THE LONE WOLF TAKES A CHANCE
US, 1941, 74 minutes, Black-and-white.
Warren William, June Storey, Henry Wilcoxon, Eric Blore, Thurston Hall, Fred Kelsey, Don Beddoe, Evalyn Knapp, Walter Kingsford, Lloyd Bridges
Directed by Sidney Salkow.
The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt, 1939, was very successful, a star vehicle for Warren William. It was the first of nine films in a series featuring him as Michael Lanyard, reformed criminal and safe breaker. This film also introduced Eric Blore as Jamison, his butler and associate in crime and reform. Each film was just over an hour, an enjoyable supporting feature, showing William as his suave best, infiltrating many a crime, always solving the crimes. Another regular was first in hall as Inspector Crane as well is Fred Kelsey as his inept associate, Dickens, always making a fool of himself, eager to arrest Lanyard, his resignation often being demanded.
All the films were a variation on the basic plot, a crime introduced, often with jewellery, an appeal to Lanyard or his accidental involvement, the police accusing him of the crime, his ingenious devices, along with Jamison, to infiltrate criminal groups, expose the truth and humiliate the police.
The central crime of this film is rather different from previous films which often involved jewel robberies. Perhaps it was impending war that shifted the emphasis on to broader public crime. An inventor, played by a young Lloyd Bridges, has made a train carriage which is impregnable, a safe combination, an automatic release of gas if the safe is opened. In this story, it is on an inaugural train journey and is carrying money plates.
Michael Lanyard has become involved because of the scuffle outside his hotel apartment. He has been involved with Inspector Crane and has made a bet with him and Dickens that he can keep out of trouble for 24 hours. When a private detective taps on his window and Lanyard considers it a joke, the man is shot and falls to his death. The intricate plot leads to a film star making a live appearance in the cinema. The inventor, abducted, has received a note inviting him to a hotel to see her where he has been abducted and taken to a train in the guise of a seriously ill patient.
Lanyard, in the cinema, sees the newsreel about the train, helps the actress who, because of her status, has a motorcycle escort to the station, and boards the train with Jamison. A lot of the action takes place on the train, Lanyard meeting a friendly doctor who turns out to be sinister and there is a struggle to free the inventor. This fails and Lanyard, Jamison and the actress flee by car, following the thugs and the doctor.
The film could well have been trimmed to the ordinary running time but a lot of time is spent in the mysterious house, people falling through holes, devious corridors, Inspector Crane turning up.
In the meantime, it is discovered that the inventor has been placed in the carriage with his invention and is in danger from the gas. Lanyard has the bright idea to look at the newsreel again, enlarge the images so that he can see the safe code. He and Jamison then hire a plane which takes them to Gary, Indiana, and split second timing for Lanyard to open the safe and to rescue the inventor. And the criminals are all rounded up.
Rather a different variation on the Lone Wolf themes.
