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| Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING Year: 1938 Rating: **** |
The best MR. MOTO film because LAST WARNING has the most intriguing villains and the coolest, darkest, murkiest locations: as the original MALTESE FALCON actor Sam Spade actor Ricardo Cortez covers as a ventriloquist, doing his dummy routine in a crowded Egyptian theater that includes dogs jumping through hoops, and a juggling clown...
Who turns out to be Peter Lorre's titular character in one of several disguises (while doing the kind of deliberately cliche Chinese servant imitation to trick the haughty whites): once backstage, he quickly figures out the other antagonist agents, including future British legend George Sanders with a twisty little mustache, and the most effective semi-moll in any MOTO vehicle...
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
Virginia Field had somewhat innocuously appeared in a previous installment, but is downright sublime here... owner of a plush nightclub that Cortez gathers counter-intelligence to rig the Suez Canal against the British, she's pretty much the central character (with a genuine character-arc), slowly catching-on about the nefarious nature of her lover and his cohorts... as Moto basically waits in the wings...
Leading to British agent John Carradine's nightmarish demise in an underwater tank, a sinister element blending with the formidable locations... from gothic night-streets to intriguing maze-like interiors... that direction Norman Foster provides in a noirish programmer aesthetically foreshadowing CASABLANCA: that made Lorre an international star while scene-stealing Virginia Field remained a footnote to 1930's potboilers, wherein LAST WARNING reigns supreme.
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Ricardo Cortez in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| George Sanders in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| John Carradine in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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Ricardo Cortez and George Sanders in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING with John Carradine
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| Ricardo Cortez and George Sanders in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Ricardo Cortez in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Ricardo Cortez and Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Ricardo Cortez and Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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Ricardo Cortez and Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING with George Sanders
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| Ricardo Cortez and George Sanders in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING with Robert Coote
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| Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING with Ricardo Cortez
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| Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Ricardo Cortez and Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Ricardo Cortez in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Ricardo Cortez and Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Ricardo Cortez and Virginia Field in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Peter Lorre in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Joan Carroll in MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING |
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| Norman Foster's MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING ll |
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