Leave it to Mr. Moto, who promises to reveal the killer?s identity the night of the championship bout?
?To reveal a snake, one must overturn a rock.??Mr. Moto
A soaker of a Sunday, and I turned on Movies!, a channel that features old films, some of which you?d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. With a purr of contentment, I snuggled down to watch Mr. Moto?s Gamble.
Originally titled Charlie Chan at Ringside, Warner Oland walked off the set, plagued by alcoholism and ill health (he died soon thereafter), and was quickly replaced by Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. Thus, a Swede portraying a Chinese detective had his shoes filled by a Hungarian portraying a Japanese one, and we?re off to the races. Or, in this case, the boxing ring.
Heavyweight contenders Bill Steele (Dick Baldwin) and Frank Stanton (Russ Clark) face off, the winner to get a crack at champ Biff Moran (Ward Bond). Gangster Nick Crowder (Douglas Fowley) bets big that Stanton won?t make it to the fifth. Sure enough, he collapses in the fourth, dying soon afterwards. Coincidence or?murder? Well, murder, otherwise there wouldn?t have been much point to the film.
Mr. Moto discovers that poison was placed on one of Steele?s gloves, poison that worked its way into a cut. But placed there by whom? And how? And why?
Crowder, who bet a ?hunch?? The bookie, Clipper McCoy (Bernard Nedell), who lost a fortune on the bout? Not Charlie Chan?s Number One Son, Lee (Keye Luke), surely? Nor Wellington, a klepto light of heart and finger, portrayed by former Light Heavyweight Champion of the World Maxie Rosenbloom. ?Slapsie Maxie? was still fighting at the time of the film?s release in April 1938, and went on to beat Odell Polee, Lou Nova, and Al Ettore, while drawing against Bob Pastor. But back to our suspects. What about Penny Kendall (Lynn Bari) who loves Bill, but wants him to quit the ring? Quit the ring at any cost, even if it means going to prison for a murder he didn?t commit? Or did he? The other woman, Linda Benton (Jayne Regan), who?s ?got her nose so high in the air, she?d drown in a rainstorm?? She collected champs like they were swizzle sticks.
Leave it to Mr. Moto, who promises to reveal the killer?s identity the night of the championship bout.
Unless, that is, he himself is killed by a desperate murderer?s ingeniously concealed gun.
Dun dun duunn!
