Passport to Suez

In his ninth and last appearance as retired jewel thief Michael Lanyard-aka The Lone Wolf-the peerless Warren William again finds himself overseas helping to battle the Third Reich. This time, he and loyal valet Jamison (the priceless Eric Blore) arrive in Egypt, where Lanyard is promptly blackmailed into stealing vital documents that the Nazis need.

A decent Lone Wolf entry finds our hero sent in a wild goose chase by nazi spies, and gets involved with a femme fatale, thread in coded message, informers, and devious villains and that in an exotic locale. It's familiar and standard, yet really fun, thanks to the smooth plot, Eric Blore and the debonair Warren William who makes smooth and dashing a work of art.

Not a whodunit, but a programmer about foreign intrigue. That's not surprising since the year is 1943, and WWII's outcome still hangs in the balance. So, can the Lone Wolf (William) thwart Nazi plans to close the vital Suez Canal, the lifeline to Allied war efforts in North Africa. To find the spies, he's got a lot of characters to sort through, including a stylish Ann Savage, who's already showing why Detour's (1945) Tom Neal is fatefully attracted. And catch the weird technology the Nazis are using to communicate, like threads in a handkerchief. All in all, it's an entertaining hour with the aristocratic William in fine form, along with Blore as comic relief. I just wish William were better remembered today. He could command the screen like few others. In fact, his pre-Code films, (Employees Entrance {1933}, et. al), remain recognized classics. Probably, the actor died too soon after the war (1948) to establish himself in later films. Too bad. Anyway, the movie's a solid and sometimes stylish programmer without being anything special.

Warren William as Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf, tries to keep the Nazis from getting control of the Suez Canal in "Passport to Suez," a 1943 film, and William's last as the Lone Wolf.

As with many of this type of film, the mission is a mcguffin in this well-directed mystery that is filled with humor and atmosphere. The cast is particularly good - besides William and Eric Blore as his butler, Anne Savage is the femme fatale, Sheldon Leonard a nightclub owner, and the cast is rounded out by Jay Novello as a spy, Frederic Norlock as an intelligence officer, Sig Arno, and Lou Merrill.

Most of the humor comes from Blore, and he starts the film off with some great comedy over a phone call. William takes his assignment seriously; this is a slightly more sober Wolf. A fitting ending to a great run.

Enjoyable entry in the Lone Wolf series with ERIC BLORE supplying most of the humor with some clever lines and scene stealing tactics from WARREN WILLIAM, again playing the title role. It's a wartime espionage story with something about spies, mysterious laces, the glass on wristwatches and some '40s technology thrown in for good measure. All of it is highly improbable, as played here, and yet it's probably just the sort of escapist entertainment audiences wanted during WWII.

ANN SAVAGE is the femme fatale (as usual), but it's really Warren William and Eric Blore who share the spotlight beautifully, playing off each other with their usual dexterity.

SHELDON LEONARD has a good turn as a nightclub owner on the right side of the law and LLOYD BRIDGES again shows up in a brief supporting role.

Not bad, but not much above average either.

Passport to Suez (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Warren William is back as Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf, in his final entry in the series. This time out he's taking on a group of Nazis who decide to send him on a wild goose chase while they take care of the business they're really wanting to do and that's disable the Suez Canal. PASSPORT TO SUEZ isn't the best film in the Columbia series but I think there are enough good moments to where fans should remain entertained from start to finish. As with the previous entries, the main reason to watch the film is for the performance of William who was clearly in top form by this time in the series. As usual he has that cool, laid back style that works perfectly well for the material and he has no trouble bringing everything to life. Sheldon Leonard is pretty good in his part of the nightclub owner (a clear rip of CASABLANCA) and Eric Blore is back as the valet. We even have Lloyd Bridges showing up in the series yet again and playing yet another different character. The direction for the most part is pretty good as we get some nice style along the way and visually the film is quite good as well.