The Lone Wolf Strikes

Decent entry in The Lone Wolf series. The plot about a stolen pearl necklace and fake duplicates, along with two gangs of competing baddies, is pretty convoluted. In fact, you may need a scorecard to keep track of the disappearing necklaces. Holding things together, of course, is the commanding Warren William as the reformed jewel thief turned amateur sleuth. As the Wolf, he does the tongue-in-cheek part well, so we never take things too seriously—a requirement for the many amateur detectives of the time. But what's this about the Wolf ooing-and-aahing over his rows of aquariums. Something fishy going on here. There's also good humorous support from Blore as the butler, while the two well-upholstered girls, Perry and Alwyn, supply tricky eye candy.

Frankly, I would prefer a more streamlined plot, (do we really need a second jewel thief gang), but the basic premise is a good one, and I like that first bit of necklace trickery where Jordan gets fooled by a seductive Binnie. Note that the story is from the now legendary blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, still working the B-movie level. On the whole, it's an entertaining hour without being anything special.

This was William Warren's 2nd outing as Michael Lanyard the Lone Wolf with the eternal butler Eric Blore in for his 1st of many. It's another pleasant mystery-adventure, with fairly high Columbia production values and a generally light-hearted approach.

Girls father is murdered and has valuable pearl necklace stolen, girl enrols Lanyard to help and they both seem keener to find the pearls than the murderers. At first anyway, when their close mutual friend is also murdered it suddenly gets serious. With many wonderful gurnings by Blore, laconic wit from William and decoration from inquisitive Joan Perry it races along to the satisfactory climax. Favourite bit: Lanyard's fond encounter with his old friend (?) Emil Gorlic (played by Montagu Love) in his hotel room. Lanyard's passion for his extensive aquarium in his living room was I'm glad to relate, short-lived, and by the way the disputed elaborate balcony from Spy Hunt is here too, again on the 1st floor this time at the house of one of the baddies.

If you like the genre as I do - nice work by all concerned, if you don't - shame you wasted your time.

Delia Jordan's father is murdered and some very valuable jewelry stolen. She hires Michael Lanyard (aka The Lone Wolf), a retired-and-reformed jewel thief to find the killer and the jewels.

The 2nd Lone Wolf entry starring Warren William is a tightly-plotted, engaging one with a clever run around over the stolen pearls. One minute there's a fake one exchanged for the real one etc - the Lone Wolf is always one step ahead, but he's bit hampered by the interference of Joan Perry who plays the daughter of the murdered man; she's a restless client who is practically on Warren's heels every minute, overly anxious to get back her father's gems. There's another beauty Astrid Allwyn an alluring moll, who along with her boyfriend are after the pearls and so are another group. Nice chase sequence at the end.

Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf is hired by Delia Jordan, who's father was killed, and had some highly valuable jewellery stolen.

It's perhaps not as good as the first film, but it's still a fine watch. It's a very easy going watch, it's fun, it's intriguing, and there's enough happening to keep you entertained, pacing is good, helped by a relatively short running time.

Warren William is great once again as the lead character, oozing charm and charisma, Joan Perry is great in support, Eric Blore is outrageous as The Butler, he's an absolute scream.

It's a very stylish looking film, even after so many years have past it still looks so slick, it's beautifully shot and produced.

I loved those quirky scenes with the fish, so different.

Nothing heavy, just a very pleasing, east to watch mystery.

7/10.

The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Fun entry in the series has a young woman (Joan Perry) have her father murdered and some expensive pearls stolen so Michael Lanyard (Warren William), aka The Lone Wolf, takes the case and uncovers several bad guys all wanting the jewels. This certainly isn't going to be mistaken for a classic but I think there's enough good stuff going on here to make it worth viewing to anyone who enjoys these older mystery series. As you'd expect, William is pitch-perfect in the lead because he has no trouble playing tough and a he certainly has no issue playing laid back, cool and he can deliver a one-liner when need be. All of those years working in various pre-codes for Warner really set William up good for a series like this because he can pretty much play anything. If a scene needs charm then he can deliver. If he needs to be tough then he can deliver that. William is certainly the main reason to watch the film as he keeps it moving at a very fast pace. The supporting cast includes a nice bit by Joan Perry as the rather obnoxious daughter who can't stay out of trouble and we also get Eric Blore playing the butler. The story itself is a pretty strong one as we're given a couple mysterious to be solved. The film starts going down one track but quickly changes as a second mystery comes up. At 67-minutes the film moves at a very fast pace and keeps the viewer guessing along the way.