''The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt'' is a 1939 American

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

directed by Peter Godfrey and written by Jonathan Latimer. The film stars

Warren William Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code". He was the first actor to play Per ...

and

Ida Lupino Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was a British actress, director, writer, and producer. Throughout her 48-y ...

and was released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

, on January 27, 1939. The Lone Wolf character dates back to 1914, when author

Louis Joseph Vance Louis Joseph Vance (September 19, 1879 – December 16, 1933) was an American novelist, screenwriter and film producer. He created the popular character Michael Lanyard, a criminal-turned-detective known as the Lone Wolf. Early life Louis J ...

invented him for a series of books, later adapted to twenty-four Lone Wolf films (1917–1949). Warren Williams starred in nine of these films (1939–1943), with ''The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt'' being the first starring William as Michael Lanyard. His next film was '' The Lone Wolf Strikes'', in 1940.

Plot

Michale Lanyard, the "Lone Wolf," is kidnapped off a

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

street and taken to a man whose face is hidden in darkness. The mystery man offers Lanyard a job: breaking into a safe. When Lanyard declines, he is released unharmed. Afterward, a puzzled henchman named Jenks states they can open the safe without help. His boss reveals that he has "an old score to settle with the Lone Wolf." The plans for the new Palmer anti-aircraft gun are stolen from the War Department and a cigarette deliberately left to incriminate Lanyard. However, the thieves did not get all of the plans. Palmer kept the key parts. Police Inspector Thomas knows Lanyard, one of the few capable of doing the job, is long retired and it is an obvious frameup, but is eager to seize any opportunity to try to jail him anyway. Lanyard has an alibi though; he was having lunch with blonde singer Marie Templeton. At home, Lanyard has woman trouble. A widower, he tells his young daughter Patricia that he is sending her away to school, while his pretty heiress girlfriend Val Carson is fuming because he left her at lunch to take a phone call and did not come back. Inspector Thomas and Sergeant Devan question him, then leave. At a bar, Lanyard meets Karen, much to Val's disgust. Lanyard accompanies Karen and is forcibly taken to Palmer Laboratories to steal the rest of the plans. He escapes, opens the safe, takes the plans from an envelope, replaces them with one for a baby carriage and reseals the envelope. Then he allows himself to be recaptured. He opens the safe and allows the spies to take the envelope. They let him go, certain that the police will arrest him. Lanyard entrusts the documents to Senator Carson, Val's father, while he tries to clear himself. He discovers that Karen is associated with someone named Gregory. He crashes Gregory's masquerade party, improvising a costume and stealing an invitation from a drunk. He triggers the burglar alarm, then watches undetected as Gregory, his vengeful nemesis, opens his concealed safe to check if his share of the plans is still there. Lanyard then steals the plans, but is caught. He runs into two policemen, brought by the drunk, and escapes. When he gets home, he learns that Jenks has stolen his part of the plans from the senator. With a tight deadline, Karen asks Lanyard to join forces with Gregory, but is rejected. Patricia sneaks into the trunk of Karen's car and is later discovered. Lanyard goes after her to Gregory's house and is captured with his half of the plans. When Val is unable to convince Thomas to accompany her to Gregory's place, she goes there alone and is easily caught. The police spot Lanyard's car at Gregory's place and arrive in time to save everyone.

Cast

as Michael Lanyard *

as Val Carson *

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

as Karen *

Virginia Weidler Virginia Anna Adeleid Weidler (March 21, 1927 – July 1, 1968) was an American child actor, child actress, popular in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s. Early life and career Weidler was born on March 21, 192 ...

as Patricia *

Ralph Morgan Raphael Kuhner Wuppermann (July 6, 1883 – June 11, 1956), known professionally as Ralph Morgan, was a Hollywood stage and film character actor, and union activist. He was a brother of actor Frank Morgan as well as the father of actress ...

as Spiro * Tom Dugan as Sergeant Devan *

Don Beddoe Donald Theophilus Beddoe (July 1, 1903 – January 19, 1991) was an American character actor. Early years Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Beddoe was the son of Dan Beddoe, a Welsh classical singer, and his wife Mary. He graduated from the ...

as Inspector Thomas *

Leonard Carey Leonard Carey (25 February 1887 – 11 September 1977) was an English character actor who very often played butlers in Hollywood films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. He was also active in television during the 1950s. He is perhaps best known f ...

as Jameson *

Ben Welden Ben Welden (born Benjamin Weinblatt; June 12, 1901 – October 17, 1997) was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows. Early years Welden was born in Toledo, Oh ...

as Jenks * Brandon Tynan as Senator Carson *

Helen Lynd Helen Merrell Lynd (March 17, 1896 – January 30, 1982) was an American sociologist, social philosopher, educator, and author. She is best known for conducting the first Middletown studies of Muncie, Indiana, with her husband, Robert Stau ...

as Marie Templeton *

Landers Stevens John Landers Stevens (1877–1940) was an American stage and film actor. A character actor he appeared in prominent screen roles in the early 1920s before switching to smaller supporting parts, often authority figures, in the following decade. He ...

as Thacher * James Craig as Party Guest (uncredited) *

Bud Jamison William Edward "Bud" Jamison (February 15, 1894 – September 30, 1944)Okuda, Ted, and Edward Watz. 1999. The Columbia Comedy Shorts: Two-reel Hollywood Film Comedies 1933–1958'. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. . was an American film actor. ...

as Bartender (uncredited)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lone Wolf Spy Hunt, The 1939 films 1930s spy films American black-and-white films American spy films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Peter Godfrey Films based on American novels Films set in Washington, D.C. Films with screenplays by Jonathan Latimer American adventure films 1939 adventure films The Lone Wolf films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language adventure films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links