The Lone Wolf and His Lady

"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.

Columbia Pictures may have been one of the six major Hollywood studios, but when it came to their "B" level programmers there was not a lot of difference between them and Monogram, save better designed sets. "The Lone Wolf" was an early character from detective fiction whose exploits had been portrayed on film going back into the silent era, and had been best associated with actor Warren William, who of course by 1949 was deceased. This opened up the role to Australian actor and Errol Flynn lookalike Ron Randell, who gives his shot at The Lone Wolf the old college try without being terribly convincing at it; his reward would be roles in such films as "Omoo Omoo The Shark God." Alan Mowbray is the best part of "The Lone Wolf and his Lady;" the wit of his portrayal as The Lone Wolf's English sidekick Jamison -- not to mention the fact that he has the film's best lines -- help win the day for him. Lead actress June Vincent is appealing as The Lone Wolf's 'lady;' she comes off as a sort of poverty row Grace Kelly. William Frawley -- more than a year before he landed his signature role as Fred Mertz on television -- plays a hard-nosed police detective suited to his talents, but it is without much dimension; he is all bluster, stubborn and wrong about the case. "The Lone Wolf and his Lady" might play a bit better if you haven't seen other entries in the series, and it is really not as mediocre as some of the comments here state, though John Hoffman's paint-by-numbers direction is not a help and there are continuity issues galore. I found it reasonably entertaining by the end, though the second half of the film is clearly superior to the first; as short as it is, it still seems like it has a rather long and none-too-interesting set up.

This film begins at an old newspaper which has just been bought out by an owner convinced that they need to spice up the paper. Part of this involves more sensationalistic crime stories and an eager young female reporter makes ovations towards a rather frisky Michael Lanyard to tell his story of his early life and misadventures. Not surprisingly due to the standard "Lone Wolf formula", a gem is soon stolen and Lanyard is (as always) blamed for its disappearance--even though logically there is no way he could have taken it!!

For much of the early to mid 1940s, Warren William had played the reformed jewel thief, Michael Lanyard--also known as "The Lone Wolf". In many, many ways, he was similar to Boston Blackie--also from Columbia Pictures. However, with William in the lead, his character always seemed a bit more sophisticated and likable than Blackie, so I always thought the Lone Wolf films were just a bit better. However, as the years passed, the Wolf films started to look more and more like the Blackie films until their plots seemed interchangeable. And, in 1946, when William left the series, the distinctiveness disappeared as the new leading men had personalities of cardboard. Instead, Gerald Mohr and Ron Randell (two rather bland and forgettable guys) were cast as Lanyard and the series naturally slowly fizzled out. Because of this AND the departure of Lanyard's great side-kick (Eric Blore), this effort marks the very lowest point for the series and it was subsequently canceled (only to re-appear on TV a few years later).

The cancellation was not just because people missed the smooth William or the exceptionally funny and engaging Blore. No, much of it was because the plots were old and getting way too repetitive. How many times can Lanyard be accused by the police of committing a crime--only to ALWAYS be shown in the end that he is truly on the side of good?! After a while, the whole formula gets a bit ridiculous and tedious. Plus, this final film had little energy or not enough uniqueness to make us forget the older films. For die-hard fans of B-series detective films, it's worth a peek, but for others it's pretty skip-able. Plus, I'd hate for non-fans of the genre to see this film and think it's typical for a Lone Wolf film!

The Lone Wolf series for Columbia finally wrapped with The Lone Wolf And His Lady. Things were getting a bit thin for the series and in this film Ron Randell became the final actor to essay the character of Michael Lanyard.

What really hurt this series was that Eric Blore had made his farewell appearance in the previous Lone Wolf entry. Alan Mowbray as Jamison the Butler with Randell as Lanyard just didn't have the chemistry. Blore when he played Jamison with that elfin wit and charm was making more of a fool of law enforcement than his employer was at times and that's saying something.

The plot has the notorious master criminal once again accused of stealing a diamond. He's at the exhibit because Douglass Dumbrille's newspaper is paying him for his memoirs and he's there with reporter June Vincent covering the opening. When the jewel is stolen as always the cops in the person of William Frawley accuses him.

I kind of liked the idea of The Lone Wolf writing memoirs for syndication. What spicy reading they'll make.

A lot spicier than the film however.

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.