Benutzerrezensionen

This is my favorite among all the Lone Wolf films TCM has been showing lately, starring WARREN WILLIAM as the master sleuth who's always one step ahead of Scotland Yard. This fast-paced adventure is directed by Edward Dmytryk in taut and suspenseful style.

Audiences always enjoyed watching the Nazi menace get its comeuppance in these sort of stories. Here FORREST TUCKER and MORTON LOWRY are cast as baddies who are helping the Nazis get hold of top secret plans for the destruction of England.

The man who gets his hands on the plans is, of course, The Lone Wolf, who, along with assistance from the ever humorous ERIC BLORE (his loyal valet), must get to the bottom of the spy ring's plans in order to acquit himself of the suspicious Scotland Yard inspector (THURSTON HALL) and his cronies. For a change, HILLARY BROOKE has a sympathetic role as a woman who at first suspects The Lone Wolf of being on the wrong side of things, but soon discovers the truth.

It's a pleasure seeing MORTON LOWRY, a fine supporting actor, given a role with some dimension to it in strong support, and FORREST TUCKER doing well with his Nazi officer role. Easily one of the most enjoyable of all the Lone Wolf films, primarily because the plot is a lot less cluttered than usual and easy to follow.

This is a typically suspenseful and well-made Ed Dmytryk film, starring the urbane Warren William as 'the Lone Wolf'. It is the ninth in that series. As usual, William is accompanied by his butler Jameson, played by the truly wonderful Eric Blore, who is such a delight to watch as he camps up his subservience. The script is well done, the tension is there. Scenes where William has to retrace his steps through the London streets blindfolded, counting how many steps after each turning, and listening for key sounds, are very ingenious. The villains are villainous, as they should be. (One is an early appearance by Forrest Tucker.) Those dastardly Nazis, they are always trying to destroy London, but William will stop them, if the police would only leave him alone and stop trying to arrest him for something he hasn't done. Being a double-agent is no fun, especially when your 'control' has been killed in the Blitz and there is not even anybody left to 'deny' you. Good stuff, really good stuff. Oh yes, and there's Hilary Brooke as the looker, not bad!

Enjoyable wartime mystery featuring the Lone Wolf as a double agent in London. Ninth in the series, and written in 1942, this entry is directed by Edward Dmytryk (his second in the series). The plot revolves around the theft of plans for a beam device and whether they will be sent to Berlin by a new radio photo transmitter. The Lone Wolf uses sound as the means to learn the secret hide out of the spy ring and scenes of the Blitz are used to show audiences the devastation being doled out on America's British allies. Despite the predictability of the story line, the film is more than a bit enjoyable, and one of the best of the series.

Warren William stars as the suave former jewel thief Michael Lanyard with his faithful sidekick and butler, Eric Blore. Also features Hillary Brooke as the love interest and Forrest Tucker as one of the Nazi spies. Although not credited, it certainly appears that a young Lloyd Bridges also appears albeit with a mustache. If true, he would have had a busy year since he also appears to be listed in over twenty other movies in 1942.

Counter-Espionage (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Nice entry in Columbia's The Lone Wolf series has Warren William back as Michael Lanyard and this time in Britain working undercover to stop some spies from getting their hands on some valuable information that could help them win the war. It doesn't take long for the police to think that Lanyard is working with the spies so he must clear his own name while stopping the evil ones. COUNTER-ESPIONAGE is a pretty good entry in the series that at least offers us a new look at the character as we're treated to some new material but sadly there's a tad bit too much of the familiar stuff that creeps itself into the film but more on that in a bit. For the most part fans of the series should enjoy the fact that Lanyard is battling someone other than jewel thieves or counterfeiters. Just about every Hollywood series was transforming their mystery characters into Nazi-fighters so it was only a matter of time before Lanyard entered the match. Overall this is a good entry because it was fun seeing the character out of his normal surroundings and we're treated to some very good direction by Edward Dmytryk. As you'd expect, William has no problem in his role as he's certainly grown quite comfortable in the part. Eric Blore returns as the butler Jamison and we've got Thurston Hall and Fred Kelsey back as the thorns in Lanyard's side. Hillary Brooke does a nice job as the lead female and Morton Lowry is fun as the lead villain, constantly chewing up the scenes. We even get brief parts from Forrest Tucker and Lloyd Bridges. The one problem I had with the film was the all-too-familiar "comic relief" with the American cops once again thinking that Lanyard is guilty of a crime. This hampered the Boston Blackie series as well but it seems after suspecting something a dozen times and be proved wrong each time that the police would believe Lanyard when he told them he didn't have anything to do with it.

