DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Michael O'Keefe 20th Century Fox presents its first in a series of eight mysteries based on a character in novel's by J.P. Marquand. Kentaro Moto(Peter Lorre)boards a ship from San Francisco to Shanghai. Moto gives the impression he is involved with international jewel smugglers. Aboard ship is the ship line's owner's son Bob Hitchings(Thomas Beck), who falls heavy for an intriguing White Russian Gloria Danton(Virginia Field). Moto suspects trouble with this shipboard romance. Bob's father also happens to be a legitimate gem dealer and warns him there may be smugglers aboard. Moto gets the idea that Miss Danton may be involved with criminal activity. And wouldn't you know it...there is a known murderer also making this trip. The story gets rolling when the ship docks in Shanghai and Gloria is nowhere to be found. As this crime caper concludes the quiet and compactly built Mr. Moto reveals himself as a special agent of the International Police. At times a bit silly, but overall very interesting. Other players include: Sig Ruman, Murray Kinnell, George Cooper, J. Carrol Naish and John Rogers.

ccthemovieman-1 This was the first of the eight Mr. Moto movies but not necessarily the best of the early group, although not bad. I thought the second and third ones were the best of the first grouping of four. This got bogged down a little too much early on with Thomas Beck's infatuation with Virginia Field ("Gloria Danton"). In subsequent Moto movies, the romance angle was lesser and Moto featured more, which is better. However, some of the sappy guy's lust for his girl turns out to tie in with the head crook, so all is not lost in having to sit through the dull romance spots. (Dull because the dialog was affected, especially Beck's as "Bob Hitchings," the son of the shipping magnate and the man pursuing Gloria.When the script featured the crime angle (smuggling), as in the beginning and in the last 25 minutes, it's interesting and gets involving. The long break in the middle of the film makes it easy for the viewer to lose track what exactly is going on here: who is smuggling what. We have to piece things together again when the action re-gains in the last third of the film. There is an interesting twist near the end and we hear Mr. Moto sum everything up a la Charlie Chan.The exotic setting is Shanghai and viewers can enjoy the hectic sets with lots of people running to and fro; obnoxious British and Americans making racist statements to the locals, treating them as insignificant young kids and, of course, all the Asians played by the Anglos. That was part of '30s Hollywood, and you just accept it.The last 40 percent of this movie makes up for any shortcomings and makes the viewing worthwhile. Mr. Moto is definitely one cool guy, who seems to have it all - except height. Peter Lorre was just great playing this role and I hope I get the opportunity to see all eight feature films in the series. I always enjoy his disguises, too, even though they don't fool us for a minute!

classicsoncall It's nice reading the largely warm and positive comments on this film, fans of the genre like myself seem to seek them out and enjoy them for the entertainment value they offer of a simpler time. I became a Peter Lorre fan with my first viewings of "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon", and was lucky to come by the entire Mr. Moto run over the weekend. 'Think Fast' is the first entry in the 20th Century Fox series, and as first impressions go, I'll be anxious to get through the rest of them.Right off the bat, comparisons to the Charlie Chan and Mr. Wong films of the same era offer a host of differences. The Moto character plainly enjoys getting a lot more physical with his adversaries, and I did a double take when he threw the steward Carson overboard on the cruise ship. This was one Oriental detective not afraid to mix it up Dirty Harry style.Though the ensuing films in the series may prove different, this one didn't seem to be as blatant in terms of racial references. I caught a single 'chop suey' remark, but it didn't come from any of the principal players, but a passenger on board the ship. Another consideration, whereas Charlie Chan was almost always assisted by a Number #1, 2 or 3 son, and Mr. Wong had Detective Street, Peter Lorre's Moto appears to work alone, though interacting with other characters in the story. In this one, Moto befriends the son of the cruise line owner, Bob Hitchings (Thomas Beck).Keep an eye on the scenes that focus on the tattoo convincing Moto the costumed character in San Francisco and the steward Carson are the same person. In the earlier scene, the tattoo is shown on the inside of the disguised character's arm as he closes a door. However on board the cruise ship, when Carson reaches up to close a vent, the tattoo is on the top side of his arm below the wrist!In this, Mr. Moto's first film adventure, he successfully uncovers a diamond smuggling operation, with hints for the viewer along the way as to who the villains are. However there was one surprise a la Charlie Chan, when Moto slaps the cuffs on Wilkie (Murray Kinnell) it seems to come out of left field. Not that he couldn't have been involved, it's just that his involvement wasn't telegraphed along the way. Still, it made a lot more sense than a lot of Chan's solutions, which required the detective to explain how he managed to solve the crime.Anyway, I'm on board with Mr. Kentaro Moto, and will be looking forward to the rest of his adventures. Next in the series is "Thank You, Mr. Moto".

John Wayne Peel I love these Moto flicks. I'll tell you that right out of the gate, and the history of these low budget detective films is almost more interesting then the films themselves. First of all, Peter Lorre was one of the most underrated actors in cinema history. In fact, those who knew him thought he would have been a psychiatrist had he not been an actor, which tells me he studied people and learned a lot about how a little goes a long way in a portrayal. The director reportedly wanted character actor J. Edward Bromberg to play the lead but the studio gave him this Hungarian Jew just out of Hitler's Germany to play the part, which made the director go berserk. He needn't have worried. Forget the fact that Lorre was in such poor health in those days after starving in Europe for most of his adult life and had to have a stuntman do his jiu-jitsu scenes for him. (Harvey Parry was his name. Another underrated genius in cinema history who did stunts for everyone from Douglas Fairbanks Sr. to Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd) Lorre is just terrific and with almost no make-up, he is damned convincing as a Japanese detective. A short side note here. Please pretend that there was never a 1960s Moto movie with Henry Silva. The eight 20th Century Fox Motos are to be treasured. It's only a shame that World War II stopped the series for good.As for J. Edward Bromberg, he even acted in one of the Moto films as a Rajah in Thailand (which acerbic yet clever critic referred to as "Indoors China") before he was hurt by the blacklist and died a sad and broken man, who unintentionally hurt the career of actress Lee Grant when she attended his funeral and was herself blacklisted until the movie "In The Heat Of The Night."Watching Peter Lorre in any film is always a delight and the Motos never disappoint for pure entertainment value.