Adventure
Mystery
Directed by Peter Godfrey
1939
NR
1 h 11 min
Spies force former jewel thief Michael Lanyard to steal defense secrets in Washington.
Warren William
Michael Lanyard
Ida Lupino
Val Carson
Rita Hayworth
Karen
Virginia Weidler
Patricia Lanyard
Ralph Morgan
Spiro Gregory
Tom Dugan
Police Sgt. Devan
Peter Godfrey
Director
Jonathan Latimer
Screenplay
Louis Joseph Vance
Story
Joseph Sistrom
Associate Producer
Robert Kalloch
Costume Design
Joseph Nussbaum
Music
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CinemaSerf
The clever leader of a group of spies invites our eponymous character (Warren William) to open a safe in return for $10,000. He declines and leaves the scene - but not before he leaves one of his distinctive cigarettes behind. With the constantly pursuing "Insp. Thomas" (Don Beddoe) and bumbling "Devan" (Tom Dugan) on his case, he now finds himself framed for a robbery - and that very cigarette is the conclusive proof the cops want! Aided by infrequent contributions from his valet "Jamison" (Leonard Carey), his attempts to get to the bottom of the mystery are frustrated at every turn by the hugely annoying ""Karen" (Rita Hayworth) who even resorts to a pair of handcuffs to make sure the "Lone Wolf" keeps her in the loop. To compensate for that constant irritation, we do get a few "colourful" scenes between her and the real woman behind the mystery here "Val" (Ida Lupino) that are worth a watch as the rest of this follows the traditional, well trammelled, lines towards it's conclusion. It's not really the story that matters here - it's the fun dynamic between the three actors and a reasonably lively script that help this keep from mediocrity.