The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady

Always enjoy the great acting of Warren William, (Michael Lanyard/Lone Wolf) and his partner, Jamison, (Eric Blore) who were planning on a nice trip to Lake Placid, N.Y. for some fun in the snow. However, their trip is upset because they almost run over a young lady who ran in the front of their automobile. This lady was Joan Bradley, (Jean Muir) who is a pretty blonde socialite about to get married and is robbed of a diamond necklace worth a great deal of money. Joan witnessed a murder and tells Michael Lanyard the entire story and he decides to help her get out of this mess of a situation she got herself into by giving her an alibi. The plot thickens and there are many twists and turns. There are plenty of laughs and you will never be able to figure out just who is the killer until the very end of the film.

I confess that I did not know this character and that this film was my first encounter with the Lone Wolf, the nickname of the fictional character Michael Lanyard, a jewel thief turned private detective, in a series of novels written by Louis Joseph Vance (1879-1933). No less than 24 films were produced about the Lone Wolf, between 1917 and 1949. Warren William would play the character in nine of them, between 1939 and 1943, probably accompanied by his faithful servant Jamison, played by Eric Blore.

It's a typical television private eye series, avant la lettre, more "The Thin Man" than "Charlie Chan", where a traditional "who done it" script crosses with a situation comedy, usually led by Eric Blore, the comedian on duty, in this case accompanied by Fred Kelsey, the incompetent police assistant, always fooled by the Lone Wolf.

Pure entertainment, but fun, interesting and with the seal of the good old days. I became curious to see more episodes of the series.

This movie is a B-detective series film. This means that as a "B" movie, it was the second and usually lesser film on a double-feature bill. This didn't mean that B meant it was a bad film, but it was certainly given a smaller budget and had lesser pretensions and expectations from the studio. Many B-films were detective series films and they provided great but also relatively predictable entertainment (much like a movie version of a TV show like MURDER SHE WROTE or even LAW AND ORDER). Common to all these films were goofy or evil supporting characters, a very fast pace, a relatively short length (55-70 minutes) and a certain familiarity with the main characters. Some notable examples are the Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, Falcon or Saint series films.

The Lone Wolf is in many ways particularly like The Saint or Falcon films because the lead (Warren William) plays a reformed thief and gentleman who is smooth with the ladies. While he's very easy to like and is obviously a force for good, the police never seem to understand he's helping them. AND, because of this, the cops are pretty dumb! This is the trademark of all these films.

In this case, William is very ably assisted by Eric Blore (who is hilarious as his butler in this third Lone Wolf film). Unlike the last of the Warren William Lone Wolf films (The Lone Wolf Strikes), this one has a very good plot and actually has some entertaining twists and turns. Plus, like the first of the series (The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt), the supporting actors in general are excellent. A very good example of the series.

The Lone Wolf comes to the aid of Joan Bradley, a young woman who gets herself embroiled in a case of murder and robbery.

Gentleman thief turned Private Detective Michael Lanyard is once again on the case, ably supported by Jamison.

A pretty good installment, a solid if unremarkable plot, but as a whodunnit, it worked quite well. This did actually remind me a little of The Lone Wolf Strikes, a case that also involves a jewellery theft.

It's quite well paced, it's full of twists and turns, and you are made to wait to learn exactly who the killer is.

Jean Muir is very good as Joan Bradley, but it's Eric Blore who steals the show as Jamison, he is absolutely hilarious throughout, his quick wit and one liners are a total joy, his delivery is flawless.

A pleasing mystery, one I enjoyed.

7/10.

I've still a few of this series of films to see yet, but TLWMAL seems pretty typical of the William Warren Lone Wolf entries.

Basically the pretty and innocent socialite (Jean Muir) about to be married gets tangled up with theft and murder, then luckily for her gets tangled up with the Lone Wolf and his valet (Eric Blore). These two are about to go on holiday but stay to help the damsel in distress from the clutches of the law (Thurston Hall & Fred Kelsey).

There's quite a few twists and turns and the pace never lets up, especially when one of the baddies (Victor Jory) is summarily dismissed from the plot as a corpse without a shot being fired. I think one of the reasons why High Brows disdain this type of potboiler is because they're unnerved to find that it can take so much concentration to follow the story - This Should Not Be!

Favorite bit : In trying to give Muir an alibi, William runs the bath and orders her to take her clothes off - Blore is suitably and audibly outraged even though they immediately leave the room. The last few minutes are a bit frantic, but when the time was up they closed 'em down fast at Columbia.

This was good, recommended to all fans of the genre.