films, all of which are to be viewed for entertainment value and Lorre's understated portrayal. I got a kick out of the scene at the Fremont Museum in Professor Hildebrand's office when it's discovered the phone line has been cut. Instead of simply stating that, Moto offers - "Someone deprived this instrument of all utility". Couldn't have said it better myself.It would have been cool to see Mantan Moreland show up in the Moto series, but instead Willie Best appears in this one as a driver with a few quick lines and a fender bender. He also had a few moments in the Moto adventure on Danger Island. The real surprise for this story is the appearance of one of the better known and respected veterans of the era, Lionel Atwill, usually cast as a villain or mad scientist. The finale almost has you hooked into believing him to be Moto's quarry, but of course that was just a red herring.I'm still thinking about how Moto solved this case, explaining that the scoundrel Metaxas' footprints on the carpet changed from a walk to a limp when he entered the Professor's office. It sounds good, but how does one detect a limp in a footprint? It might have made more sense to have the cane as part of that set up.Anyway, not to be too harsh, this film is just as much fun as any in the series, which in retrospect might have been all too brief. The Charlie Chan movies ran to forty two films, not counting a couple for which the prints seem to have been permanently lost. However three different actors portrayed the Oriental detective in most of those flicks, but one would probably agree that the only actor to own the Moto role would rightfully be the wonderful Peter Lorre.