Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939)

the U.S. government asks Mr. Moto to go to Puerto Rico to investigate diamond smuggling after an earlier investigator is murdered.

Director:

Herbert I. Leeds

Writers:

Peter Milne (screenplay), John Reinhardt (based upon story ideas by),

Stars:

Peter Lorre, Jean Hersholt, Amanda Duff

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Peter Lorre	...	Mr. Moto
Jean Hersholt	...	Sutter
Amanda Duff	...	Joan Castle
Warren Hymer	...	Twister McGurk
Richard Lane	...	Commissioner Gordon
Leon Ames	...	Commissioner Madero
Douglass Dumbrille	...	La Costa (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Charles D. Brown	...	Col. Thomas Castle
Paul Harvey	...	Gov. John Bentley
Robert Lowery	...	Lt. George Bentley
Eddie Marr	...	Capt. Dahlen
Harry Woods	...	Grant

Storyline

Puerto Rico has become the back door by which a criminal syndicate smuggles inexpensive contraband diamonds from South America into the United States, dramatically driving down the price of legitimate gems. After they have ruthlessly murdered a special investigator, Moto is assigned to the case. While sailing to the island he impresses Twister McGurk, a slow-witted but amiable wrestler, with his martial arts abilities and gains a loyal friend and bodyguard. When an attempt on his life fails and another government official is murdered, Moto sends authorities a fake telegram identifying himself as a criminal named Shimura and making him and the Twister wanted fugitives. That ploy allows them to infiltrate the gang and expose the criminal mastermind behind it.

---

Plot Keywords:

puerto rico | diamond | contraband | smuggling | martial arts | 

---

Taglines:

PETER LORRE as the famous "Saturday Evening Post" detective, who almost meets his doom! (original ad)

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 April 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mr. Moto in Puerto Rico

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA High Fidelity Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original script was a Charlie Chan murder mystery titled "Charlie Chan at Trinidad" to star Warner Oland. However, due to Oland's untimely death, the entire script was re-written in only a few weeks to star Peter Lorre as his Mr. Moto character.

---

Goofs

Mr. Moto and Twister obtain a mud sample from the swamp and place it on a canvas bag laid out on the deck of the boat. But when they have to pull away in a hurry under gunfire, the canvas is there, but the mud is gone.

---

Quotes

Capt. Dahlen: [as Moto lays in pain on a gurney] Well, Mr. Moto, you picked a bad time to get afflicted.
Kentaro Moto: [Marr sadistically presses his foot on Moto's appendix] Unfortunately we cannot select a time for our afflictions.

---

Connections

Follows Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939)

User Reviews

Another Winning Entry

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.