The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1940)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Warren William is back at the Lone Wolf, and like a bad penny, he seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, at least for rumbling police chief Thurston Hall, in Cuba on business and displeased to run into the constant thorn in his side. he is actually there to complete his Cuban stamp book, and having just gotten the last time that he needed find himself involved in the adventures and intrigue of a mysterious young woman, Frances Robinson, which leads him on a chase through all of Havana, and into all sorts of trouble that he hadn't quite expected. The plot of the movie really doesn't matter much, because it is how it is executed that makes the film so entertaining. Of course his old phone call and Fred Kelsey are in Cuba, and along with his devoted assistant Eric Blore, they assist the young Ms. Robinson. It is ironic that the plot explodes as William, floor and Robinson are on their way to the airport but unfortunately they are never able to leave the island. The film moves at breakneck speed with witty dialogue, plenty of action and great character performances including Jed Prouty. There are actually very few Hispanic characters seeing, and the cabby who is driving William to the airstrip happens to be black! This isn't quite a realistic set up, but presented so entertaining Lee, it remains an enjoyable entry in the series.I have both watched many of the 19 thirties and forties mystery series, and other than the Thin Man series, the Lone Wolf is the one which holds up the best. Columbia's Whistler series, holds up on simply being original in each entry, more anthology than a continuation. Others, like the same, the Falcon, Nick Carter, Boston Blackie and the single entry series of various other detectives involved in comic situation surrounding crime weren't always so entertainingly presented. Thanks to Williams consistent fresh performance, the films are truly enjoyable because it seems like the cast is simply just having fun. So be patient with flaws in the plot, holes in reality and every other issue that could otherwise make you roll your eyes.

A very enjoyable Lone Wolf movie, "The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date" finds Michael Lanyard (The Lone Wolf, played by Warren William) and his butler Jameson (Eric Pangborn) in Havana for a stamp convention. Well, the best laid plans -- Lanyard, a former jewel thief, soon finds himself without his collection and involved in a kidnapping, the young man who is accused sitting in prison, and his fiancé trying to pay the ransom.This is the outrageous and sophisticated Warren William at his best, with lots of comedy contributed by Pangborn. The two of them worked so well together.Though a B movie, this series was a lot of fun. Before William the role was played by Frances Lederer, Melvyn Douglas, and several other actors. After William departed the series in 1946, Gerald Mohr and Ron Randell played him. It was also a TV series starring the smooth Louis Hayward. I hope to see more starring William.

(There are Spoilers) The Lone Wolf better known as retired Jewel thief Michael Lanyard, Warren Williams, gets himself involved with beautiful Pat Lawrence, Frances Robinson, while in Havana Cuba looking and finding a rare Cuben postage stamp in fact a one of a kind.Lanyard gives Pat a ride to the airport, in his cab,not realizing that she's being targeted by a number of hoods who want what she has, but doesn't know what she has, in a package that Pat received at the Havana Post Office sent there by her fiancée Scotty,Bruce Bennett. Scotty is in jail back in Miami for a murder that he swears he didn't commit. It's that package together with this mysterious Portuguese fisherman Santos,Francis McDonald, who can prove Scotty's innocence which if convicted will land him straight into the Florida electric chair known as Ol' Sparky.It's in Miami that the hoodlums make their move grabbing Pat's package and making off with it after belting out cold Lanyard who tried to stop them. It turns out that there was a switch, on the hoodlums part, where they grabbed Lanyard's stamp collection instead of the package, which contained $100,000.00 in ransom money, that the hoods were really after.The rest of the film has Lanyard using both his wits and daring to get to the bottom of what's going on and he finds out that the $100,000.00 was to be paid to the hoods boss casino owner Joe Brady, Don Beddoe, in order to release millionaire Cyrus Colby, Henry Hurbert. Scotty a fishing boat captain got that money off the person that was his passenger and mailed it to his post office box back in Havana. Scotty's passenger was murdered by Brady's hoods, to which Portuguese fisherman Santos was an eye witness to, before he could get on board. They must of thought Sotty's boat passenger was taking off with it and keeping the cash all for himself; It was that person who Scotty was later indited for murdering.It took a while for Lanyard to get his act together but once he did it didn't take him long to get the message through to his faithful butler Jamison,Eric Blore, where Old Man Colby was being held hostage: Sandy Key a small island off the Florida coast. Getting the local Keystone-likes Kops lead by their strictly by the books Captain Moon, Jed Prouty,to follow him there, together with Pat driving a stolen or sea-jacked speed boat,Colbey was rescued by them just before Brady's boys were to put a bullet in his head. And as for Brady and his boys they were captured as Lynyard, who was also being held hostage by the Brady Bunch, was lucky that he didn't end up breaking his head in the car crash he instigating in making his escape from them.There's also in the movie, besides Capt. Moon and his over regimented law enforcers, New York police Inspector Crane, Thurston Hall, and his bumbling and butterfingered sidekick Detective Dickens, Fred Kelsey, as comedy relief. The two New York cops had no idea what they were up against, Brady and his gang of kidnappers, thinking that they were still after the Lone Wolf, Michael Lanyard, who had since gone straight and retired from his former life of crime. It was Lanyard who got them to get on the ball and get after the real bad guys in the movie by both impersonating Inspt. Crane and getting the all wet, by the time the movie was over, Det. Dickens on the right track to go after them.

During the 1940s, Columbia Pictures made two nearly identical B-detective series--Boston Blackie and The Lone Wolf. At times, the plots of the two seemed almost interchangeable and the formula was very similar. Both featured stupid police inspectors with even stupider assistants, both featured a leading man who had once been a criminal but had now gone straight and both featured a prominent role for a supporting buddy for the lead. About the only major difference was that the Lone Wolf's man-servant (Eric Blore) was hilarious and Blackie's friend ("Runt", usually played by George E. Stone) was relatively bland compared to the incomparable Blore. Blore simply was a very funny man in films like this as well as in the Astaire-Rogers films.Now as for the plot, it involves a kidnapped man and a woman who is trying to solve this mystery in order to clear her fiancé who has been wrongly jailed for the crime. Not unexpectedly, the Lone Wolf (Warren William) stumbles upon this very pretty lady and offers his able assistance. While none of this is particularly original or memorable, the acting is excellent and the film is all in good fun. Overall, better than a Blackie film and about on par with a Falcon or Saint series film.