Thank You, Mr. Moto

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Thank You, Mr. Moto
Directed by	Norman Foster
Produced by	Sol M. Wurtzel
Written by	John P. Marquand (story Wyllis Cooper Norman Foster
Starring	Peter Lorre Thomas Beck Pauline Frederick Jayne Regan
Release date(s)	December 24, 1937
Running time	69 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	Think Fast, Mr. Moto
Followed by	Mr. Moto's Gamble
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IMDb profile

Thank You, Mr. Moto is the second in a series of eight films starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. It was based on the novel of the same name by the Japanese detective's creator, John P. Marquand. Mr. Moto battles murderous treasure hunters for a hidden cache belonging to Genghis Khan.

[edit] Plot

A caravan settles down for the night in the Gobi Desert. A man sneaks into a tent and tries to steal a scroll, but adventurer and soldier of fortune Kentaro Moto (Peter Lorre) is only pretending to be asleep and kills him. When the caravan reaches Peiping, he is searched by the police. The scroll is found, but Moto grabs it and escapes.

He changes his clothes and accepts an invitation to a party hosted by Colonel Tchernov (Sig Ruman) in honor of American Eleanor Joyce (Jayne Regan). During the soirée, Moto observes another guest, Chinese Prince Chung (Philip Ahn) leaving his mother to speak privately with Tchernov in another room. Tchernov offers to buy certain family heirloom scrolls from Chung. When Chung refuses to part with them, Tchernov draws a pistol, but is killed (off-screen) by Moto. Joyce stumbles upon the scene and watches in disbelief as Moto calmly stages it to look like a suicide. Moto politely advises her not to say anything to avoid an international incident.

Later, as a favor to his rescuer, Chung grants Moto's request to see the scrolls. Chung informs him that the set of seven scrolls give directions to the lost grave of Genghis Khan. The Chungs are determined to see that it and its fabulous treasures are left undisturbed. However, one of the scrolls had been lent for an exhibition of artwork and was stolen.

A dealer in antiquities, Periera (John Carradine), shows Joyce some of his wares. She is interested in a (fake) scroll, but his price is far too high. While shopping the next day with smitten diplomat Tom Nelson (Thomas Beck), they observe Moto entering Periera's shop. Moto gets Periera to confess he had stolen the authentic scroll, but before he can obtain any more information, Periera is shot and killed.

Moto returns to his apartment, only to find it ransacked. Sensing that the would-be thief has not left, Moto leaves his gun lying around. Schneider (Wilhelm von Brincken) holds him at gunpoint and forces Moto to give him the scroll. When Moto tries to flee, Schneider shoots him several times with Moto's gun. However, the gun was filled with harmless blanks; Moto trails Schneider back to Madame Tchernov (Nedda Harrigan). When they leave to rendezvous with the rest of their gang, Moto starts to follow, but is knocked out by the butler, Ivan (John Bleifer), another one of the crooks. Joyce, who had been comforting the widow, is taken as a hostage.

The arch-villain (and Madame Tchernov's lover), Herr Koerger (Sidney Blackmer), forces Prince Chung to reveal where the scrolls are kept by striking his mother. As they are leaving, Madame Chung attacks with a knife and is killed. Meanwhile, Nelson finds and revives Moto. They rush to the Chungs, but arrive too late. The dishonored prince commits suicide after they untie him; Moto comforts him before he dies by promising to avenge the Chung family and safeguard the tomb.

The two men track the criminals to a junk. After another attempt to kill him, Moto informs Koerger that the scroll he gave Schneider is a fake. He offers to split Genghis Khan's treasure. Then he sows dissent by telling Madame Tchernov that Koerger is dumping her for Joyce, which the quick-thinking American "confirms". This provides enough of a distraction for Moto to kill Koerger. Afterwards, to the dismay of Joyce and Nelson, Mr. Moto burns the scrolls to fulfill his promise to Chung.