There are quite mixed reviews for this one … the pluses are Warren William in many eyes and that scene where he’s sitting with Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth at the same restaurant table … envy.
That in itself raises the question of the cast … how important is it to you? Or is the director or some other aspect more important in your mind? Would you watch a film if you saw certain players? Would you avoid a film if certain players were in it?
I’d avoid Barbara Stanwyck, Lucille Ball, Peter Lorre, Lauren Bacall, John Wayne, Edward G. Robinson, increasingly James Mason, Benny Hill, Terry Thomas, Doris Day, Grace Kelly, Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor, dozens more.
For? Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth for a start, Jeanne Crain, Jean Simmons, Clint Eastwood, Bogey, William Powell, Leslie Nielson … dozens and dozens.
A review:
“Warren William is that ex-safecracker Michael Lanyard, The Lone Wolf, in “The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt.” Criminals, led by Ralph Morgan, who are after some plans from the war department, try to frame the retired crook for the theft.
What makes this film a cut above the usual B detective film is the terrific cast. Not just any B movie has Ida Lupino and pre-electrolysis Rita Hayworth as the female leads. They are not only excellent in their roles but beautiful, Hayworth being on the side of the bad guys and Lupino playing Lanyard’s young girlfriend.
He complains about being old enough to be her father, which in real life, was true. Here, the character is 35. This would undoubtedly get a laugh from today’s audience. He was 45 and in today’s youth-obsessed society, could pass for 60.
Virginia Wiedler plays Lanyard’s tomboy daughter, lending the same kind of terrific support she did in “The Philadelphia Story.” Being a big fan of Warren William, I’ll watch him in anything. The persona he used for many of these types of roles – relaxed, unflappable, charming, and funny – seems to hit the right notes, even though in silents, he played the villain. He’s like a poor man’s William Powell, but in his own way, every bit as good.
(0850) Morning all … bright sunshine out there, through the Gates poison-cloud across the land. Lots of moolah for the medicos. (0955)
11. On sexually sicko extremists
10. Evil muvvers, yes … crims
9. It’s never too late to start all over again
8. The globo-psycho, Wokerati
… environnmento-destructo loons again:
7. If, with my admin hat on
… I’m simply not going to run music alien to my upbringing, for example Slade, Sweet, Strawbs, pop, techno, disco were never mine … things from the late 70s, early 80s, on the grounds that they were gauche, naff, twee, never got into them … nor Queen, nor Oasis, nor that Ozzie someone (hubby of Sharon, whom I like) …
… but against that, at the same time, on most other topics, I’m trying to draw examples from all sorts of sources and am encouraging readers to as well … then I can hardly run bands here any more such as Can, Jane, other “krautrock” (from my radio DJ days) although I did run Woodsy 42’s Radio Caroline for historical reasons (or was it Microdave or Torquaymada, can’t recall). Much of ZZ Top or Lynyrd Skynyrd to me was ho hum … some tracks were good … just didn’t get into bands other guys did … don’t forget my age.
Nazareth were a bit of a mixed bag … so many great tracks, very Brit/Scottish of that day … they’re almost playable to our very diverse (in the real meaning of the word, the good meaning) readership. I won’t play the Kinks because of Lola (you know why) but will play Waterloo Sunset. And so on.
There are two bands below highly regarded in their day … very loud, very heavy sound … one krautrock and as a commenter noted, Jane sounded quite like Steppenwolf, the Canadian band, in some ways. They were thinking bands, as Paul Simon would wish … the first link is to Jane’s Hangman … which is loud, wild, quite fitting the graphics of anguish, loud and discordant lead guitar, melodic but loud rhythm section … on that topic, it’s quite fitting … a long track, much jamming throughout.
In such a song about a man waking early morn on the day of his execution … when I wake up in the morning, it’s the end of the day … title should be “man to hang” rather than “hangman” perhaps. In such a song, crooning singing would not fit, nor Clash type singing … on the other hand, the keyboardist, with his two speed stop and go playing … fits perfectly.
Steppenwolf’s It’s Never Too Late, unlike the “to be hanged” man, is a song of always possible remorse and redemption, even after you’ve done such bad things. I can’t listen to it, personally, not because it’s a bad song … quite the opposite in fact … but because it’s too close to the bone for me, things I’d rather not be reminded of. As I eternally say here … I’m a (usually) reformed sinner, not a saint.
In that song, the vocals MUST be raspy, anguished … anything less would not match the mood of the rhythm section. Yes, I know Tom Waits does the anguished thing too but imho … for a different, self-inflicted reason … staying down in the sewer, rather than climbing out.
PC Lorne Castle grabbed the 15 year-old boy, who was suspected of assault, pushed him into a wall before slamming him into the ground and proceeded to place his hand over the youth’s face while shouting threats and curse words.
