The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940)

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

Disappointing most likely considering the well-made predecessor, "The Lone Wolf Strikes" is slower moving and less well cast. The only plus in this comes with the sudden change with Eric Blore added as butler Jameson, played in the previous three entries by other actors. Blore would remain through most the series, adding some consistency with his dealings with boss Warren William, still suave and ready for anything that comes his way (except the persistent females) which usually does. This time around, it's another jewel theft, switched by the predatory female companion of wealthy Roy Gordon who is suddenly killed in a suspicious car accident. William finds out that there's more to this than just a switch of real and fake jewelery and finds himself getting caught up in something big. Convoluted and frustrating at times, this only gets somewhat amusing for the few moments William and Blore switch comic bits of dialog. Joan Perry and Astrid Allwyn are not memorable replacements for the previous entries casting of Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth, and the pace is much slower as well.

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.

"The Lone Wolf Strikes" from 1940 is a neat entry into the Lone Wolf series starring Warren William. William is delightful as Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf. His butler is played by Eric Blore, who has a large part in this and is very funny. In this story, Lanyard is asked by a friend to find pearls that were stolen from a friend of his, who was subsequently murdered - though the murder was called an accident.Fake pearls and real pearls bounce back and forth, with William going to a gathering as Emil Gorlick, a diamond merchant. Gorlick is actually played by Montagu Love, but when William finds out that he has never met the thieves, he ties Gorlick up and impersonates him in order to re-steal the pearls.Warren William was a wonderful, relaxed actor, an old-fashioned patrician type, who found humor in roles once the silents ended. In silents, he usually played the heavy. He played Perry Mason, Sam Spade, and Philo Vance, among other parts. He continued to play the occasional heavy, but he's best known for his precode work as a meanie. He died in 1948, only 53.Very enjoyable.