As Jóias da Coroa

Melvin Douglas starred in Columbia's 1935 remake of the 1926 silent "The Lone Wolf Returns," while Francis Lederer takes on the role in this isolated followup from 1938. The series proper begins with the next entry, "The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt" (1939), which starred Warren William in the first of his nine films that continued through 1943 (the character featured in six silent features and three early talkies before the Douglas remake). Obviously the inspiration for the Saint and the Falcon, The Lone Wolf was a reformed jewel thief with an eye for the ladies, and in "Paris," they don't get much prettier than Frances Drake ("Mad Love", "The Invisible Ray"), cast as a princess in distress. The dependable Walter Kingsford and a young Albert Dekker (billed as Albert Van Dekker) are among the villains but they don't come off as being a very dangerous bunch hence the middling grade, though Lederer is perfectly acceptable if one can excuse the accent (which made him an intriguing choice for the title role in "The Return of Dracula" in 1958.) In this film and the previous entry with Douglas, The Lone Wolf's valet is named Jenkins but beginning with Warren William's debut film the character was dubbed Jamison and thereafter played in all but one film by Eric Blore. The Wolf's given name is Michael Lanyard but Lederer's first name is spelled Michel. This is one of the five entries from 1935 to 1949 that has yet to be shown on Turner Classic Movies so that may explain why there have been no prior comments. Hardly an essential entry but worth a look for the curious.

I quite enjoyed Francis Lederer's interpretation of our reformed "Lanyard" here. He arrives in Paris only to find his luxury hotel a bit reticent to accommodate him! It doesn't help that he has more wanted posters on him than Billy the Kid! Anyway, some endorsements from the great and the good of European policing get him in, and straight into a blackmailing mess that could effect the future king of 'Arvonne". It seems the Queen (Ruth Robinson) effectively pawned the crown jewels to her nobility who are now refusing to return them so the mischievous "Grand Duke Gregor" (Walter Kingsford) can usurp the throne. Luckily, our hero and the feisty princess "Thania" (Frances Drake) concoct a cunning plan to get the stones back into the right hands before the imminent coronation of her young brother. There are some spurious accents throughout this hour-long drama, but it's still quite a characterful little enterprise with Lederer and Kingsford developing quite a decent, knife-throwing, cat and mouse scenario. The production is on the basic side, and it really could have been doing with a bit more light, but it's decently paced with just enough intrigue and posh frocks to keep it watchable.

This time, it's Francis Lederer who takes on the role of Michael Lanyard in "The Lone Wolf in Paris" from 1938, directed by Albert S. Rogell. Eric Blore is his assistant, named Jenkins instead of Jamison.

The minute Lanyard and Jenkins enter their hotel, they are accused of theft! Lanyard has to show letters from Europe's top police forces to convince them he's out of the jewel robbery business.

When he gets to his suite, he finds a woman hiding in his open trunk as the house detectives search. They have robbery on the brain.

The woman's story unfolds. She is a princess. Hir mother used the crown jewels of her country as loan collateral. When she went to repay the loan, the people who gave her the loan decided they would rather rule the country. The theft will be discovered at her brother's coronation, which will then not take place.

Lanyard then begins his quest to get the jewels back, which have been replaced with paste.

Lederer is so handsome and dashing, and of course his Wolf has a much more European sophistication. Plus he's very romantic. He doesn't have Warren William's humor, but he's still good.

I didn't see the best print, but I recommend it. Lederer is a favorite of mine, a delightful actor. A week before he died at age 100, he was still teaching at his acting school.

In "The Lone Wolf in Paris", Michael Lanyard is played by Francis Lederer. He was fine in the role, though quite a bit different from Warren Williams' version of the character....not better, not worse...just different.

The story, naturally, begins in Paris. He comes to know a princess in the most unusual way....she's inside a trunk that is delivered to his room! She soon pulls out a gun and is about to make her escape with some jewels when Lanyard overpowers her....and quickly looks over the jewels and pronounces them to be fakes! No harm done, the woman leaves. Later, when Lanyard goes to dinner, he meets the princess and ingratiates himself to her. He wants to know what's happening....and she confides in him that three scoundrels from her country have three crown jewels. It seems the queen used them as collateral for a loan....and when she tried to pay them back, they refused her money. It seems that they want to embarrass the royalty and somehow make themselves leader of this fictional nation. Naturally, Lanyard agrees to steal the jewels and return them to the princess because, apparently, he loves the idea of rule by a small, highly inbred hereditary ruler.

So is this any good? Yes....very good for a B-mystery. The pacing is nice, Lederer is nice as the suave reformed criminal and the story ends wonderfully...at least for the royal family.

Princess in Trouble Calls Reformed Jewel Thief Michael Lanyard to Help Her Fight Malicious Opposition. But. I'm sorry to be able to tell my father that, your film is too short, just for a long film.