Matthew Fox has a solid reputation as an expert kibitzer and operator, with an inordinately sharp eye for a fast buck. A movie man by trade, he has backed such side bets as Bub-0-Loon, three-dimensional pictures, the "everlasting match" (TIME, Oct. 13). Last winter he quit his $150,00b-a-year job as executive vice president of Universal-International Pictures to make side bets his life work. One of them turned out to be a new main chance: the Indonesian Republican government heeded $80,000 fast, and Matty Fox thought he could arrange it. He did. Then he, got down to cases.
The Indonesian archipelago looked...