The Notorious Lone Wolf

The Notorious Lone Wolf (1946)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

The war is over so Michael Lanyard (Gerald Mohr) returns home where he plans on spending time with his woman (Janis Carter) but he ends up accused of stealing a priceless jewel so he must try to clear his name and catch the real villain. THE NOTORIOUS LONE WOLF was the first film in the series after Warren William left. You'd think that that would be the real negative aspect but it's actually not. While Mohr doesn't come close to the same type of performance as William, I at least give him credit for not trying to copycat the performance and instead he takes the character into a new direction. Mohr's Lone Wolf is a lot more in-your-face, a lot more upbeat and he just comes across as the polar opposite of William's. That's certainly a good thing because you at least know you're watching a new type of character and I think this approach worked. What doesn't work is the lackluster story and boring direction. The story itself is just one cliché after another including some incredibly bad comic moments. It seems like the screenwriter was going to have the girlfriend be just as important as Lanyard but thankfully it never reached that level. What it did leave us with was some really embarrassing comic moments including a long running one early on when Lanyard and the girl simply want to kiss but they keep getting distracted. Outside of Mohr the performances aren't all that memorable either. Carter is OK as the love interest but in the end forgettable. Eric Blore is back with the comic stuff and John Abbott is also here but doesn't do too much. THE NOTORIOUS LONE WOLF just doesn't have enough going for it to make it entertaining.