Think Fast, Mr. Moto

On a freighter going from San Francisco to Shanghai Mr. Moto solves mysteries caused by a gang of smugglers. First of the series.

• Director:Norman Foster
• Genre:Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
• Runtime:67 minutes

Cast

Peter Lorre : Kentaro Moto
Virginia Field : Gloria Danton / Tanya Barov
Thomas Beck : Robert ‘Bob’ Hitchings Jr.
Sig Ruman : Nicolas Marloff (as Sig Rumann)
Murray Kinnell : Joseph B. Wilkie

The film opens with Mr. Moto, a mysterious detective, disguising himself as a street salsmen and trying to sell goods to passers-by. He sees a man leaving a shop with a tattoo of the British Flag on his arm. Moto enters and tries to sell a rare diamond to the owner. However, Moto sees a body stuffed into a wicker basket in the store, and using his mastery of judo takes down the owner. Later, he reserves a room on a freighter headed for Shanghai. Also on the freighter is Bob Hitchings Jr., the son of the owner of the freighter. Before leaving, Hitchings Sr. gives his son a confidential letter to be given to the head of the Shanghai branch of the company. Hitchings and Moto become friends (Moto notices the letter), and Moto helps Hitchings get rid of a hangover. Hitchings complains to Moto that he has not met any beautiful women on board. After a brief stop in Honolulu, a beautiful woman named Gloria Danton arrives on 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’s letter, and Moto confronts him, knowing he was the same person who killed the man in the wicker basket, as he also has the tattoo. Moto throws the man overboard and takes the letter.

At Shanghai, Hitchings meets up with Joseph B. Wilkie and gives him the letter, but later finds it to be blank. He calls his father, who tells him the letter said to watch out for smugglers. Hitchings is adamant on finding Gloria, and he learns from an unknown person that she is at the “international club”. Both he and Wilkie go there, as well as Moto and his date. Hitchings finds Gloria at the club and goes to her dressing room, as she is a performer at the club. However, the club owner Marloff finds them both, and, knowing Hitchings knows too much, locks them both up. Moto secretly informs his date to call the police, and he looks for Marloff. Posing as a fellow smuggler, he tricks Marloff into leading him to Gloria and Hitchigns. Moto’s date is shot while trying to contact the police, but does manage to tell them where she is. Wilkie finds Marloff, and demands Gloria and Hitchings be released. Marloff finds out that Moto is not a smuggler, but Moto apprehends him. Moto tells Wilkie to get Marloff’s gun, the gun goes off as Wilkie tries to grab it, killing Marloff. The police storm the building, and Moto tells them the Wilkie was the head of the smuggling operation. Wilkie replaced the letter and shot Moto’s date. Moto gave Wilkie the opportunity to kill Marloff, who knew he was in on the plot, and he did. Wilkie is arrested, and everything goes back to normal. Read more