Columbia Pictures was in the second tier (the Little Three) of the major Hollywood movie studios of the golden age, and it put out just a few B level war films during World War II. "Counter-Espionage" of 1942 is one of those. It has a more prominent cast than many Columbia films of the time and genre Warren William stars in this film that is as much a crime-mystery film as it is a war film. Espionage is the matter that links the two subplots. William plays Michael Lanyard, a character who appears in a number of mystery films of the period under the alias, "The Wolf." William was a very good actor who played some of the best villain roles in the early years of sound pictures. He was versatile and played a number of romantic leads and then played a dashing, debonair and sophisticated crime-stopper in various roles that were serialized over time. Philo Vance was one, Perry Mason was another, and Michael Lanyard is his most well-known. William may have been better known today, but he died of blood cancer (multiple myeloma) in 1948 at age 53.An additional trademark of the crime-stopper films was comedy. Sometimes it came through a sidekick, often through dumb or inept police detectives, and sometimes with both. In this film, we have both. And a big plus is the presence of Eric Blore as his servant-sidekick, Jamison. Blore was English and played supporting heavier roles as butlers, valets, etc. that were much meatier and with great humor. I always have some good laughs from Blore's roles in movies.The rest of the cast are OK, including a number of well-known actors. Forrest Tucker plays a German thug, Anton Schugg. The plot is a simple and familiar type of story about Nazi spies trying to get hold of plans for a secret weapon. What elevates the movie are the film clips and/or segments of the London bombing. Columbia must have gotten its hands on some actual newsreel film from London to intersperse with its story. It gives a very real sense to picture, where some of the rest of it seems a little hokey.

(There are Spoilers) Using both his skills as a second story man, burglar,and canine-like hearing the Lone Wolf Michael Lanyard, Warren Williams, breaks up a Nazi spy ring right in the middle of bombed out London and does it in less then a fortnight. The movie seems to take place in under 12 hours where we don't get to see as much as a sunrise or sunset.Being called to help England in it's life and death struggle against Nazi Germany by top British Government official Sir. Stafford Hart, Stanly Logan, Lanyard goes undercover as more of an opportunist then Nazi spy stealing out of Sir. Stanly's house safe vital information that the Nazis are just dying to get their hands on;The ultra-top secret British Military beam-detection plan. Getting in touch, by being kidnapped, with the head of the Nazi spy ring Gustave Soessel, Kurt Katch, Lanyard for a nice hunk of cash is willing to turn the beam-detection plan over but needs time to get back to where he hide it, in his hotel-room, for safe keeping.This all of curse is a trick on Lanyard's part to get Soessel and his gang that includes Nazi spy Kent or Kurt Wells (Morton Lowery), who's working in Sir Stanly's office, out in the open and have them arrested by Scotland Yard. When Sir. Stanly is suddenly killed in a German bombing raid Lanyard is on his own, with the late Sir Stanley being the only one who's knows that he's really a double-agent for Britin,in proving to the British M15 and Scotland Yard that he's in fact on their side and avoid being executed, if captured by them, as a Nazi Spy.With the help of his faithful velvet or butler Jamison, Eric Blore, Lanyard who was blindfolded when he was taken to the Nazi spies hideout uses his super-hearing to track the place down at the Blue Parrot Café. It's there that Lanyard sets a trap for Soessle & Co. who by then realize that he's a British spy by tricking them into thinking that he gave them the real McCoy, the beam-detection plan, only to hand them over on a silver platter to the British authorities who came to his rescue.Lots of wartime activity, with London being bombed by the Luftwaffe at least three times in a 12 hour period, has "Counter-Espionage" being one of the most action-packed of the "Lone Wolf" series of movies. In the movie "Counter-Espionage" there's a very young looking Forrest Tucker as Anton Schugg a German Nazi with a very pronounced American mid-western accent. There's also in the movie this contraption used by Soessel to communicate with his bosses back in Berlin that's a forerunner to a FAX Machine that didn't come into common use for at least thirty years after the film was made.

Taught direction, well-paced. A fairly serious Warren William (but still charming) and Hillary Brooke (she was truly a master of the B-movie genre) are teamed up with a good director to make this the best of the Lone Wolf series for me. "Counter-Espionage" is proof once again that a big budget is not necessary to produce a good film. This is a classic example of cheap dollars spent, but nevertheless being able to display talent and high quality craftsmanship.Serious WWII Nazi spy plot dovetails nicely into the shady safe-cracker format of The Lone Wolf. Who better than The Lone Wolf to crack safes and steal war secrets (or did he?), then sneak around dark London streets amid the falling bombs.Sidekick Eric Blore is actually very good in this movie, and as a bonus you also get a solid early Lloyd Bridges performance.

Enjoyable wartime mystery featuring the Lone Wolf as a double agent in London. Ninth in the series, and written in 1942, this entry is directed by Edward Dmytryk (his second in the series). The plot revolves around the theft of plans for a beam device and whether they will be sent to Berlin by a new radio photo transmitter. The Lone Wolf uses sound as the means to learn the secret hide out of the spy ring and scenes of the Blitz are used to show audiences the devastation being doled out on America's British allies. Despite the predictability of the story line, the film is more than a bit enjoyable, and one of the best of the series.Warren William stars as the suave former jewel thief Michael Lanyard with his faithful sidekick and butler, Eric Blore. Also features Hillary Brooke as the love interest and Forrest Tucker as one of the Nazi spies. Although not credited, it certainly appears that a young Lloyd Bridges also appears albeit with a mustache. If true, he would have had a busy year since he also appears to be listed in over twenty other movies in 1942.