The Return of Mr. Moto

I first saw The Return of Mr. Moto on TV many years ago, and found it fascinating. I was a huge fan of the Mr. Moto movies starring Peter Lorre, and had no idea that Henry Silva had played the role. I enjoyed it then, and was thrilled to see the film included in one of the DVD collections of the Mr. Moto films starring Lorre. The movie looks better than ever, is every bit as fascinating as I remember, and the DVD commentary by Henry Silva is a blast! When all is said and done, I found The Return of Mr Moto to be a very entertaining film that is well worth watching, and collecting.

One of the interesting things (looking back) about the original Mr. Moto series is its timing relative to WWII. It was also quite well written and, like many classics, provides some good commentary on society of that time. I think a post-WWII Moto film would be a good idea, but not this one. Poorly written and poorly acted, this film certainly does not do justice to a fine old classic. With the original Mr. Moto played by a German and Charlie Chan by a Swede, one would think that our enlightened 1960's society would at least come up with a proper Japanese-descent actor to play Moto. They certainly didn't pay a lot for the script and even less for sets. The feeble attempt with two folding screens and a cheap print of a Geisha on the Moto's wall didn't quite make us believe Moto's "orientalness". I hope someone takes another, better, stab at bringing back Mr. Moto.

Once the viewer recovers from the shock that star Henry Silva plays Mr. Moto totally straight--no awful accent or taped eyelids here--the truth emerges: The Return of Mr. Moto is a boring quota quickie. Shot on the cheap in black and white by producer Robert Lippert, the only concessions to art are a few nice set ups by cinematographer Basil Emmott, who had been shooting British films since the early 1920s. The story involves oil concessions in the Mid-East (some things never change!) but the film looks and plays like one of the many West German Edgar Wallace krimis of the period, with lots of people skulking around shadowy corners. The only thing missing is Klaus Kinski.

Any mst3k fan knows what Lippert means. Super cheap, lots of car driving, stock footage and talk rather than show. Moto character is unrecognizable to 30's Moto. For 1965 the plot to control oil is the most interesting aspect of this bore. The 5 is for sharp b&w photography.

Whoever got the rights to "Mr. Moto" in 1965 did a decent job bringing back this odd character. Henry Silva did not need to have his eyes taped back to give a slanted look. Nor did they have to "Yellowize" him with makeup. What impressed me most about Mr. Silva's performance is that he did not succumb to a grossly characterized Asian accent. Heck, they barely mentioned him being Asian at all until he had to go in disguise as a Japanese ambassador. All these elements of how Mr. Silva (and the director) should show that his race is not always relevant.

While the script was not overly clever.. it was decent enough not to wallow into a parody of itself or the 007 franchise. They tried to make their own secret agent . I have to say, Donger (the former Nazi assassin) was rather brutal and straight forward. The pacing and plot are decent and entertaining enough.

What does bring the movie down for me is not allowing for the audience to unravel the mystery along with the main character. There are one too many times the film/script reveals too much. There are enough "Red Herrings' to keep one distracted,. Even so, We should have the story unravel as if we were solving the mystery along with Mr. Moto.