ctyankee1 This movie was hard to understand. Peter Lorre plays more than one character. There are several crooks who want to steal the Crown of Sheba. Peter Lorre aka Mr Moto is trying to find a criminal that everyone thinks is dead that will try to steal the crown."Mataxsa" is his name I am not sure about the spelling. Mataxsa is like Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes movies a real deviate crook with ways to escape arrest.Too many crooks planning to steal the crown. Hard to see who is who and who works for who.One part I noticed that I do not think they would put in movies today is what a character named Archie Featherstone does. He is sitting at a table with Motto he is a white man with black make-up smeared on his face to look black.He is clumsy and knocks a lot of things over, really stupid actions and the black thing was uncalled for to put in the movie. overdone.A hotel kid wants lessons from Moto to hit a co-worker who picks on him. Moto shows him how to fight and Moto is good at it. There are lots of gun fighting but at the end when Moto has a physical fight with someone in the museum Moto is not as good at fighting as shown earlier and the fight is way too long.The white man with the black makeup might not have bothered me years ago but I found this offensive, I am a white woman that is a stupid description too "white" woman. Also in this story a man gets stabbed in a oriental restaurant. Moto ask the woman if she saw who sat in the booth near him that could have stabbed the oriental man. She said it was a "white man" and nothing else. This to me was stupid too, Moto did not ask what the man looked like, wore, or anything else.One scene I thought was funny was a cab driver played by a black man with big eyes his name is Willie Best. I don't know if he was "African American" I don't like that term because he is a US citizen but of the black race. He has acted in other old movies I have seen like The Shanghai Chest, with Roland Winters as Charlie Chan and he is always very funny.Anyway that's it.

guenzeld It's hard to dislike a Mr Moto film, not only because of the stylishness with which they were all made but because, of course, Peter Lorre is so ingratiating in a role tailor-made for him. He is just excellent in the part and it is a pity there were only eight entries in this charming series. As for MR MOTO TAKES A VACATION, I can recommend it quite highly.Like others I will offer the one caveat: the rather irritating "comic relief" character. Hollywood had such marvelous actors available to play the typical "silly-ass" Englishman that it is a wonder why they allowed this gentleman to take the role and to overplay it so gratingly. The writing here could have been tightened up a bit, and the reliable Norman Foster could have toned him down a few pegs.But much of this is balanced by other delights in the film, starting with dear, old Willie Best in a wonderfully funny (and beautifully directed) cameo. Bob Hope called Best one of the best actors he'd ever worked with. It's easy to see why here. He is as lovable as everyone's favorite bumbling Uncle, a sort of compendium of both Laurel and Hardy. Also distinguishing its interesting cast is the great Joesph Schildkraut, an actor incapable of giving a bad performance. He was one of the masters of his profession.Charming, fun, and magnificently photographed in rich, lustrous black and white, I really don't think you could go wrong with this one.

bensonmum2 A team of archaeologists uncover a real treasure – the Crown of the Queen of Sheeba. From Egypt, the crown is to be transferred via steamship to San Francisco. But it won't be an easy journey. There are plenty of would-be thieves who would love to get their hands on the priceless jewels contained in the crown. Fortunately for all involved, Mr. Moto is on hand to guard the crown on its journey. However, that doesn't mean someone won't try to get their hands on the treasure.After the disappointment of Mr. Moto's Gamble, I went into Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation hoping for the best, but, admittedly, fearing the worst. But within the first 10 seconds of the film, I knew I would find it more enjoyable. I'm a sucker for a 1930s style mystery that features anything to do with archaeological digs in Egypt. And seeing Moto disguised as a German archaeologist (Imagine that, Peter Lorre playing a German?), the beginning scenes really drew me in. While the movie may have quickly shifted to the less exotic San Francisco, it remained just as enjoyable. Dark, sinister characters lurking in the rainy night; gunshots fired from open windows that narrowly miss the hero's head; sophisticated and supposed foolproof alarm systems just begging for someone to test them; and master criminals believed to be dead – these are the kind of elements found in a lot of the really good 1930s mysteries that I love. And Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation's got 'em all. A couple other bonuses for me included the always enjoyable Lionel Atwill in a nice little role, comic relief from G.P. Huntley that's actually funny, and a return to form for Mr. Moto. I've already mentioned his disguise in the movie's opening scenes, well the athletic Moto comes out near the film's finale. Moto is a like a Whirling Dervish of activity as he goes after his prey. All this and I haven't even mentioned the wonderful performance turned in by Lorre. Any way you look at it, Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation is a winner.As much as I hate that the Mr. Moto series had to end after this installment, it's understandable when you think about it. WWII was just around the corner. And after Pearl Harbor, a movie with a Japanese hero wouldn't have gone over very well. At least the Mr. Moto series ended on a very positive note.

Anne_Sharp After eight Moto films the series had run its course, as this last entry demonstrates. Peter Lorre was clearly weary of trying to pump some sort of human interest and entertainment value into the wispy character of Moto, and the dreadful idea of pairing him with a "funny" British sidekick utterly defeats all his efforts here.