Moto Film Scheduled for Syracuse Cinephile Event

Peter Lorre’s intrepid detective Mr. Moto is no stranger to the movie fans at the Syracuse Cinephile Society of Syracuse, New York!

On Monday, October 9, 2023, Mr. Moto makes his third appearance at the twice-yearly film festival when Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938), number 5 in the Mr. Moto series, opens a mystery double-bill with Grand Central Murder (1942), starring Van Heflin and Virginia Grey.

All films in the series begin at 7 pm in a special screening room at the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant, located at 689 North Clinton Street in Syracuse, New York. Parking is available in the lot beside the restaurant.

Planning to come for dinner before the show? The Cinephile Society recommends arriving no later than 6 pm in order to finish dinner by 7 pm.

Directions to the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant are available on the Cinephile Society's website.

Admission to the Syracuse Cinephile Society event is $3.50 for Cinephile members, and $4 for non-members. Annual membership in the Syracuse Cinephile Society may be purchased for $5.

The 2023 Fall Schedule began on Monday, September 11, and will run until Monday, December 4, 2023. The full schedule for the Monday Night Series is available on the Syracuse Cinephile Society website.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the making of the Mr. Moto series, including interviews with Norman Foster, who directed Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938) and five other Moto films; and Harvey Parry, who doubled for Peter on stunts throughout the Moto series, as well as several movies at Warner Bros. in the 1940s.

Although initially interested in playing the globe-trotting Japanese importer for whom detecting is a hobby, Peter soon grew of the character. Continually addressed as "Mr. Moto" by the public, playing Mr. Moto in sketches on the radio variety series of the late 1930s, and getting few opportunities to appear in non-Moto projects at 20th Century-Fox all added to Peter’s disappointment with the series.

In 2006 and 2007, 20th Century-Fox remastered and restored all eight of the Moto films, hired John Cork and his production company Cloverland to produce a unique documentary – including interviews with Stephen Youngkin – for each movie, and released the series in two DVD box-sets with additional extras.

Each box-set, as well as The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, may be purchased through the DVD section of The Lost One website.