MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE-1938-The intrepid
Japanese detective (Peter Lorre) investigates the in ring death of a
boxer. He gets assistance from pickpocket Knockout Wellington
(“Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom) and Lee Chan (Keye Luke), Charlie
Chan's number 1 son! The chief suspect is gangster Nick Crowder
(Douglas Fowley) who's main henchman Joey is played by pre-Wolf Man Lon Chaney Jr.
Ward Bond is Moran, the world champion. Poison seems to be the
culprit but who did it? As usual Moto plays his cards close to his
vest seeming almost as though he were a suspect too. Lynn Bari and
John Hamilton are also featured.
The unusual presence of Lee Chan isn't
so odd when you know that MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE (the third entry into the
series) actually started out life as an entry in another (phony)
Asian detective series at 20th Century Fox, CHARLIE CHAN
AT RINGSIDE. But illness forced star Warner Oland to drop out (he
suffered from alcoholism and was involved in a messy divorce at the
time). The filmed footage was scrapped but the script was later
reworked with Lee being a student in one of Moto's crime classes.
Director James Tinling spend most of
his time making low budget films and ended his career with some early
TV work. Three years before GAMBLE he made CHARLIE CHAN IN SHANGHAI.
GAMBLE is just a so-so detective murder mystery with too much comedy
but Lorre is always interesting to watch.
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment