Radio Recap: Mr. Moto

Mr. Moto was a fictional character created by author John P. Marquand and first appeared in fiction in 1935. Marquand presented Moto as an agent of the empire of Japan. It was certainly a background that set Moto apart from other detective heroes of the time, but Marquand's timing left a little to be wanted. Mr. Moto was very quickly snapped up by Fox to become the protagonist of a series of films starring the not-at-all-Japanese performer Peter Lorre (who fortunately was good in anything) and that added to the character's fame; then, of course, Japan declared war on the United States and that was that.

Marquand did just fine - his Mr. Moto novels were just a few among his many successful publications. In fact, after 1941 he didn't touch the character again until 1957 when he published his final Mr. Moto novel; Marquand died in 1960 (a few years later his earlier books were reissued in new paperback editions). The character made one last attempt at motion pictures in 1965 with the also-not-at-all-Japanese actor Henry Silva in the Return of Mr. Moto, which has been dismissed by historians as an attempt to cash-in on the James Bond craze.

I haven't read any of Marquand's novels, but Mr. Moto was written up in various encyclopedias of detective heroes (that I have read) as one of the better characters. Obviously, the war with Japan forced the character out of bookshops and cinemas for a time; in fact, in some wartime popular culture you can hear "Mr. Moto" used as a perjorative term for Japanese people.

But before the attempted film revival - before even Marquand's attempted revival - Mr. Moto's big return to popular culture occurred in the 1951 Mr. Moto radio series on NBC. Some refer to this program as Mr. I. A. Moto, which is how he always introduces himself on the program; but then, what's in a name? The series was broadcast from May 20th to October 20th of 1951 with the additionally-not-at-all-Japanese actor James Monks as Mr. Moto. The series did not have a sponsor and, as NBC was much less generous about allowing programs to find their footing than CBS, it didn't last very long.

The war was 6 years in the past by 1951 and the NBC series seemed content to leave the past in the past. Moto was emphasized to be an Interpol agent cooperating with American authorities and thus, less inclined to be a figurehead of the Japanese government. Episodes of Mr. Moto would almost exclusively pit him against communist agents operating in the US, emphasizing Moto's keen mind (yet deemphasizing his physical prowess which had been a major part of his previous depictions). The radio version of Moto is depicted as quiet and wise... frankly, he comes off as an imitation of Charlie Chan.

I find Mr. Moto to be okay as a post-war radio espionage series. The identities of the villains are often supplied to we listeners prior to Moto learning who they are, leaving us to wonder how Moto will put the pieces together, rather than what the big picture is. Episodes were written by Robert Tallman (Suspense, Intrigue, Voyage of the Scarlet Queen, Adventures of Sam Spade) and by Harry W. Junkin (Radio City Playhouse, Top Secret, the Chase), both of whom were clearly able hands.

The Internet Archive has a collection of Mr. Moto episodes. You'll notice there's an episode titled "the Kuriloff Papers" and another called "the Bazaloff Papers" that are basically the same script. The best explanation I've seen is that the former episode was a rehearsal program and the latter the broadcast version. Episodes of Mr. Moto do appear a bit clipped - I get the sensation that other surviving episodes might not be the broadcast versions but are instead rehearsals.