Counter-Espionage

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.