Favorite movie-quote - "Who ever heard of a crooked cop?" To be perfectly honest, Peter Lorre is one of those actors who has always given me the creeps, big-time. To me, Lorre has the sort of "limited" screen persona that's clearly best suited for roles where the character is either seriously unhinged and/or operating from the wrong side of the law.In his Mr. Moto role, Lorre was neither unhinged nor of a criminal mind. On the contrary, Mr. Moto was an exceptionally brilliant professor of criminology whose deductions and quick-mindedness were positively uncanny.In fact, Mr. Moto's cool, collected and matter-of-fact demeanour was, at times, really too much to be believed (but, after all, this was just a movie), especially since it was Lorre who played the part.Had the story-line of this lighthearted, 1938, Whodunnit not been about the world of professional boxing (and the criminal element that gets involved when big bucks are at stake), then I doubt that it would have held my interest as much as it inevitably did.When it comes to the likes of pugs and palookas & chumps and champs, I really enjoy early-Hollywood boxing pictures where double-crosses, treachery and taking a dive are the name of the game.Mind you, with that said, I think this film would've faired a helluva lot better had another actor, other than Lorre, been cast in the Mr. Moto role.Anyways - I sure did like real-life professional boxer, Max Rosenbloom, in the part of the pickpocket, "Knockout" Wellington. And at a 72-minute running time, this strictly formulaic, little Murder/Mystery certainly did move along at a nice, brisk clip.

Interesting back story. This third installment of the Mr. Moto series was originally to be a Charlie Chan movie; but many circumstances involving Warner Oland caused the Chan feature to be scrapped. Mr. Moto(Peter Lorre)is conducting a criminology class and one of his students happens to be Lee Chan(Keye Luke). The young Chan and another student, 'Knock-Out Wellington'(Maxie Rosenbloom),help the Japanese sleuth Moto investigate the murder of a prizefighter. The victim is poisoned during a boxing match; local investigator Lt. Riggs(Harold Huber)needs all the help he can get to solve this mystery. Newspaper writer Penny Kendall(Lynn Bari)starts a campaign to clear championship contender Bill Steele(Dick Baldwin)from the murder charges. It is suspected the real killer will strike again during the championship bout between Steele and the current champ Biff Moran(Ward Bond). Moto takes on some of the characteristics of Charlie Chan since the original script wasn't changed that much. It is a bit different seeing Moto with his physical antics toned down. But gumshoe Kentaro Moto will get to continue solving mysteries. Other players: Jayne Regan, John Hamilton, George E. Stone and Lon Chaney Jr. It should be noted this film is directed by familiar Chan series director James Tinling.

Pretty interesting meeting of icons, as it were, I kinda liked this one actually. Keye Luke was always a fave of mine, and putting Moto into the Palooka Joe milieu actually added something to the series mix I think. It's not as good's the first two in the run, but not bad-and you do get to see Ward Bond doing his Tough Guy thing early on too.**1/2 outta ****

Putting aside the racist implications of Fox's assumption that one yellowface detective is as good as another, plugging Mr. Moto into a Charlie Chan film only points out that Peter Lorre's Moto is both a more adaptable and infinitely more complex character than the stolid Chan. On one hand, it's quite out of character for the quick-witted Moto to go around mouthing lame aphorisms a la Chan, and Moto would never be as discourteous to anyone in his other films as he is to Lee Chan and his punchy sidekick Maxie Rosenbloom in this one. On the other hand, "Mr. Moto's Gamble" features a nice snappy story with more shape and suspense to it than the usual Moto scenario, and it's fun to see Moto interacting with other characters like a regular guy rather than as the enigmatic will-o-the-wisp of the earlier films. Unfortunately, the later Moto films tried to imitate the formula by giving him dopey sidekicks, which only weighed him down.