The Lone Wolf and His Lady (1949) User Reviews (11)

End of the series

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 6 March 2012]

"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.

Not exactly a strong finish to the movie series

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 16 November 2007]

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!

Inefffective entry in the series with Ron Randell as the Lone Wolf...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 27 October 2007]

RON RANDELL and ALAN MOBRAY are the unfortunate replacements for The Lone Wolf and his faithful valet Jamison. Given the material, they do respectful work but none of it has much effect or can overcome the weak plot, all too familiar by this time.

JUNE VINCENT is the newspaper woman who gets to spout some snappy dialog in all of her confrontations with the newspaper boss, the police and Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf. WILLIAM FRAWLEY is a police inspector and DOUGLAS DUMBRILLE is an agitated newspaper publisher. STEVEN GERAY is a kidnapped diamond cutter.

She invites Lanyard to attend the opening of an exhibit featuring the unveiling of the world's third largest diamond, the Tahara Diamond. Naturally the jewels are stolen during a well planned robbery and Inspector Crane immediately suspects Lanyard of being the thief.

For devotees of the series, this one has all the familiar elements without any new twists. It's passable, but easily forgotten.

Weak by comparison...............

[Panamint · 29 October 2007]

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.

Spicy Reading

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 3 March 2012]

The Lone Wolf series for Columbia finally wrapped with The Lone Wolf And His Lady. Things were getting a bit thin for the series and in this film Ron Randell became the final actor to essay the character of Michael Lanyard.

What really hurt this series was that Eric Blore had made his farewell appearance in the previous Lone Wolf entry. Alan Mowbray as Jamison the Butler with Randell as Lanyard just didn't have the chemistry. Blore when he played Jamison with that elfin wit and charm was making more of a fool of law enforcement than his employer was at times and that's saying something.

The plot has the notorious master criminal once again accused of stealing a diamond. He's at the exhibit because Douglass Dumbrille's newspaper is paying him for his memoirs and he's there with reporter June Vincent covering the opening. When the jewel is stolen as always the cops in the person of William Frawley accuses him.

I kind of liked the idea of The Lone Wolf writing memoirs for syndication. What spicy reading they'll make.

A lot spicier than the film however.

"I wish I could dissuade you, but I'm completely reformed."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 23 May 2016]

Not to be confused with "The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady" (1940). I guess you don't need me to state that this film doesn't have the entertainment value of the Warren William entries in the series; it looks like every other reviewer here has mentioned it. I'll also second everyone else's opinion that Eric Blore makes for a better Jamison. I know it won't make much difference for younger viewers who aren't familiar with actors of the Forties, but if you're of the proper persuasion, you might agree with me that Alan Mowbray looks like he could have been a cross between Pat O'Brien and William Bendix. Check it out.

The first thing that managed to bother me in the story had to do with the theft of the Sahara Diamond from it's display case - it wasn't even secured!! The thief simply lifted the glass cover and took the bauble while everyone else was affected by the gas attack. Funny, you would think someone in authority might have wandered over to the display figuring this was a crime in progress, even if they had a coughing fit to get there.

And say, did Jamison just throw the diamond out the window when he had it back in possession? That seemed like a dicey proposition to me in case he made an errant throw. Well at least the women in the story were good sports and added some charm to the proceedings, and I always like to see William Frawley show up in a flick. Subbing for Thurston Hall as Inspector Crane in this story might be the single concession I'd make for replacing one of the players from the Warren William films.

All of which is not to say the movie was terrible, it just wasn't as interesting as many of the ones that came before. I think it's pretty safe to say by now that Michael Lanyard's a reformed crook, and I'd put up a glass of beer with a spot of ice cream to place that bet.

Weakest of the 23 Lone Wolf Movies

[Man99204 · 3/10 · 21 May 2016]

The Lone Wolf movies were a series of 23 B pictures which featured the same set of leading characters - Michael Lanyard and his Valet/friend Jamison. These movies were reliable entertainment from 1917 to 1949.

This was the last Lone Wolf movie. It is also by far the weakest movie in the series. The Lone Wolf is a reformed Master Jewel thief - a rogue with a heart of gold.

