The Lone Wolf Strikes *** (1940, Warren William, Eric Blore, Joan Perry, Alan Baxter) – Classic Movie Review 12,903

Columbia Pictures’ 1940 crime thriller The Lone Wolf Strikes is the second Lone Wolf film starring roguish smoothie Warren William as retired jewel thief Michael Lanyard. Eric Blore takes over amusingly as bumbling butler Jamison.

Director Sidney Salkow’s 1940 Columbia Pictures black and white crime thriller film sequel The Lone Wolf Strikes stars Warren William, Eric Blore, Joan Perry, and Alan Baxter. It is the second of the Lone Wolf series starring the roguish smoothie Warren William.

The Lone Wolf Strikes is a nifty, pacy outing with a good mystery story in which retired jewel thief Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf (Warren William), is bent on finding the killer and the crooks and returning stolen pearls to a socialite, Delia Jordan (Joan Perry) after her father is murdered and valuable jewellery stolen. Smoothie Warren William makes an ideal Lone Wolf, Joan Perry is appealing, and Eric Blore (taking over form Leonard Carey as Lanyard’s manservant) is on good comic form as the bumbling butler Jamison.

It is written by Harry Segall and Albert Duffy, from a story by Dalton Trumbo, based on characters created by Louis Joseph Vance.

Also in the cast are Astrid Allwyn, Montague Love, Don Beddoe, Fred A Kelsey, Robert Wilcox, Addison Richards, Roy Gordon, Harland Tucker, and George Lynn.

It is the fourth film in the Columbia Pictures series and the second starring William as Michael Lanyard, following The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939).

The Lone Wolf Strikes is directed by Sidney Salkow, runs 66 minutes, is made and released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Harry Segall and Albert Duffy, from a story by Dalton Trumbo, based on characters created by Louis Joseph Vance, is shot in black and white by Henry Freulich, is produced by Fred Kohlmar, and is scored by M W Stoloff.

Louis Joseph Vance invented The Lone Wolf character in 1914 for a series of books, later adapted to 24 Lone Wolf films (1917–1949), nine of them (1939–1943) starring Warren William.

The cast are Warren William as Michael Lanyard, also known as Lone Wolf, Joan Perry as Delia Jordan, Eric Blore as Jamison, Alan Baxter as Jim Ryder, Astrid Allwyn as Binnie Weldon, Montagu Love as Emil Gorlick, Robert Wilcox as Ralph Bolton, Don Beddoe as Conroy, Fred A Kelsey as Dickens, Addison Richards as Stanley Young, Roy Gordon as Phillip Jordan, Harland Tucker as Alberts, and George Lynn [credited as Peter Lynn] as Dorgan.

The Lone Wolf films:

The Lone Wolf (silent, 1917, Bert Lytell)

The False Faces (silent, 1919, Henry B. Walthall)

The Lone Wolf’s Daughter (silent, 1919, Bertram Grassby)

The Lone Wolf (silent, 1924, Jack Holt)

The Lone Wolf Returns (silent, 1926, Bert Lytell)

Alias the Lone Wolf (silent, 1927, Bert Lytell)

The Lone Wolf’s Daughter (1929, Bert Lytell)

Last of the Lone Wolf (1930, Bert Lytell)

Cheaters at Play (1932, Thomas Meighan)

The Lone Wolf Returns (1935, Melvyn Douglas)

The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938, Francis Lederer)

The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939, Warren William)

The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940, Warren William)

The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady (1940, Warren William)

The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1941, Warren William)

The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941, Warren William)

Secrets of the Lone Wolf (1941, Warren William)

Counter-Espionage (1942, Warren William)

One Dangerous Night (1943, Warren William)

Passport to Suez (1943, Warren William)

The Notorious Lone Wolf (1946, Gerald Mohr)

The Lone Wolf in Mexico (1947, Gerald Mohr)

The Lone Wolf in London (1947, Gerald Mohr)

The Lone Wolf and His Lady (1949, Ron Randell).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,903

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