Back from 4 years of fighting in WW2 for a few hours, and Michael Lanyard is immediately suspected of stealing a rare & valuable gem. Next thing, he winds up accused of murder, and has to find the real culprits to clear himself. So what else is new?
Meeting Jamison at the airport, Lanyard says, "Jamison, you haven't changed a bit!" That's clearly to comment on the fact that while Eric Blore returned as Jamison, Warren William has been replaced by Gerald Mohr-- younger, rougher & more romantic. But also more comical-- or, he would be if the writing in this one wasn't so AWFUL. There's a running gag about Lanyard & his (apparently) serious girlfriend (since when?) Carla Winter being continuously interrupted when they're trying to get romantic, Lanyard & Jamison at one point doing a bad impression of an Abbott & Costello routine, and overall, the entire film somehow looking and feeling like a 3 STOOGES short, except without the Stooges, and with most of it just NOT being funny. Three writers worked on this thing, and it seems it was the only "Lone Wolf" film for any of them. In my book, that was one film too many.
William B. Davidson replaces Thurston Hall as Inspector Crane, and manages to be far less stupid, despite the dodgy material he's given to work with. His career goes back to 1915, but the only things I've seen him in were bit parts in SCARFACE, THE DRAGON MURDER CASE, MAN-MADE MONSTER, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA.
Meanwhile, Eddie Acuff plays cop sidekick "Inspector Jones", a HUGE upgrade from the terminally brain-dead Sgt. Dickens (Fred Kelsey). I've seen him in a pile of movies, including THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS (he was a terrible "Spudsy"), THE PHANTOM CREEPS, CHARLIE CHAN IN PANAMA, BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN, THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN, HIGH SIERRA, LADY IN THE LAKE, and he was in a regular in the DR. KILDARE / DR. GILLESPIE film series. Oddly, he has virtually no lines in the film at all, and, Crane & Jones did NOT return in the follow-ups!
Don Beddoe makes his 6th appearance in the series, this time as shady nightclub owner Stonley, having previously been in ...SPY HUNT, ...STRIKES, ...MEETS A LADY, ...KEEPS A DATE, ...TAKES A CHANCE, making that 3 different cops and 3 different baddies he's played.
Peter Whitney is Harvey Beaumont, Beddoe's sidekick. Despite a long career, crazy enough, the only 2 things I remember him for was a deputy in IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) and a Mexican bandito in an episode of THE MONKEES!
Janis Carter is Carla Winter, an apparently serious girlfriend of Lanyard's who waited 4 years for him to come back from the war, yet oddly is never seen in the series again. This entire film gives me the impression that somebody at Columbia wanted to revive the series, but didn't actually put much thought into how to go about doing it.
John Abbott has a fun but brief role as the aide of a foreign dignitary. He always stands out, whether he in a SAINT film, or an episode of STAR TREK or LOST IN SPACE.
Ian Wolfe is Adam Wheelright, a legitimate jeweler who acts more suspiciously than he should. In a long career including multiple Basil Rathbone SHERLOCK HOLMES films and 2 episodes of STAR TREK, I'll always most remember him as Lillian Carlson's delightfully-difficult butler, "Hirsch" on WKRP IN CINCINNATI.
And that brings me to Gerald Mohr, who played a number of baddies in the 40s, including CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND, ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, JUNGLE GIRL (I really wanted him DEAD in that one!), and ONE DANGEROUS NIGHT (an earlier installment in this series). But he's probably better-remembered for THE ANGRY RED PLANET, episodes of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LOST IN SPACE, and as the voices of Green Lantern & Reed Richards in THE SUPERMAN-AQUAMAN HOUR OF ADVENTURE and FANTASTIC FOUR cartoons. In recent years, he also became my favorite actor to play PHILIP MARLOWE, on the radio series. Ever since, I've felt it was a real crime that he never played Marlowe in a movie or on TV. He blew Humphrey Bogart out of the water! If memory serves, his LONE WOLF films got better as they went. It's just a shame he started with one this bad. At a mere hour and 4 minutes, it felt a lot longer.
