Mr. Moto's Last Warning

Released Jan 20, 1939

1 hr. 11 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

List

Reviews

42%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

The Japanese detective (Peter Lorre) foils a spy's (Ricardo Cortez) Suez Canal plot to blow up the French fleet.

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nick s

I can't get passed Lorre playing a Japanese character. Like the Chan series, it just looks ridiculous. The adventure was okay if you can overlook it, but middling.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

11/22/23

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kevin w

The sixth in a series of eight stars Peter Lorre as a Japanese, George Sanders as French, and John Carradine as a Brit. The gist of these were the exotic locales and personages. The mystery tale is only complementary to that. Before James Bond these served the international espionage clientele pretty well. There's plenty of rough-and-tumble fisticuffs too. All in all, quite satisfactory, as spies only seek to completely destroy the entire French Navy, thereby ruining Anglo- Gallic alliances. Will Mr. Moto solve the case in time?

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

Peter Lorre, Austro-Hungarian, plays Mr. Moto, Japanese international spy. And not even a very good spy.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

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Audience Member

Ricardo Cortez is a villain!!!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Audience Member

Is this a great film - no. But the basic plot is - just that it was developed as B-list material. Moto is meant to be a Nippon-style 007, just shorter and without the entanglements of romance. Filmed in 1938 the threat of war was pervasive in society then. Shakespearean actor Peter Lorre does well, miscast as he was, as the Asian detective. For a few of the silent era years, ethnic actors were recruited to portray their race: Native Americans, Asians (often grouped together), and Negroes all had significant roles - in films about their race or homelands. by the time sound came to pictures that had ended: only "whites" were allowed to play leading or heroic roles. Ethic types were not given the chance to be worthy of respect. And in the mid-1930's, respect was just what Mr. Lorre was looking for. Previously known as the European "psychopathic" actor, Lorre distances himself from murderous German Naziism by playing the part of a heroic Japanese detective. Maybe being Japanese in the late 1930's wasn't such a great career move! But Mr. Lorre does show some impressive acting chops as well as a fair bit of physicality in this film. Also great to see Sanders and Carradine again.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

Good Setting & Atmosphere; Lorre is Fun to Watch--A detective with brains and brawn!!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Norman Foster

Director

Peter Lorre

Mr. Kentaro Moto

Ricardo Cortez

Fabian the Great

Virginia Field

Connie Porter

John Carradine

Danforth

George Sanders

Eric Norvel

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P.S. Harrison

Harrison's Reports

As is the case in most of the pictures in this series, the story is highly far-fetched; but this is not objectionable, since it offers opportunities for exciting action.

Oct 14, 2020

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Enjoyable detective story.

Rated: B

May 12, 2007

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Synopsis

The Japanese detective (Peter Lorre) foils a spy's (Ricardo Cortez) Suez Canal plot to blow up the French fleet.

Director: Norman Foster
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 20, 1939, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2016

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