Wordiezett
So much average
Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
mark.waltz
As dashing as ever, Warren William is very amusing as the independent crime solver who makes a bet with police detectives that he will stay out of trouble for 24 hours. Fat chance of that happening, because like "Murder She Wrote", bad things always happen when he's around even if he isn't involved. This comic mystery gets off to a hilarious start when a black cat ends up wearing valuable pearls that are believed mistakenly by the very effeminate male jeweler to be stolen. This is what leads William to make the deal with detective Thurston Hall, and valet Eric Blore makes the same bet with the seriously idiotic detective Fred Kelsey. Intrigue on a train results in murder, bringing the foursome together for a mixture of comedy and crime.A fun B picture, this has everything that audiences clamored for in World War II. The villains are comparable to Nazi's, and William is the epitome of that no nonsense American who could use his wits to get out of jams and deal with ruthless criminals and nitwits like Kelsey who gets more laughs simply by being overly serious and thinking that he's the smartest guy in the room. June Storey plays a fictional movie star who maybe involved with the villains. Look for a young Lloyd Bridges as a train passenger.
Michael_Elliott
The Lone Wolf Take a Chance (1941)** 1/2 (out of 4) Good entry in the Columbia series has Michael Lanyard (Warren William) arrested on murder charges but of course he's innocent and must prove it. With the help of an actress (June Storey) and his assistant Jamison (Eric Blore), The Lone Wolf gets mixed up with murderers and counterfeiters. THE LONE WOLF TAKES A CHANCE is certainly a step up from the previous installment and after an opening sequence full of laughs, the film quickly picks up speed as we're given a rather interesting murder and an even busier series of events trying to explain what happened. I'm going to spoil what happened but the murder of the cop comes in a pretty surprising way and it's quite effective in the way that Lanyard gets mixed up in the events. Yes, one could argue that it was done in an over-the-top and unbelievable way but at least it was an original one. The comedy moments early on are actually pretty funny and they don't hurt the film like in previous episodes. There's a hilarious opening bit where The Lone Wolf tries to capture a black cat that has some pearls around its neck and the entire sequence is well directed and put together. There's some even funnier bits towards the middle of the picture when The Lone Wolf is stuck in a basement with the Inspector. The mystery aspect of the film is handled pretty well but I must say that all of the events were pretty hard to believe. As normal, William offers up a very good performance as the title character but by this time he could play it in his sleep. I really enjoyed Storey as the female lead and the regular cast of characters (Blore, Thurston Hall) are in fine form as well. We also get a young Lloyd Bridges. Fans of "B" mysteries should get a kick out of this one. It's certainly not among the best but it is fast paced and contains some fun moments.
sol
**SPOILERS**Always getting themselves into trouble playful and somewhat inebriated ex-Jewel thief Michael Lanyard, Warren William, and his faithful and somewhat nutty companion Jamison,Eric Blore,get in over their necks in this movie by having a murder rap hanging over their heads.After getting falsely arrested for attempted bank robbery, by chasing a black cat with a string of pearls around it's neck, Lanyard & Jamison take up a bet, a two week paycheck, from their arch enemies the bumbling Inspector Crane and his sidekick Det.Dicken, Thurston Hall & Fred Kelsey,that they can stay out of trouble for a 24 hour period; It just didn't happen. Lanyard gets innocently involved in the murder, by not letting him into is hotel room, of a detective who was left standing on the ledge of his bathroom as Lanyard was busy shaving. Lanyard thought the detective was working for Crane and was trying to get him to break the law.It turned out that the detective was protecting inventor Johnny Baker, Lloyd Bridges, who knows the combination to an armored train car safe that's transporting US Treasury engraving plates to San Francisco. On the run to prove his innocence in the detectives murder Lanyard together with Jaimson end up getting involved with a gang of hoodlums who kidnapped Baker and are trying to get him to give them the combination to the armored car safe that he invented.Lots of action and far less wit and savvy on the Lone Wolf's part in solving this crime and at the same time rescuing Baker from his own invention. Locked in the train-car vault with no one but Lanyard having any idea what the combination is the only way the Federal Authorities can open the safe is to break it open. That would release a deadly cloud of poison gas that would suffocate Baker who's locked and tied up inside.There's just too many ingredients in the plot here with a car train and plane chase as well as a haunted house that keep you off focus and confused to what's really going on in the film. Lanyard and Jamison on the run throughout the entire movie from the Keystone Kops-like police, who couldn't find an elephant in a telephone booth, end up saving the day and Bakers life by using both their brains as well as their shoe-leather. Checking out a newsreel of Baker opening up the train safe Lanyard just had the motion picture enlarged and copied the combination Baker was spinning when he opened the vault! The gang who kidnapped Baker and forced him to open the safe by threatening to murder his fiancée star Hollywood actress Gloria Foster, June Story, didn't have the smarts to figure out what Lanyard did!Losing the bet,by not being able to keep out of trouble for just one day, to Inspector Crane and Det. Sgt. Dickens Lanyard reluctantly has Jamison give the two cops their winnings, two week salary. Always a sore loser since he, up until then, never loses anything Lanyard has the two cops payed off with Treasury Notes, or twenty ten and five dollar bills, that he and Jaimson just printed up with the now recovered genuine US Government Treasury plates! One thing you've got to say about Lanyard is that this time around he was strictly legit. The money that he handed Crane & Dicken wasn't at all counterfeit.
Spondonman
Another good Lone Wolf entry, maybe only marred by too many slapstick moments at the beginning - but I never expect anything less from Fred Kelsey! The handsome young couple in here were Lloyd Bridges in his 1st credited film and June Storey who was managing without Gene Autry for a change.Warren William again plays Michael Lanyard the Lone Wolf, ex-jewel thief who has minded his own business for 10 minutes when a man is murdered by gangsters outside his 9th floor apartment window. His inadvertent help in the incident doesn't seem to faze him one bit, it's something that would definitely bother me! He and his ever effervescent butler Eric Blore are instantly mixed up and while they're chasing the baddies who've kidnapped an inventor the police are chasing them for the homicide. There's some nice scenes on a train pre North By Northwest where the Lady Vanishes becomes the Inventor Vanishes before the film swerves into an crumbly old dark house setting.With a continuously "inventive" storyline and fast pace it was one of the better and longer LW's and well worth watching for those of us who like b&w comedy mystery b pictures from the '40's.