Meeting Jamison at the airport, Lanyard says, "Jamison, you haven't changed a bit!" That's clearly to comment on the fact that while Eric Blore returned as Jamison, Warren William has been replaced by Gerald Mohr-- younger, rougher & more romantic. But also more comical-- or, he would be if the writing in this one wasn't so AWFUL. There's a running gag about Lanyard & his (apparently) serious girlfriend (since when?) Carla Winter being continuously interrupted when they're trying to get romantic, Lanyard & Jamison at one point doing a bad impression of an Abbott & Costello routine, and overall, the entire film somehow looking and feeling like a 3 STOOGES short, except without the Stooges, and with most of it just NOT being funny. Three writers worked on this thing, and it seems it was the only "Lone Wolf" film for any of them. In my book, that was one film too many.
William B. Davidson replaces Thurston Hall as Inspector Crane, and manages to be far less stupid, despite the dodgy material he's given to work with. His career goes back to 1915, but the only things I've seen him in were bit parts in SCARFACE, THE DRAGON MURDER CASE, MAN-MADE MONSTER, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA.
Meanwhile, Eddie Acuff plays cop sidekick "Inspector Jones", a HUGE upgrade from the terminally brain-dead Sgt. Dickens (Fred Kelsey). I've seen him in a pile of movies, including THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS (he was a terrible "Spudsy"), THE PHANTOM CREEPS, CHARLIE CHAN IN PANAMA, BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN, THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN, HIGH SIERRA, LADY IN THE LAKE, and he was in a regular in the DR. KILDARE / DR. GILLESPIE film series. Oddly, he has virtually no lines in the film at all, and, Crane & Jones did NOT return in the follow-ups!
Don Beddoe makes his 6th appearance in the series, this time as shady nightclub owner Stonley, having previously been in ...SPY HUNT, ...STRIKES, ...MEETS A LADY, ...KEEPS A DATE, ...TAKES A CHANCE, making that 3 different cops and 3 different baddies he's played.
Peter Whitney is Harvey Beaumont, Beddoe's sidekick. Despite a long career, crazy enough, the only 2 things I remember him for was a deputy in IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) and a Mexican bandito in an episode of THE MONKEES!
Janis Carter is Carla Winter, an apparently serious girlfriend of Lanyard's who waited 4 years for him to come back from the war, yet oddly is never seen in the series again. This entire film gives me the impression that somebody at Columbia wanted to revive the series, but didn't actually put much thought into how to go about doing it.
John Abbott has a fun but brief role as the aide of a foreign dignitary. He always stands out, whether he in a SAINT film, or an episode of STAR TREK or LOST IN SPACE.
Ian Wolfe is Adam Wheelright, a legitimate jeweler who acts more suspiciously than he should. In a long career including multiple Basil Rathbone SHERLOCK HOLMES films and 2 episodes of STAR TREK, I'll always most remember him as Lillian Carlson's delightfully-difficult butler, "Hirsch" on WKRP IN CINCINNATI.
And that brings me to Gerald Mohr, who played a number of baddies in the 40s, including CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND, ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, JUNGLE GIRL (I really wanted him DEAD in that one!), and ONE DANGEROUS NIGHT (an earlier installment in this series). But he's probably better-remembered for THE ANGRY RED PLANET, episodes of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LOST IN SPACE, and as the voices of Green Lantern & Reed Richards in THE SUPERMAN-AQUAMAN HOUR OF ADVENTURE and FANTASTIC FOUR cartoons. In recent years, he also became my favorite actor to play PHILIP MARLOWE, on the radio series. Ever since, I've felt it was a real crime that he never played Marlowe in a movie or on TV. He blew Humphrey Bogart out of the water! If memory serves, his LONE WOLF films got better as they went. It's just a shame he started with one this bad. At a mere hour and 4 minutes, it felt a lot longer.