Mr. Moto Returns

According to DVDActive, Fox Home Entertainment will release Volume 2 of their Mr. Moto collection on February 13. Mr. Moto, like Charlie Chan, is an Asian (Japanese this time) hero played by a white guy (the incomparable Peter Lorre), in a series of 1930s B mysteries. Unlike Chan (and based on the few movies in the series that I’ve seen), Moto isn’t an offensive caricature (other than the whole "played by a white guy" thing), but a highly competent, martial arts-trained man of action. Also unlike Chan, Moto is more of an adventurer than a detective, and his adventures are often borderline spy thrillers. But what really justifies this news item on a spy blog is that this collection also includes the 1965 Return of Mr. Moto, starring Henry Silva, in which Moto was re-conceived for the Bond Age. Once again (as with the barely tolerable but still-great-to-finally-have Flint TV movie) Fox has included an obscure spy curiosity that otherwise would have remained unseen as a bonus feature with a box set.