This movie totally lacks the humor which made the earlier films to easy to watch. Part of this is because of the cast. Ron Randell lacks the charisma to pull off the Michael Lanyard character. The same thing can be said for veteran actor Alan Mowbray as his Valet. Mowbray is far too cultured and refined to convincingly play a mere Valet. He also lacks the cheeky humor that Eric Blore gave to this part.

June Vincent plays the leading lady. Her hairstyle is so bad it has to be seen to be believed. Parted right down the middle and worn slicked down into place, with the forward half light blond and the rear half a totally different darker color.

Fans of the old "I Love Lucy" program will spot William Frawley playing the Police Inspector. No one played crusty authority figures better than Frawley. His performance is the bright spot in the film.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with this movie, there is also nothing particularly right with this movie either. Everything just seems a little off. There is a reason that this film is rarely shown.

Not So Bad; Would Be Better If It Were Not Part Of An Established Property

[DLewis · 4/10 · 12 April 2012]

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.

The Lone Wolf takes an hiatus

[sol-kay · 5/10 · 31 December 2007]

***SPOILERS***Just about out of gas and ideas "The Lone Wolf" series ends on a high note with the "Lone Wolf" Michael Laynard, Ron Randall,and his partner in crime as well as crime fighting Jamison, Alan Mowbary, seemed to have finally retired catching crooks and being finally hitched up to two young lady reporters from the Daily Register Grace Duffy & Martha Frisbie,June Vincent & Collette Lyons, as husbands and wives.

Laynard still has to prove his innocence in a major Jewel robbery, of the $350,000,00 Tahara Diamond, at the Tanner Gallery that he attended as a guest of the Daily Register. It's the Register's crime reporter Grace Duffy who's doing a biographical piece on Lanyard that got the Lone Wolf invited into the gallery. It's there that the diamond ended up getting robbed, in a surprise stink bomb attack, by Jewel thief Steve Taylor, Robert Barrat, and his partner Bill Slovak, Jack Overman.

Lanyard on the run as usual has his friend Jamison and Grace Duffy get the evidence to who's really responsible for the heisting of the Tahara Diamond. It turns out that both Jewel robbers are not the only one's responsible for the robbery there's also someone else involved who, to the surprise of the police, at first ended up as being a victim of the crime!

The movie has Lanyard, together with Grace, do some kind of Three Card Monty act in just who's got the real diamond with a fake one replacing it by the unknown, even to Taylor & Slovak, crook who grabbed it. During the entire movie Police Inspector J.D Crane, William Farwley, is made a fool of by both Laynyard and the real diamond thief having no idea not just who took the diamond but if in fact it's the real McCoy. Inspt. Crane tries to convince himself and everyone else, will little or no success, that it was Lanyard, not Taylor & Slovak, all along who took the diamond with absolutely not a shred of evidence to back up his claims!

Lanyard of course got the jump on everyone by knowing the mechanics and tricks, from years of experience, of being a successful Jewel thief and in the end finding who ripped off the Tahara Diamond was as easy for him as putting his pants on. You have to get up real early in the morning to fool the old Lone Wolf and the person who tried to found that out the hard, hard as a diamond, way.

The last of the "Lone Wolf" film series has Ron Randall replacing the late William Warren, who past away the year before, as the legendary as well as suave and debonair ex-Jewel thief. Warren in fact retired from the Lone Wolf movies five years, in 1943, before his death on September 24 1948 and actor Ron Randall was obviously meant, by the series writers and producers, to restart the series by replacing William Warren in it; Randall's "The Lone Wolf and His Lady" turned out to be the last of the lot.

It seemed that after 15 years the public got tired of the Lone Wolf's, together with his friend and valet Jamison, adventures and nobody, not even a resurrected William Warren,could save the long running series.

Memoirs of The Lone Wolf

[profh-1 · 4/10 · 24 February 2023]

A failing newspaper, taken over by a greedy and unstable businessman, decides to hike up its ratings by focusing more on sensationalism, including, crime stories. Based on a suggestion from-- of all people-- Inspector Crane-- they decide to hire Michael Lanyard to serialize his memoirs, and along the way, show up to host the presentation of a fabulous jewel. Next thing, the jewel is stolen, Crane accuses Lanyard of the theft, and, oddly enough, the man who cut the stone is kidnapped, which the police seem completely unaware of and disinterested in. Once again, Lanyard has no choice but to nail the real crooks to prove his innocence to a police inspector who hasn't displayed an intelligent idea in his head for the last 15 years.

