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Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Crappy film

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Mr. Moto is in a race with a group of ruthless treasure hunters to find the seven ancient scrolls that show the location of Genghis Khan's grave and the riches contained therein.Thank You, Mr. Moto is a fast paced, fun entry in the Moto series. The story is interesting throughout, with Moto pulling an excellent trick on the baddies at the very end - some nice writing. Sets, lighting, and cinematography all look great. It's amazing that Norman Foster's Moto films are among his very early directing credits. He does an excellent job for someone so new to the profession. With a couple of exceptions, the acting is quite good. Peter Lorre is as solid as always. The man always gave top notch performances. Other actors with noting in Thank You, Mr. Moto, include: the always enjoyable Sig Ruman in a much to small a role, Sidney Blackmer, and Philip Ahn. However, there were a couple I didn't find as impressive. Jayne Regan just seemed all wrong for the part of the heroine - too wishy-washy. And in the part of Regan's beau, Thomas Beck is too bland.Overall, a wonderfully entertaining film. I'm rating it a strong 7/10 (and wondering why I didn't go ahead and give it an 8/10).

I thoroughly enjoy B movies series and the Mr. Moto series is among my favorites. This entry involves a treasure map which can be completed when seven ancient scrolls are brought together; this map leads to the tomb and treasure of Genghis Khan. Mr. Moto is a very physical detective and dispatches his adversaries quickly and without compunction. The story is one not only of adventure but honor, courage and loyalty to old friends. The cast is a strong one with Sidney Blackmer as the villain, John Carradine as the oily and dishonest antiques dealer, Pereira (since Pereira is a common Portuguese name and the character calls the men señor, it's likely that the character is Portuguese), Philip Ahn as Moto's good friend Prince Chang and Pauline Frederick as Madame Chang (given her earlier illustrious career in movies and on the stage, it's a bit sad that her last movie was in a B film). As usual, Thomas Beck plays an affable young man. However, he does have quite the screen presence and it's a surprise he didn't have more of a movie career. Richard Loo has an uncredited role as a police officer (although Chinese, Loo very often played Japanese officers and villains in WW II movies) Peter Lorre does a great job as Moto and that with the great production values and solid cast, makes this a movie a winner.

"Adventurer, explorer, soldier of fortune...one of the Orient's mysteries. No one knows much about him, except that when he shows up something usually happens." It would be wise to remember, also, that when Kentaro Moto fights an opponent, he most often wins by killing the man. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), in his second film adventure for Twentieth Century Fox, is on the hunt for a rare scroll painting, one of seven that together hold the key to where in the Gobi desert lies the lost tomb of Genghis Khan...a tomb filled with gold, gems and legendary treasure. The scrolls themselves are priceless works of art from the time of Kublai Khan that had been in the possession of a noble handmaiden to the last great Chinese empress. But the seventh had been stolen from her and her son. Mr. Moto is on the trail, but so is a group of unscrupulous collectors and fortune hunters who won't stop at murder to achieve their end. All this starts out in a caravan crossing the Gobi with Mr. Moto disguised to the nines and fending off a knife-wielding camel driver. Then we're in exotic Pekin (Beijing nowadays) for the rest of the movie, moving from posh hotels filled with wealthy Westerners (and Mr. Moto) wearing white suits and shoes to ancient, crowded streets filled with antique shops, hurrying Chinese, carts, rickshaws and gunmen. The climax is a struggle in a filthy river and aboard a huge junk. Mr. Moto's death toll is not excessive considering the provocations. The scrolls, now united, meet an honorable fate. We even get a bit of philosophy from Mr. Moto to ponder while we struggle for our last breath..."Birth is not a beginning...death is not an end." Thank You, Mr. Moto works so well because it moves briskly and the Moto character is not condescended to, or at least not much. There also are some vivid character actors to enjoy. Two of my favorites are Sig Ruman as Colonel Tchernov, a wealthy and ruthless man who will have what he wants to have. Ruman, for me, always looked impressive as a nobleman or pompous boor. When I hear his voice and accent, I can't help but smile at the sound of all those comic Nazis he played later in movies such as To Be or Not to Be and Stalag 17. John Carradine shows up as Periera, a small but pungent part as an obsequious and unreliable antiques dealer. Most of all, however, the Mr. Moto movies are such good entertainment because of Peter Lorre. He manages to look innocent while being no one's fool. Lorre gives us a ruthless and amusing portrayal.

I usually find it helpful to keep a scorecard when watching a Charlie Chan film to keep track of all the characters, for this one, you need it just for the action. Yikes! - it took about twenty movies in the Chan franchise to build up to four dead bodies in one outing, but here they pile up fast and furious. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is not above dispatching a few himself, and just as he did in the first film of the series (Think Fast, Mr. Moto), winds up throwing a man over board. There are other similarities as well, the biggest coincidence being the use of the name Marco Polo; here it's the name of a bridge, while in 'Think Fast', it was the name of a cruise ship.By this time, we know Moto to be an importer operating as a detective, but here we learn that he's also an adventurer, explorer, soldier of fortune and one of the Orient's great mysteries. Or so he's described by businessman Tom Nelson (Thomas Beck). In the story, Moto seeks to protect a missing scroll that when joined together with others to form a pattern, indicates the location of the burial place of Genghis Khan and a vast treasure. Of course, a host of others seek to own the desired scroll, as much as Madame Chung (Pauline Frederick) and her son, the Prince (Philip Ahn) are determined to protect it.Oddities abound in the film, as in the opening scene when Moto in disguise dispatches an assassin in the Gobi Desert, and proceeds to bury him - inside the tent! John Carradine makes an appearance in the story as an antiques dealer named Periera, and for some unexplained reason uses the terms 'senor' and 'senorita' when addressing Nelson and Eleanor Joyce (Jayne Regan). And say, could there really have been an American bar in China in 1937 called 'Mike's Place'? But you know what, most of it doesn't matter, because Mr. Moto is a bundle of energy uncovering the bad guys and tracking down the stolen Chung scrolls. He even concocts a romantic link between the main heavy Koerger (Sidney Blackmer) and Miss Joyce to create a jealous rage in Madame Tchernov (Nedda Harrigan), thereby undermining the villain's plot to discover the treasure. But the biggest shock of all is the way it ends, and for that you'll have to see the picture.With just a couple of the Mr. Moto films under my belt for now, it's quite unusual to see how differently he operates compared to the other Oriental Detectives of the era, notably Charlie Chan and Mr. Wong. Whereas the latter two solved their cases much more methodically, Moto combines clever analysis and martial action to achieve his results, and the results are entirely entertaining. Peter Lorre adds a distinctive flair to the Moto persona, and gets one excited about catching the next film in the series - Oh, so!