En las garras del Lobo

RON RANDELL and ALAN MOBRAY are the unfortunate replacements for The Lone Wolf and his faithful valet Jamison. Given the material, they do respectful work but none of it has much effect or can overcome the weak plot, all too familiar by this time.

JUNE VINCENT is the newspaper woman who gets to spout some snappy dialog in all of her confrontations with the newspaper boss, the police and Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf. WILLIAM FRAWLEY is a police inspector and DOUGLAS DUMBRILLE is an agitated newspaper publisher. STEVEN GERAY is a kidnapped diamond cutter.

She invites Lanyard to attend the opening of an exhibit featuring the unveiling of the world's third largest diamond, the Tahara Diamond. Naturally the jewels are stolen during a well planned robbery and Inspector Crane immediately suspects Lanyard of being the thief.

For devotees of the series, this one has all the familiar elements without any new twists. It's passable, but easily forgotten.

"The Lone Wolf and His Lady" was the tired ending to the Lone Wolf series in 1949, with Ron Randell and Alan Mowbray taking the roles of Michael Lanyard and butler Jamison. Truth to tell, it just didn't work.

In the plot, Lanyard agrees to tell an attractive reporter (June Vincent) his life story, and as some extra publicity, she asks him to unveil a world-famous diamond at an exhibit. You can guess the rest. The diamond is stolen, Lanyard is the chief suspect, and he spends the rest of the film clearing his name.

Ron Randell didn't have enough presence for a larger than life character like the Lone Wolf, plus with his mustache, he looked kind of sleazy. I much preferred Warren William. And while Alan Mowbray is good, he's no Eric Blore. William and Blore had a very strong chemistry.

William Frawley plays Inspector Crane -- I had actually never seen him do anything except Fred Mertz and his role in My Three Sons. He was his gruff self. June Vincent, whom I thought bore a strong resemblance to the British actress Ann Todd, came off the best with her breezy line delivery.

Disappointing.

Doesn't hold up well in comparison to the other "Lone Wolf" movies. Ron Randell is lively enough but he has a tough job trying to follow up ultra-suave Gerald Mohr and ultra-charming Warren William in an established series. Talented Alan Mowbray appears a bit uncomfortable but is still watchable. William Frawley of course is his usual gruff persona and is very effective as a policeman. He is really good in this movie, but wasn't he always?

I realize that this is a "B" movie but it lacks the gloss that the Gerald Mohr Lone Wolf films have (they were also B-movies but have a high level of gloss with good cinematography, lighting, etc.) And of course this movie can't hold your attention the way the Warren William films can, some of which were really well-made.

If you are a Lone Wolf fan you will still get the same successful formula and the usual jewel-thief plot that you are looking for. From this standpoint a Lone Wolf fan could possibly find this movie rewarding.

The Lone Wolf and His Lady (1949)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The final film in Columbia's original series of Lone Wolf films finds Ron Randell playing the part of Michael Lanyard. This time out he's selling his life story to a newspaper reporter (June Vincent) and while the two are at the showing of a priceless jewel someone steals it and of course it's the Wolf that is blamed. With everyone thinking he's guilty, Lanyard must track down the real thieves. THE LONE WOLF AND HIS LADY puts the final stamp on the series and it certainly goes out in a fairly bad way. At just 60-minutes the film seems twice as long because everything we're watching is stuff we've seen countless times before and done much better. The biggest problem is the screenplay, which is so basic that it almost seems as if the screenwriter just copied bits and pieces from previous movies and threw them together. The identity of the real thieves is never all that interesting and even worse is the fact that you really don't care what happened and you care even less on whether or not Lanyard will be cleared. As the Lone Wolf Randell isn't all that good. I found him to be rather bland in the part and perhaps the actor knew this was just going to be one film and he just didn't put any effort into it. Vincent is always charming but she's not given anything to do. Alan Mowbray fills in as Jamison and he too is just bland. There's not any chemistry to be found among the cast and that's just another reason the film doesn't work.

The Lone Wolf movies were a series of 23 B pictures which featured the same set of leading characters - Michael Lanyard and his Valet/friend Jamison. These movies were reliable entertainment from 1917 to 1949.

This was the last Lone Wolf movie. It is also by far the weakest movie in the series. The Lone Wolf is a reformed Master Jewel thief - a rogue with a heart of gold.

This movie totally lacks the humor which made the earlier films to easy to watch. Part of this is because of the cast. Ron Randell lacks the charisma to pull off the Michael Lanyard character. The same thing can be said for veteran actor Alan Mowbray as his Valet. Mowbray is far too cultured and refined to convincingly play a mere Valet. He also lacks the cheeky humor that Eric Blore gave to this part.

June Vincent plays the leading lady. Her hairstyle is so bad it has to be seen to be believed. Parted right down the middle and worn slicked down into place, with the forward half light blond and the rear half a totally different darker color.

Fans of the old "I Love Lucy" program will spot William Frawley playing the Police Inspector. No one played crusty authority figures better than Frawley. His performance is the bright spot in the film.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with this movie, there is also nothing particularly right with this movie either. Everything just seems a little off. There is a reason that this film is rarely shown.