THE LONE WOLF MEETS A LADY

Warren William as Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf

THE LONE WOLF MEETS A LADY (1940). Director: Sidney Salkow.

"Jamison! Open the window -- and air the room!"

Joan Bradley (Jean Muir) is all set to marry wealthy Bob Penyon (Warren Hull), when her future mother-in-law (Georgia Caine) lends her an expensive diamond necklace. At her apartment Joan is confronted by an old acquaintance who demands the necklace before being promptly shot by an unseen figure; the necklace disappears. Before long Michael Lanyard, aka the Lone Wolf (Warren William), is involved in the case even as Inspector Crane (Thurston Hall), who loves rare plants, is on the trail of both Lanyard and Joan. The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady is distinguished primarily by the acting, with William, as usual, doing splendidly as the title character. Jean Muir [And One Was Beautiful] is on the money as Joan; Hall makes a terrific inspector; Fred Kelsey is funny as the bumbling cop, Dickens; Victor Jory [Manfish] scores as a sleazy "associate" of Lanyard's; and Eric Blore [Swiss Miss] nearly steals the picture as Jamison, Lanyard's butler and aide. The screenplay isn't terrible, with good dialogue, but The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady is no great shakes as a mystery. Not to be confused with The Lone Wolf and His Lady.

Verdict: Modestly entertaining with some very good performances. **1/2.

CITY WITHOUT MEN

CITY WITHOUT MEN (1943). Director: Sidney Salkow.

Tom Adams (Michael Duane of Redhead from Manhattan) is framed for  picking up Japanese in a boat, and wrongly convicted of collaborating with the enemy or something and sent to jail for several years. His fiancee, Nancy (Linda Darnell) not only vows to wait for him, but moves into a woman's residence right next to the prison where other wives and girlfriends wait patiently for their men to be released. The husband of the owner of the house, Maria (Sara Allgood) is in jail for life, and in the film's best scene, another wife, Mrs. Slade (Rosemary DeCamp), nearly collapses when her husband is executed at midnight. Other residents of the house include brassy Billie (Glenda Farrell), Winnie (Doris Dudley), Dora (Margaret Hamilton), and high-hattin' Gwen (Leslie Brooks of The Secret of the Whistler), who is dating Mr. Peters (Don DeFore) and hopes to learn where her husband (Sheldon Leonard) hid some money. Edgar Buchanan plays a shady lawyer who is ostensibly trying to help Nancy, but spends most of her money on booze. This is a "concept" movie that seems to have been cobbled together from cliches from other movies, and it's never convincing, becoming fairly ridiculous towards the end. Darnell is fine -- odd that she was cast in this bad "B" movie -- and Allgood, Farrell, DeCamp, and DeFore give very good performances as well.Years later Salkow directed Vincent Price in Twice-Told Tales.

Verdict: Not utterly terrible but not worth the time it takes to tell. **.