The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance

There was a bit more comedy in this film from The Lone Wolf Series. The Lone Wolf as played by Warren William and his valet Jamison who is Eric Blore after being innocently trapped in a device to discourage bank robbers bet Inspector Thurston Hall that they can't go 24 hours without getting in some kind of trouble. That's a stupid bet on William's part because this whole series is The Lone Wolf getting into all kinds of scrapes and the police not believing he's gone legitimate.

This time trouble comes in the form of private detective Regis Toomey being shot and falling nine stories to his death outside William's hotel room. Toomey was on a case involving a gang trying to rob a newly designed train car invented by Lloyd Bridges. It opens with a combination and an attempt to break in without knowing the combination will result in poison gas killing you. A bit extreme I think, but the first cargo this car is carrying is treasury plates and lots of crooks would like to get their hands on those.

It's the usual run of things for William and Blore trying to catch the crooks in this case a gang led by Henry Wilcoxon and Walter Kingsford and trying to stay a step ahead of the cops who always think William is the bad guy. It's not much of a challenge in the case of Fred Kelsey who is Thurston Hall's sidekick and the butt of every gag in the film. Kelsey is one of those dumb flatfoots who graduated from the Keystone Police Academy and it's almost cruel what William and Blore do to him in every film.

Fans of the Lone Wolf series and Warren William should definitely like The Lone Wolf Takes A Chance. Incidentally he does lose the bet and pays off, sort of.

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.

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.

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"?

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.