Following the previous film 2 years earlier, there was a LONE WOLF radio show from Mutual, in which, apparently, both Gerald Mohr & Walter Coy played Lanyard. I'd really love to hear some of those, to see how they stand up. But when Columbia decided to do this, they recast everybody. Was this intended to start a new era of the film series, or was it just a one-off throwaway that somehow got onto the studio's production schedule? I suppose in 3 STOOGES terms, this would be a "Joe Besser" episode...

Ron Randell is "Michael Lanyard". He wasn't particularly bad, but he was definitely lacking the charms of pretty much EVERY actor who preceded him in the part. He'd played "Bulldog Drummond" in 2 films before this, but I've also seen him in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, KING OF KINGS, THE LONGEST DAY, a WILD WILD WEST and a PROTECTORS. But it's a 2nd-season OUTER LIMITS episode, "The Duplicate Man", that he really impressed me in. Elements of that story turned up later in BLADE RUNNER, but, frankly, I prefer the OL version of the story! I wish he was better in this.

Alan Mobray is "Jamison", who probably brings the one bit of actual class to this film. More serious than any of his predecessors, the one really odd thing is how this version of Jamison seems perfectly happy having gone straight, yet is worried that his boss might be tempted back to his old ways-- which is the complete opposite of their relationship in every single previous film in the series! Did whoever wrote this thing even bother watching any of the earlier films? I suspect not. I've enjoyed Mowbray in a number of films, including SHERLOCK HOLMES (1932), A STUDY IN SCARLET (1933), CHARLIE CHAN IN LONDON, THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, TERROR BY NIGHT, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, as well as episodes of MIKE HAMMER (1958) and THE MAN FROM UNCLE.

William Frawley is "Inspector Crane", and his version of the character is so limited, so one-note, and so BRAIN-DEAD, he almost makes me wish for Thurston Hall, who at least had some personality to go with his non-stop idiocy. Becoming a regular on I LOVE LUCY must have really been a boost to his career, though I've heard that Vivian Vance couldn't stand him!

Douglass Dumbrille is "John J. Murdock", the rich investor who acquired the newspaper in a "trade", and is determined to make money off of it. While at first his decisions seem to work out for all involved, the instant there's trouble, he flip-flops and fires both his new editor and new crime reporter (typical behavior of a Wall Street type), then changes his tune when it appears things will work out after all. He could almost have been one of the inspirations for "J. Jonah Jameson" in the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN comic-books. A much-better actor than this would indicate, I've also seen him in I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG, TREASURE ISLAND (1934), THE LONE WOLF RETURNS (1935), A DAY AT THE RACES, MR. MOTO IN DANGER ISLAND, CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND, CITY IN DARKNESS, MICHAEL SHAYNE: PRIVATE DETECTIVE, ELLERY QUEEN AND THE PERFECT CRIME, CASTLE IN THE DESERT, JULIUS CAESAR (1953), THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, SHOCK TREATMENT (1964), and one episode of BATMAN ("A Death Worse Than Fate").

Between the dull crime story we also see some romance brewing for both Lanyard and Jamison with a pair of reporters at the paper; the more amusing (and confusing) involves a former WAC who one moment really goes for Jamison, at another uses judo on him without meaning to, and they go from one scene to another either being crazy about each other or wanting nothing to do with each other.

Sadly, it's no surprise to me why this was Columbia's final LONE WOLF film. 6 years later, it would be followed by THE LONE WOLF tv series, involving entirely-different people on both sides of the cameras. There would also be ONE more "Lone Wolf" film, based on Louis Joseph Vance's writings-- but unofficially, as its producers actually had the rights to an entirely-different character, but insanely decided to base their film on Vance's work rather than the one they actually claimed they were doing. That 1997 film was far from the only time that kind of thing happened, either. What the hell IS it with Hollywood anyway?

The End of the Wolf

[Michael_Elliott · 25 May 2012]

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.