| Mr. Moto's Gamble | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | James Tinling |
| Produced by | John Stone Sol M. Wurtzel (uncredited) |
| Written by | John P. Marquand (characters) Charles Belden Jerry Cady |
| Starring | Peter Lorre Keye Luke Dick Baldwin Lynn Bari |
| Release date(s) | April 7, 1938 |
| Running time | 72 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Mr. Moto's Gamble is the third film in the Mr. Moto series starring Peter Lorre as the title character. It was released in 1938. It was originally intended to be a Charlie Chan film called Charlie Chan at Ringside, but Warner Oland, who had played Chan in several previous films, left the set after a few days of filming due to illness. The script was rewritten as a Mr. Moto movie, featuring Keye Luke as Lee Chan (in his only appearance in the Mr. Moto series) as Mr. Moto's student in his criminology class at San Francisco University. Mr Moto mentions that he has heard from Chan's father in Honolulu, where Charlie Chan was. Mr Moto says he and Riggs (who is head of the Homicide Squad) are but floundering amateurs compared to Chan's father.
Police friend, Lieutenant Riggs (Harold Huber) takes Mr Moto and Lee Chan (Keye Luke) to see a prize fight between Bill Steele (Dick Baldwin) and Frank Stanton (Russ Clark), where the winner gets a chance at the champion, Biff Moran (Ward Bond). However the fight is fixed and a gangster Nick Crowder (Douglas Fowley) bets big money that Stanton won't make it to the fifth round. He goes down in the fourth and dies shortly afterward. Bookie Clipper McCoy (Bernard Nedell) loses a fortune. Mr Moto proves that it was murder and it is revealed that another $100,000 has been won in bets around the country against Stanton. Mr Moto works with Lt. Riggs to solve the murder as the championship fight looms. Comedy is provided by Wellington (Maxie Rosenbloom) who is a kleptomaniac and Lee Chan. Love interest comes from (Lynn Bari) (who really loves Steele) and (Jayne Regan) (who only loves winners). Mr Moto has promised to reveal who the murderer is on the night of the big fight but the murderer has plans too and has a hidden gun set up to kill Mr Moto. Also stars (John Hamilton) as Philip Benton.