The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance

Michael Lanyard -aka the Lone wolf - is a reformed jewel thief but inspector Crane doesn't think so, and that view is exacerbated when Lanyard and his valet ( played by Eric Blore) is trapped behind bars of a bank when following a cat who has a necklace on it. Lanyard is soon proven innocent, but the inspector wages that he won't be able to keep out of trouble, and he is right. It's not too long before our hero ends up rescuing an inventor of special currency engraving plates from the forgers attempting to steal them.

Exciting Lone Wolf mystery with touches of A lady Vanishes and old deserted house story. The plot fires on its cylinders, adeptly moving on to each scene; there's a lively train sequence where Lone Wolf is trying to prove that the inventor is kidnapped, but that backfires, and a race to find the inventor ensues, and it rounds up with a nail biting climax. An enjoyable gem.

A former Private Detective is shot outside the very hotel window of Michael Lanyard, Inspector Crane is determined to stop Lanyard from interfering with the case, even arresting him.

Those opening sequences with the cat and pearls were very funny, they help to set the tone for the film.

It's funnier than other Lone Wolf films that I've seen, and that is no bad thing, it certainly has enough suspense and mystery, but the humorous moments are joyous.

There are more than a few shades of The Lady Vanishes about this film, the sequences on board the train are perhaps the highlight of the movie, very, very good sequences.

Very well produced, this film looks great, and moves by at a pace, there are no slow moments, it really does flash by at a canter.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, 8/10.

The Lone Wolf Take a Chance (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Good entry in the Columbia series has Michael Lanyard (Warren William) arrested on murder charges but of course he's innocent and must prove it. With the help of an actress (June Storey) and his assistant Jamison (Eric Blore), The Lone Wolf gets mixed up with murderers and counterfeiters. THE LONE WOLF TAKES A CHANCE is certainly a step up from the previous installment and after an opening sequence full of laughs, the film quickly picks up speed as we're given a rather interesting murder and an even busier series of events trying to explain what happened. I'm going to spoil what happened but the murder of the cop comes in a pretty surprising way and it's quite effective in the way that Lanyard gets mixed up in the events. Yes, one could argue that it was done in an over-the-top and unbelievable way but at least it was an original one. The comedy moments early on are actually pretty funny and they don't hurt the film like in previous episodes. There's a hilarious opening bit where The Lone Wolf tries to capture a black cat that has some pearls around its neck and the entire sequence is well directed and put together. There's some even funnier bits towards the middle of the picture when The Lone Wolf is stuck in a basement with the Inspector. The mystery aspect of the film is handled pretty well but I must say that all of the events were pretty hard to believe. As normal, William offers up a very good performance as the title character but by this time he could play it in his sleep. I really enjoyed Storey as the female lead and the regular cast of characters (Blore, Thurston Hall) are in fine form as well. We also get a young Lloyd Bridges. Fans of "B" mysteries should get a kick out of this one. It's certainly not among the best but it is fast paced and contains some fun moments.

THE LONE WOLF TAKES A CHANCE is another in the long-running series and pretty much par for the course as these things go. Our hero (with his trusty sidekick in tow) takes a challenge that he'll stay out of trouble for 24 hours, except that trouble soon comes knocking in the form of some stolen printing plates and a whole host of murder. This has the usual lightness of touch which makes it a watchable little movie, even if it is brimming with cliche and contrivance. Moviegoers may enjoy spotting Lloyd Bridges in a tiny bit part that marks his first screen role. The flirtations with noir, including a femme fatale, are adequate.

Warren William is the eponymous trouble maker for poor old "Insp. Crane" (Thurston Hall) who bets him that he can't behave himself for just one day! Well, of course he can't - indeed pretty sharpish he and stalwart "Jamison" (Eric Blore) are up to their necks in the theft of some US treasury plates from a supposedly impenetrable car invented by "Baker" (Lloyd Bridges). That's only the half of it - there's a killer afoot too and our not so wily policeman only has one suspect. What now ensues is an entertaining, if formulaic, join-the-dots mystery as June Storey provides an adequate damsel in distress ("Gloria") and the dialogue some fun and mischievous quips for Blore to raise the odd smile. There's a bit more meat on the bones of the adventure element to this with plenty of daft fisticuffs before the baddie is suitably apprehended. It's a bit too long - takes a while to get up an head of steam, but it does get there and ultimately it's a watchable little story that begs the question. When will "Crane" ever learn to trust in the "Wolf"?