Nas Garras do Lobo

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.

Doesn't hold up well in comparison to the other "Lone Wolf" movies. Ron Randell is lively enough but he has a tough job trying to follow up ultra-suave Gerald Mohr and ultra-charming Warren William in an established series. Talented Alan Mowbray appears a bit uncomfortable but is still watchable. William Frawley of course is his usual gruff persona and is very effective as a policeman. He is really good in this movie, but wasn't he always?

I realize that this is a "B" movie but it lacks the gloss that the Gerald Mohr Lone Wolf films have (they were also B-movies but have a high level of gloss with good cinematography, lighting, etc.) And of course this movie can't hold your attention the way the Warren William films can, some of which were really well-made.

If you are a Lone Wolf fan you will still get the same successful formula and the usual jewel-thief plot that you are looking for. From this standpoint a Lone Wolf fan could possibly find this movie rewarding.

"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.

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!

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.