Talk:Mr. Moto

Untitled

From the article:

"Moto, played by Peter Lorre, was not a steely, morally ambiguous Japanese agent, but instead a rather exotic member of the "international police" (whatever that may be)."

Um...wouldn't that be Interpol? So why the (whatever that may be).

Mr. Moto's occupation

In “Thank You, Mr. Moto” the ID that he flashes says, “International Association of Importers: Kentaro Moto – Confidential Investigator.” A woman comments on him being a detective and he replies that being a detective is a hobby since his real occupation is as an importer.

In “Mr. Moto’s Last Warning” he is rubbing shoulders with British secret agents trying to prevent a second world war. When he shows his ID it says “International Police: Kentaro Moto, Agent General.” This may lead people to believe that the character was a member of Interpol. Interpol, however, was an Austrian organization created in 1923 called the International Criminal Police (ICP) and in 1938 was under the control of Nazi Germany. It wasn’t until 1956 that it adopted its name of Interpol. Therefore “International Police” is a fictional organization, which seems to concern itself with preventing terrorism and international conflict.

Therefore, I don’t think it is valid to refer to him as an Interpol agent. Generally in the films he seems to be a private investigator hired by governments and large organizations without any specific police (international or otherwise) credentials. I like to think of him as an adventurer or soldier-of-fortune. Doloho (talk) 22:17, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

reorg?

Hello! Perhaps a good reorganization following who Mr. Moto is in the original novels, followed by how he is portrayed in the films? In re-reading Thank you, Mr. Moto, I noticed even Marquand had a sense of the absurd: Mr. Moto is described as <<chunky>>.

RevAntonio (talk) 13:16, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Is Jiu-Justu how it appears in the books or only a mistake for Jujutsu?

Why does it say "(meaning Judo)"? The two are not the same. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tudza (talk • contribs) 08:02, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

It is my understanding that Jujutsu is the more general term for judo and other "Way of softness" martial arts. In the movie “Mr. Moto’s Last Warning” the list of his abilities shown says that Mr. Moto knows Jujutsu (misspelled Jui-jutsu on the list) but later in the same film he tells someone that what he does is "Judo… often mis-called by foreigners ‘jujutsu’..." This is only in the film and not in the books.Doloho (talk) 19:32, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Absolutely wrong and I have corrected this error. Jiu-jitsu and judo are not at all the same, though one sprang from the other. I wouldn't say they are the same in front of students of either martial art!75.21.149.52 (talk) 10:40, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation writing credits

The article currently states "Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939) — Marquand wrote the story for this film" and gives IMDB as the source for this. I believe IMDB is in error. The screen credits of the film read that the "original screenplay" is by Norman Foster and Philip MacDonald, with a credit to Marquand only as the creator of the character. For this reason I am removing "Marquand wrote the story for this film" from the article. Macduff (talk) 01:15, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Slight grammatical modifications and other corrections

A few things were a bit askew and I have corrected them. There should be no objections.

Unless it is strongly objected to, I am REMOVING THE BANNER at the top of the page. This article is very well written and requires extremely little clean-up.75.21.149.52 (talk) 10:42, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Physical description

"When the outlandishness of his outfit is pointed out, he says he wears it because it doesn't go out of press." What does "out of press" mean? Not being British (or whatever that expression is), I have to admit I have never seen or heard that before. Who is the arrogant editor who took it out of quotes? Quotes belong around a phrase like that.

Secondly, who deleted the FACT that Marquand describes Mr. Moto in certain novels as having a "chunky" build?

Reverting both changes unless justification is made to leave as-is.75.21.149.52 (talk) 08:12, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

"out of press" means "wrinkle", so a suit that doesn't go "out of press" doesn't wrinkle (i.e. keijyoukioku no). As for physical description, wouldn't quotes from the novels be most appropriate? DaAnHo (talk) 03:56, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I do in fact argue that quotes from the novel are the best ones; that is what I have always done. However, any quote must be in quotation marks either way. If you quote "out of press" then it must have those marks since it is an out-of-date, uncommon expression. As to the physical appearance, it is Marquand who has fooled you as he fooled me! In two novels he describes Moto as "chunky". It meant something different than it does today!75.21.119.216 (talk) 12:07, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

I see other edits are being reverted without comment. It will not be my habit to practice this barbarous way of editing. I have reverted changes I made to the section on "Physcial appearance" because the wording is simpler and more accurate. Please do not make changes without posting here. Otherwise I will tag this article. We do not need anyone trying to start edit wars.75.21.155.253 (talk) 16:51, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

In the novel "Thank You, Mr Moto", he is described as a small, rather chunky Japanese with protruding eyes, so Peter Lorre was a good choice to play him.(185.181.236.222 (talk) 11:07, 22 July 2018 (UTC))

Pop culture problem ... solved

A pop culture section is unnecessary and almost borders on POV when it is nothing more than how many times Mr. Moto's name has been said throughout history! It also does not help to list the times characters have been called "Mr. Moto". I have therefore removed the section. Djathinkimacowboy 03:47, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

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