Warren William is the Lone Wolf, Michael Lanyard, in "Counter Espionage" from 1942.

Michael has the difficult assignment of stopping German spies from stealing valuable information from the British government. That's the Mcguffin, of course.

The police suspect Lanyard of actually working with the Nazis.

Eric Blore provides the comic relief, and Hillary Brooke is the suspicious daughter of a murdered man who had these important plans in his safe.

I love Warren William, so it's always great to see him. Look for Lloyd Bridges in an uncredited role as a waiter, and Forrest Tucker has a small role.

Columbia Pictures was in the second tier (the Little Three) of the major Hollywood movie studios of the golden age, and it put out just a few B level war films during World War II. "Counter-Espionage" of 1942 is one of those. It has a more prominent cast than many Columbia films of the time and genre.

Warren William stars in this film that is as much a crime-mystery film as it is a war film. Espionage is the matter that links the two subplots. William plays Michael Lanyard, a character who appears in a number of mystery films of the period under the alias, "The Wolf." William was a very good actor who played some of the best villain roles in the early years of sound pictures. He was versatile and played a number of romantic leads and then played a dashing, debonair and sophisticated crime-stopper in various roles that were serialized over time. Philo Vance was one, Perry Mason was another, and Michael Lanyard is his most well-known. William may have been better known today, but he died of blood cancer (multiple myeloma) in 1948 at age 53.

An additional trademark of the crime-stopper films was comedy. Sometimes it came through a sidekick, often through dumb or inept police detectives, and sometimes with both. In this film, we have both. And a big plus is the presence of Eric Blore as his servant-sidekick, Jamison. Blore was English and played supporting heavier roles as butlers, valets, etc. That were much meatier and with great humor. I always have some good laughs from Blore's roles in movies.

The rest of the cast are OK, including a number of well-known actors. Forrest Tucker plays a German thug, Anton Schugg. The plot is a simple and familiar type of story about Nazi spies trying to get hold of plans for a secret weapon. What elevates the movie are the film clips and/or segments of the London bombing. Columbia must have gotten its hands on some actual newsreel film from London to intersperse with its story. It gives a very real sense to the film, where some of the rest of it seems a little hokey.

Lone Wolf, an ace detective who was a jewel thief, functions to safeguard British military objectives during WWII from Nazi German espionage agents as The Blitz is on

Immerse yourself in London fogs and the Blitz-spirit as the Lone Wolf, as played by the inimitable Warren William with his dulcet tones, hunts down Nazi spies, but the good guys think he has stolen plans to sell to the Nazis. We, as the viewer, know this isn't the case. This is a highly enjoyable wartime comedy thriller with a tautly drawn plot, vivid wartime atmosphere and some good tension. Lone Wolf shows his guile when finding the hide-out of some German spies by retracing his steps he made when taken to the hide-out blindfold. There's plenty of subterfuge, treachery and cloak and dagger.

The film stars Warren William as the Lone Wolf, an American jewel thief who is working for the British as a double agent. He gives the appearance of working for the Nazis (including a very young, early appearance of Lloyd Bridges as a Nazi waiter; probably his debut, although he is uncredited.

While I was watching the film, I said to myself, that waiter looks and sounds a lot like Lloyd Bridges. And when I got around to doing this review, I found out it was.

Eric Blore does his usual good job as a nervous Englishman, and Our Miss Brooks, I mean Hillary Brooke does a good job playing the daughter of the officer who gives the Lone Wolf his assignment. The actual footage of some of the Blitz bombing is sobering. The film absolutely captures the atmosphere of the time period,

And the day I watched it, it was raining. It's a good programmer which killed some time until dinner and, besides, I couldn't mow the lawn anyway.

"Counter Espionage" has a recognizable cast who move the story along in an entertaining fashion, along the way striving to overcome a mundane plot which tries the audience's patience with plot contrivance after contrivance, but I just went with it with it since it was raining out.

I Always enjoy the dulcet tones of Warren William as The Lone Wolf and he's aided and abetted here by Eric Blore, his simpering man Friday, and Hillary Brooke as a heroine for a change. Lloyd Bridges has an unbilled role as a henchman.

I suppose it could have been better but at 75 minutes it doesn't wear out its welcome, and it's odd not even Edward Dmytryk could punch it up for a higher rating.