DVD Review Mr. Moto Takes a Chance DVD Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

matt-hough has published a new article.

Mr. Moto Takes a Chance DVD Review

For three years at the end of the 1930s, 20th Century Fox produced a series of very successful B-unit thrillers featuring the Oriental undercover agent...
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[Richard Gallagher]

I'm not sure why anyone would pay $20 for this when for $20 more you can get this and three other Mr. Moto films on pressed discs.

The Fox Cinema Archives program continues to perplex!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't get why they would have stripped the meager bonus features - now instead of using an existing master, they had to create something new. What's the point in that?

I picked up the set as a gift for my stepfather last year, but I haven't had a chance to borrow it and watch myself yet. It's on the eternal list of things to get around to

 

[skylark68]

I have both Mr. Moto box sets. It does seem odd that this was released on the MOD program as a stand alone feature. I know Mr. Moto's Last Warning was inadvertently(?) let loose as public domain so I get why there are individual copies of that floating around, but this is strange.

These are great films, and my wife and I enjoy them quite a bit. This is actually one of the weaker stories in my opinion though, which adds to the strangeness of it being released solo.

 

[Will Krupp]

Funny, but I think this is the very least of the Moto films and an odd choice for a standalone.

Interesting note regarding it's production. You are correct that it was the fourth Moto film RELEASED, but it was actually the second to be produced (as LOOK OUT, MR. MOTO.) THINK FAST, MR. MOTO proved to be more successful than original expectations and Fox didn't hold this one in much regard so its release order was bumped in favor of THANK YOU, MR. MOTO which the studio thought would be a stronger follow-up. MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE (the new title) was bumped again when Fox decided to rush MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE into release in spring 1938 and this one was dumped without much fanfare during the summer of 1938, more than a year after it was filmed. By then, the series was successful enough to withstand a mediocre entry so no harm was done.

The release dates of the last two Moto films were also reversed from their shooting order.

 

[Matt Hough]

Valuable information, Will. Thanks so much!

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm not sure why anyone would pay $20 for this when for $20 more you can get this and three other Mr. Moto films on pressed discs.

The Fox Cinema Archives program continues to perplex!

Not just Fox but CBS, MGM, and Warner as well. *All* have taken discs OOP and then re-released them as MOD for 2-4 times the price of the pressed copies. Warner has done essentially the same thing with quite a few titles in their short-lived Cult Camp Classics line of box sets. All of those box sets, with 3 films each, are still available, often selling for less than the cost of just one the MOD titles.