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At
the end of one of detective Mr. Moto's classes in criminology, student Lee
Chan, the son of the famous Honolulu detective Charlie Chan, notices that
his watch has been stolen. Horace "Knockout" Wellington, another
student, confesses that he is the culprit and reveals, to the mirth of all,
that he cannot help taking things that attract his eye and later cannot
remember where he purloined the objects.
Moto invites Lee to accompany him and Lieutenant
Riggs to a boxing match between Bill Steele and Frankie Stanton to decide
who will fight world champion Biff Moran eight weeks later. Before the
fight, gambler Nick Crowder bets $10,000 with bookie Clipper McCoy that
Stanton will not last until the fifth round. Because he has already
taken similar bets from gamblers in six other cities, Clipper warns
Stanton's manager, Jerry Connors, that Stanton better not throw the fight.
Riggs, Moto and Lee sit with Philip Benton, whose company owns the arena,
and Benton's snooty daughter Linda, who is interested in Bill even though he
likes sports reporter Penny Kendall. After Stanton's eye is cut, the
referee threatens to stop the fight. Connors applies collodion to
close the wound and, in the next round, Bill knocks Stanton out. When
the doctor pronounces Stanton dead, Moto recovers a dried bit of collodion.
Connors, who threw the bottle he used out a window, gives Moto another
bottle to examine. Benton, who earlier told Riggs that he never bets,
calls Clipper, who has lost $130,000 on the fight, to say that he will send
a check for $10,000 to cover his bet. The poison that killed Stanton
is found on Bill's gloves, and he is charged with manslaughter and suspended
by the boxing commission.
Although Penny convinces her editor to put up
the bond money, she finds Bill leaving jail with Linda, who has already paid
with a check from her father. When Moto proves to his class that the
poison was shot onto Bill's glove from someone outside the ring, Lee and
Wellington leave to investigate.
Moto finds that Wellington has taken his
overcoat and left one he earlier took from the arena, which has a stain on
the inside that matches the stain found on Bill's glove.
Meanwhile, at Moran's training camp, Benton and
press agent Gabby Marden overhear Clipper accuse Nick of placing bets in
other cities to keep the odds up at the fight. As Gabby goes to call
Riggs with the information, someone takes a shot at him.
After Riggs and Moto find that the owner of the
overcoat, John Howard, has died from the same poison that killed Stanton,
Moto, believing that Howard was a fall guy, convinces the boxing commission
to lift its suspension of Bill and promises to have the murderer arrested at
ringside the night of Bill's fight with Moran.
In his room, Moto is confronted with an armed
man, but Moto's cat Lena knocks over a vase, which allows Moto to grab the
gun before the intruder escapes.
At the vacant arena, a mysterious figure places
a gun attached to a clock under the ring, and aims it at Moto's seat.
Before the fight, Penny kisses Bill and wishes him well and then berates
Linda for only caring for a winner. With the gun pointed at him, Moto
surveys his suspects as the fight proceeds. He then invites Linda to
sit in his seat and, after Bill knocks out Moran, Moto announces that he
will shortly produce Stanton's murderer.
Despite Benton's attempt to get his daughter
away, Moto insists that Linda remain in the seat. Benton rushes to the
ring and disconnects the gun before it fires. Moto explains that he
investigated the arena before the fight, because he knew that the murderer
would try to kill him to keep him from revealing his identity, and he took
the bullets out of the gun. As Penny hugs Linda, Benton dashes to his
office, where Clipper shoots and kills him for arranging the bets on Stanton
from the other cities. The police then capture Clipper as Lee and
Wellington arrive, having discovered the murder weapon, a water gun filled
with poison.
Back in his classroom, Moto explains why he
suspected Benton and, as he goes to leave, discovers his timepiece missing.
Wellington returns it, and Moto reveals that he now has Wellington's wallet,
which, it turns out, Wellington stole from Lee. |
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