Mr. Moto Takes a Chance is the fourth in a series of eight films starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. The film is based on the character of Mr. Moto created by John P. Marquand, and an original story by Norman Foster and Willis Cooper called Look Out, Mr. Moto.
Plot
Over the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia flies Victoria Mason, aviatrix, on her way to circumnavigating the globe. But her real destination is the kingdom of Tong Moi in French Indochina. Already in Tong Moi is Mr. Moto pretending to be an archeologist and newsreel cameramen, Marty Weston and Chick Davis, traveling up the river. Once she is overhead Mason lights a flare and bails out of her smoking plane which crashes nearby. When she is rescued by Moto, she goes into the village with Bokor the head priest of Shiva. As Weston and Davis arrive at the crash site, Moto has already discovered the flare that “caused” the accident.
While trying to film Mason and Tong Moi’s ruler, the Rajah Ali, Keema, the Rajah’s favorite wife is killed mysteriously. Bokor claims that the foreigners and their camera caused her death and they are taken away for a trial. Meanwhile, Moto finds the real cause of Keema’s death, a poison dart.
At the temple of Shiva, Weston and Davis are found guilty and are about to be thrown into a pit when an elderly guru appears. The guru impresses Bokor with his ability to charm a snake and to not get burned by a flaming poker. Bokor then releases the foreigners at the orders of the guru.
The next day Moto offers to pay the cameramen for images of the inside of the temple. They agree and return to the temple with Mason. The three of them are confronted by the elderly guru who tosses their camera down the well. Bokor, seeing this, asks the guru to kill the other foreigner, Moto. The guru agrees and returns to the temple to discover a trap door concealing an ammunitions cache. After disposing of a guard, the guru disappears into a secret passage way. There he reveals himself to be Mr. Moto in disguise.
Moto writes a note saying that he discovered the ammunition and that Bokor is the leader of the revolt. He sends the message off by carrier pigeon but the Rajah kills the bird and intercepts the message. Later at a feast held in honor of the visitors, Moto gets the cooked bird on his plate and the Rajah reveals that he got the message.
In his cabin, Moto is putting the newly discovered secret ammunition cache on a map of the temple when one of Bokor’s men comes in to kill him. After killing the intruder, Moto disguises himself as the assassin and sneaks off into the night. Bokor then begins searching Moto’s cabin but is interrupted by Mason who finds the hidden map.
Bokor and his men follow her to the temple and capture her. The old guru appears and pretends to hypnotize the captive. Meanwhile Weston followed Mason to the temple and tries unsuccessfully to rescue her. Bonfire signals are given and Capt. Zimmerman the gun-runner arrives with Davis, who is immediately held captive as well. Zimmerman has been selling weapons to Bokor so that Bokor can start a revolution and depose the Rajah Ali. Zimmerman is killed by Yao in “payment” for his services.
When Mason gives away Moto’s identity, a fight ensues. Yao is killed and Bokor escapes and rounds up Zimmerman’s men. The four inside the temple hold off the men with the weapons that were just delivered. Mason reveals that she is a British Secret Service agent and Moto reveals that he too is a spy. Rajah Ali arrives with his army and rounds up Bokor and his men. The Rajah’s plan is to use the weapons Bokor purchased in order to start his own revolution against the French. As the Rajah prepares to have Moto and the two cameramen executed, Mason distracts him enough so Moto can threaten to blow up the ammunition cache. The Rajah falls into the cache and our four heroes escape down the secret passage as the temple explodes.
All ends well with Mason and Weston beginning a romance and Davis planning on being Moto’s assistant. Davis faints when Moto tells him that his next assignment is to capture a murderer who is living on a volcanic island as the guest of a tribe of headhunters.
Cast
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