The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date

This was Warren Williams's 4th Lone Wolf outing to Eric Blore's 3rd as the adventurous master and butler Michael Lanyard and Jamison. The entire cast were dapper in the Hollywood sunshine but Blore outshone them all, he was never more snazzily dressed than in here.

The plot has it that Lanyard lets himself become embroiled in a rather nasty kidnapping affair after the baddies steal his precious stamp album mistaking it for their pay off of USD 100,000. And as usual he was helping out a damsel in distress. Amidst some fine comedic banter between the leads, slapstick, the baddies being hunted down by Lanyard and vice versa with the cops after Lanyard it can all get can pretty complicated and surreal at times, especially when the yacht makes an appearance so I recommend attention. Favourite bits: The amusing opening and chase scene in Havana; Lanyard feigning utter horror at the mess his stamp collection had got into in baddie Ed Gargan's none-too-delicate hands; whenever 53 yo zooty Blore had to run - what a sight!

All in all another nice entry in the series (by my count no. 6/15), for those of us who like the genre.

Warren William makes his fourth appearance as the title character Lone Wolf, and this time film centres on former jewel thief Michael Lanyard, aiming to recover his stamp collection as well as helping a damsel in distress, whose fiancée is accused of murder, and this involves a kidnapping.

The usual fun and games occur in this standard entry, but the comedy can overpower the mystery elements, whereas the previous entries I have seen balanced mystery and comedy quite well. Nevertheless, The Lone Wolf keeps a date is enjoyable, zips at a fast rate, and Jamison, Lone Wolf's valet - played by Eric Blore - is just as fast thinking as his boss. The leading lady was very pretty.

Michael Lanyard,(Warren William) as the Lone Wolf has his hands full in this series trying to come to the aid of a very pretty young gal named Patricia Lawerence,(Frances Robinson). Michael Lanyard has his valuable stamp collection worth 100,000 dollars stolen and also gets involved with a kidnapping. Lanyard always keeps trying to leave clues to his whereabouts to his sidekick, Jamison,(Eric Blore) and Patricia who ride on boats and yachts on the waters of California. Inspector Crane, (Thurston Hall) is constantly tying to catch the Lone Wolf along with plenty of slapstick comedy and plenty of laughs. Jamison wore very nice clothes in this film and even out shined the Lone Wolf in his outfits. Enjoy a great 1940 Classic.

During the 1940s, Columbia Pictures made two nearly identical B-detective series--Boston Blackie and The Lone Wolf. At times, the plots of the two seemed almost interchangeable and the formula was very similar. Both featured stupid police inspectors with even stupider assistants, both featured a leading man who had once been a criminal but had now gone straight and both featured a prominent role for a supporting buddy for the lead. About the only major difference was that the Lone Wolf's man-servant (Eric Blore) was hilarious and Blackie's friend ("Runt", usually played by George E. Stone) was relatively bland compared to the incomparable Blore. Blore simply was a very funny man in films like this as well as in the Astaire-Rogers films.

Now as for the plot, it involves a kidnapped man and a woman who is trying to solve this mystery in order to clear her fiancé who has been wrongly jailed for the crime. Not unexpectedly, the Lone Wolf (Warren William) stumbles upon this very pretty lady and offers his able assistance. While none of this is particularly original or memorable, the acting is excellent and the film is all in good fun. Overall, better than a Blackie film and about on par with a Falcon or Saint series film.

Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf is elated when he manages to complete his Cuban stamp collection at a shop in Havana, on his way to The Airport, he encounters a young woman named Patricia Lawrence, and offers to help her with a sizeable problem.

Not my favourite Lone Wolf film, but still a watchable film, Warren William is intensely watchable and good fun, and he does make it pretty enjoyable.

There is a lot going on, possibly too much, it seems to rush excitedly into one direction, pause, then veer off on another strand, stamps, kidnap, ransom, it's a bit too much at times.

I've enjoyed each of The Lone Wolf mysteries, and all of them so far have had a nice balance of comedy and mystery, I would suggest that this one is a little more balanced towards the humorous side, some of it works, some of it is a little too much, the mystery takes something of a back seat.

Eric Blore, Frances Robinson, Jed Prouty and Thurston Hall are all very good.

6/10.