During the commotion a Stanley-type knife fell out of the teenager’s waistband.
PC Castle, 46, was dismissed from Dorset Police over the Bournemouth arrest, sparking a wave of criticism as it emerged the teen was suspected of assaulting two people including an elderly gentlemen. Dorset Police has now released the full bodycam footage from PC Castle’s partner on the stop, allowing the public to judge for themselves.
Following the arrest PC Castle’s colleagues reported concerns about his conduct to senior officers, prompting a 16-month investigation and gross misconduct proceedings.
He might have been a violent man in RL or maybe a good family man who’d had enough disrespect from punks. And much of that disrespect comes from parenting, schooling, no consequences for crims today, plus the pathetic behaviour of plod in general, dressing up in rainbow colours as clowns, failing to arrest crims but always going for easy targets and when there is a difficult target, e.g. a deathculter coming at them, they run away.
Who TH is training them this way? Well look no further than the example of Wokerati beside him in the picture … clear, decisive leadership? TH it is. It’s pathetic. Gutless swatting of tweeters … the deathculters look on and show how much respect to the average Brit?
Back to this officer … did he stand firm like a Clint Eastwood or Lt. Drebin?
PC Castle, who has twice won a national bravery award including one for saving an elderly woman from drowning in a swollen river in 2023, spotted the suspect walking up Richmond Hill in Bournemouth before the stop.
Breached the scoundrel’s human rights, no doubt. Even a debasing confession of guilt couldn’t save him. He pleaded with his betters for mercy but they terminated him anyway.
That thing beside him in the pic … is that his “better”? No prizes for guessing which part of the above irks the most, sticks in my craw.
Shortly after returning here from a sojourn over in Russia, a country of no beg pardons, I was had up on a “tribunal” the like I’d not seen a decade and a bit earlier, pre-Blair … it used to be a “quiet word” with a superior but now it was a Labour type full table with all sorts arrayed behind in order to intimidate, then I was brought in and seated on the lone chair in the middle of the room. Quite bizarre.
It opened and I immediately called no on the first untruth, then the second … the thing I’d learnt was never to raise the voice … always to lower the cadence so to speak … they had nothing, so their next step, days later, was to ask me in, as they should have, for that chat with a seasoned, senior man.*
He asked why I considered the whole thing frivolous … I told him, inc. that this troublemaker had form. How did I know? One of the ladies had told me about her.
That was that. “Fall upon the mercy of”? I do very much plan to do that on Judgement Day, you can be sure … but for a human Wokerati power binge lot, badly prepared and co-opted to heavy a poor lil ole innocent like Jimbo? It was like that scene in Castle Anthrax when they all shouted, “A spanking! A spanking!” Sudden power given to the slaves over another slave. Nuff.
……
*Oops … was mixing up two different tribunals there and vaguely recall a third but the thrust was essentially the same … intimidate the brash upstart … snuff out all nonWokeness.
(0455) What we’re getting early mornings is mainly Oz/NZ news plus the summaries of previous day US news, with updates. Brit news kicks in later, the exceptions usually being the overflow from the day before. Still relevant. (0554)
5. Dinosaurs … amd weird far leftists at that
Ain’t that the truth … going to do a post on it later (current cunning plan).
4. Dishonesty towards the public
3. 2A in the US
This is a long listen but an important one for 2A:
The Supreme Court just ducked a major Second Amendment showdown—AR-15s may now be "too dangerous" to protect. pic.twitter.com/fye2kTCIQm
— Robert Gouveia Esq. (@RobGouveiaEsq) June 3, 2025
2. DAD at 1065
a) From July 1, there will now be no more smoking in the open air in French parks, public gardens, beaches, bus shelters, sports facilities.
b) Macron: “We will prosecute, we will punish, we will be relentless.” But the justice system thumbed its nose at him: the first rioters tried on Monday were all released, with paltry sentences.
c) What (JDV) hates is Brussels, or rather, “Brussels”—the symbol of official, bureaucratic Europe, and the dictatorship of managerial liberalism.
d) “Punished For Living Debt Free”: Canadian man’s credit score wiped by Equifax after he avoids new debt.
1. Steve at 1065
FBI and Mueller’s Team Hid Russiagate Documents with Special Coding in FBI Case Management Database
CNN’s Scott Jennings: The ‘Free Palestine’ Movement is a Domestic Terror Organization
Geert Wilders Leaves Coalition Over Asylum and Migration, and Dutch Government Collapses
Trump Blasts Newsom, “Large Scale Fines” Incoming After Male Steals California Track Finals
Confused by ‘Mysterious’ Drop in Fentanyl Seizures at the Southern Border
Moscow Crushes Kiev US Ceasefire Hopes, Toughens Istanbul Demands
Russian Defenses Thwart Series Of Ukrainian Attacks on Crimean Bridge
