Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

Mr. Moto Takes a Chance is the fourth in a series of eight films starring Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto, although it was the second one actually filmed, following Think Fast, Mr. Moto. Its release was delayed until after production of Thank You, Mr. Moto and Mr Moto's Gamble. 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. Plot Over the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia flies the airplane of aviatrix Victoria Mason, supposedly circumnavigating the world. Her actual destination is the kingdom of Tong Moi in French Indochina. Already in Tong Moi, Mr. Moto is posing as an archeologist, and newsreel cameramen Marty Weston and Chick Davis are traveling up the river. Once she is overhead, Mason lights a flare and bails out of her smoking plane which crashes nearby. Rescued by Moto, Mason goes into the village with Bokor the head priest of Shiva. As Weston and Davis arrive at the crash site, Moto has 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 mysteriously dies. Bokor claims that the foreigners and their camera caused her death and they are taken away for a trial. Meanwhile, Moto finds the true cause of Keema's death, a poison dart.