VividSimon Simply Perfect

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

drystyx This is a murder mystery, with Mr. Moto, for those of you who don't know, as the crafty man investigating the case. Like Charlie Chan, he's a private investigator.Peter Lorre had a "cool" charisma about him, much like Basil Rathbone, Humphrey Bogart, and others who played such roles.Films like this either take one or a combination of two of the following: 1. Mystery with clues that the audience can use. 2. Mystery with atmosphere and humor 3. Mystery with a twist.Just about none have all three. One may cite "Chinatown" as a possibility, but the atmosphere isn't what I would call strong in that one. Atmosphere and humor come either without twists or without clues.This film uses the first two elements. It would be far fetched to say there is a twist. There is an abundance of atmosphere and humor, and many clues. We know very soon who the killer is. At first it isn't easy, because all of the suspects look alike, middle aged white men with mustaches, but once we tell them apart, and once the atmosphere is established, we do know which one it is.That doesn't take away from the adventure, though. Lots of good elements make this an enjoyable film.

Michael_Elliott Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939) *** (out of 4)Seventh film in the series finds Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) tracking down a diamond smuggling ring working from South America through Puerto Rico. Along the way various murders begin to happen with a wide range of suspects. I've read that this was originally intended to be an entry in Fox's Charlie Chan series but it works well as a Moto movie. The movie has a nice pace to it, a great supporting cast and overall nice story, which makes this here another winner. What works the best is the cast and the lead performance by Lorre. He certainly never struck me as looking Japanese but he certainly digs deep into the character and delivers all the goods in terms of manor isms and various gestures that he does throughout. Warren Hymer adds a lot of nice comic touches in his role as the dimwitted wrestler who befriends Moto early on in the film and refuses to leave his side. Richard Lane, from the Boston Blackie series, does a very good job in his role of the Commissioner and we also get nice turns by Jean Hersholt, Amanda Duff, Leon Ames and Paul Harvey. Even though the film is set in Puerto Rico, you really can't tell that but the stuff in the swamp contains some nice atmosphere. The movie is certainly one of the better entries in the series and makes for a nice, fast paced entertainment.

MartinHafer Calling this a typical Moto film is not a bad thing. After all, this series from Twentieth-Century Fox was about the equal in quality to their other series, Charlie Chan. The big difference being that Moto is more a "gun for hire"--a man who would play private detective or even mercenary in his films. Unlike the squeaky clean and rather sedate Chan, Moto is more physical and not above twisting the law or even killing someone. Sadly, he didn't kill anyone in this film--always a trademark of a great Moto film! Moto is on his way to Puerto Rico to investigate a diamond smuggling ring. However, on the way, he is laid out due to an appendicitis and it looks like Moto might have to drop the case. However, being a very sneaky character, there's a lot more to the story than this. Along for the ride is Warren Hymer, who plays Moto's new friend who tags along during the investigation. Having Hymer in the film makes sense, however, as the film was originally planned another Chan film. But, since Warner Oland had recently died, the script was adapted for Peter Lorre's series. In the usual role of Number One or Number Two son is Hymer--who gets into trouble and makes a nuisance of himself just like he was an honorary Chan himself! Overall, well written, exciting and up to the usual high standards of the series. The only serious knock I have against this film is that although it's set in Puerto Rico, there's no one who remotely looks or sounds Hispanic in the film. Of course, considering they have a German guy playing Moto, I guess this shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

bensonmum2 Mr. Moto has been called to Puerto Rico to investigate diamond smuggling. As his predecessor was found murdered, Moto knows that the gang he's up against will kill to keep their illicit business in operation. Moto quickly comes to the conclusion that there must be leak within the Governor's inner circle. But these are trusted men! Surely Moto must be wrong. And what does the swamp that once harbored pirates have to do with the band of modern day criminals? It's up to Moto to put the pieces together.While none of the movies in the Moto series could be called "high art", most provide at least an entertaining way to spend just over an hour. Of the 6 or so Moto movies I've now seen, Mr. Moto in Danger Island is easily the least of the bunch. While Peter Lorre is as entertaining as always and seems to be giving it his all, the plot lets him down at every turn. In many of these movies from the 30s, the plots rely on coincidence (or plain old dumb luck) to solve the mystery. The set of circumstances required to solve the mystery in Mr. Moto in Danger Island borders on being ridiculous. And while I'm on the subject of things in the movie that bothered me, I'll mention that not once did the movie feel like it was actually set in Puerto Rico. I cannot remember seeing anyone who even resembled a Puerto Rican. Given all the white guys present, the movie looks like it should have been set in Des Moines instead of Puerto Rico.Still, it's Moto and I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff. I just love these stage-bound adventure type movies form the 30s. As I mentioned, Lorre is entertaining. For the most part, the supporting cast is just as strong. I always enjoy Leon Ames and Douglass Dumbrille every time I see them pop-up in one of these movies. Also on the positive side, while it may not have looked like Puerto Rico, the movie still looked great. I'm not all that familiar with the cinematographer, Lucien N. Andriot, but I'll give him the credit for making Mr. Moto in Danger Island look far better than it should have given its meager budget.In the end, it's not great, but I can think of far worse ways spend and hour. Fans of the Moto series will find enough to make them happy. For what it's worth, I'll give Mr. Moto in Danger Island a 6/10.