L'énigme du loup solitaire

I have long loved Warren William and his incarnation of 'the Lone Wolf'. However, following an absence of a few years, the character's back but played by Gerald Mohr. He's certainly NOT Warren William...but is the film worth seeing? But, at least Jameson is still played wonderfully by Eric Blore!

When the film begins, you hear that the patriotic Michael Landyard (the Lone Wolf) is returning from his stint in the military. Yet, despite serving his country and constantly proving he's a law- abiding guy, the police immediately assume he's up to no good. And, when a gem is stolen, they insist Landyard is the man behind the robbery.

The overall film is pretty silly and easy to forget. After all, imagine Landyard and his man servant spending much of the film dressed up like extras from "Kismet". It seems that the clues lead to some mythical Muslim land where folks in charge STILL dress up in ridiculous 15th century garb! That's what makes the film a bit funny but also a bit stupid. Not a terrible film...just not at all like the Lone Wolf of old.

The Notorious Lone Wolf has returned from the war. Indeed cinematically the last couple of Warren William Lone Wolf features had to do with wartime plots. Now Michael Lanyard has returned and he's now being played by Gerald Mohr.

In fact he's looking for a nice romantic evening with Janis Carter. But trusty valet Jameson first brings in Inspector William Davidson of the NYPD who always suspects The Lone Wolf when a big caper happens and the Shalimar diamond has been stolen from a visiting Indian potentate. In real life these guys would shortly be giving up their thrones so maybe the maharajah was in the USA looking for new digs.

The Carter's sister Adelle Roberts shows up asking Mohr for some help with her love life as Mark Roberts has been spending time with an exotic dancer. Wouldn't you know it, the stolen jewel and the dancer are connected and when the dancer gets shot very dead, the police as always suspect The Lone Wolf. So Mohr as per the usual Lone Wolf plots has to recover the diamond to prove his innocence.

Mohr is a rougher Lanyard as opposed to the dapper Warren William. Eric Blore is back as Jameson and a couple of times these two almost devolve into an Abbott&Costello routine. The slapstick was a bit out of place, you wouldn't have seen Warren William doing that.

Still The Notorious Lone Wolf is not a bad film, just a different loner.

The Lone Wolf, Michael Lanyard, is back from the war and has turned into Gerald Mohr in "The Notorious Lone Wolf," released in 1946.

Poor Lanyard - he's back for hours and he's suspected of stealing a rare sapphire from a museum, and then he's accused of murder. And all he really wants to do is make up for lost time with his girlfriend, played by Janis Carter. Lanyard spends the rest of the film trying to clear his name. One way he does it is to detain the Indians who have come for the gem and impersonate one of them, with Jameson (Eric Blore) his butler impersonating the other.

All in all, very pleasant. Mohr is attractive but here's my problem with him. He's not the same type as William, obviously - he's less sophisticated, there's more emphasis on the romance, and he seems younger. That would have all been great if Mohr had just played that. Instead, to me, he's trying to be smooth and sophisticated and it's coming off as artifice. He needed to play to his own strong qualities.

Entertaining.

This Lone Wolf entry introduces Gerald Mohr in the title role... and that's part of the problem. It labors for so long to set up that "this new guy" is the Lone Wolf that it takes a while for the plot to kick in -- it's like they felt they had to convince us that Mohr really is the Wolf, honest! Forget about that Warren William guy! So the first ten to fifteen minutes are rather slow. And Mohr is no Warren William. But he's competent enough and once the story gets going, it's amiable and breezy and fun. All about -- of course -- a stolen gem and the Wolf's attempts to find the real thief (he's blamed, as always). So it's not as good as some of the earlier Warren William Wolfs, but it's not bad, either. Moves along a quick clip and wraps it all up neatly, with some good fun as Mohr and sidekick Blore pretend to be Arab Royalty as they try to find the lost gem.

This might be my favourite of the "Lone Wolf" adventures as it frequently reminded me of one of the Rathbone/Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" stories. This time, "Lanyard" (newcomer Gerald Mohr) and his reliable sidekick "Jameson" (Eric Blore) find themselves embroiled in their usual gem-snatching scenario. Also, as usual, "Insp. Crane" (William B. Davidson) is keen to get the cuffs on our reformed jewel thief without really investigating the crime. It now falls to our sleuthing duo to resort to some impersonating - of a visiting Maharajah and his aide, no less - and exercise of their grey cells to save the damsel "Carla" (Janis Carter) from the evil clutches of their nemesis and return the sapphire - without paying the huge ransom - to the Prince before they both end up in San Quentin. Ian Wolfe ("Wheelright") delivers reliably and there is some enjoyably quick-witted dialogue between Mohr & Blore as we race through an hour towards the predictable, slighly slapstick, conclusion. An easy hour to watch, this.