THANK YOU, MR MOTO

US, 1937, 67 minutes, Black and white.
Peter Lorre, Pauline Frederick, Sidney Blackmer, John Carradine, Sig Rumann.
Directed by Norman Foster.

Thank You, Mr Moto is considered the best of the series of detective yarns based on novels by J.P. Marquand. This one was co-written by its director, Norman Foster.

Peter Lorre again appears as the Japanese trader who is also an investigator. There is a good supporting cast for a B production from 20th Century Fox in the late '30s and includes John Carradine, Sig Rumann and silent star Pauline Frederick.

The film is an entertaining and brief crime story, action thriller - with studio-bound exotic Chinese settings. Part of a popular series of its time.

1.Entertaining thriller? The series on Mr Moto? Peter Lorre's popularity? A film of the '30s?

2.B-budget, 20th Century Fox production values, black and white photography, Chinese settings? Musical score?

3.Mr Moto, appearing enigmatically, audience suspicions, his behaviour as a detective, as a trade dealer, at the scene of the crime, dangers, solving the crime? Genial personality, Oriental style?

4.The focus on the Gobi Desert, the deaths in the desert, the caravan? The tracings and the artwork? Prince Chung and his possessions, the various dealers wanting them? The murders for their sake? The buried treasure of Genghis Khan. Prince Chung and his being attacked, the assault on his mother, her death?

5.The villains - international dealers, their contacts in the police, cruelty and torture? John Carradine as the dealer who is murdered?

6.The American official, the hero of the film, dashing etc? Eleanor and her singing, presence in China, her knowledge about the tracings? At the scene of the crime, suspicions of Mr Moto, being kidnapped?

7.The array of villains - servants, attacks, shootings, chases, the final confrontation and Mr Moto outwitting everyone?

8.Prince Chung, his tradition, dignity? His mother and her severity, his willingness to give the information to save his mother, her death, his killing himself?

9.The popularity of this kind of series in the '30s (equivalent of later television series)?