A scam involving the royal jewels of Arvonne (an obviously fictional European monarchy) is the premise for this somewhat disappointing follow-up to the initial entry in the "Lone Wolf" series which had delighted audiences three years before. Melvyn Douglas had been a wonderfully sophisticated and amusing jewel thief trying to get away from his past, but here the part has been taken over by the capable but unfortunately less amusing Francis Lederer. This means that the comic element so prevalent in the first movie is missing, and the whole story involving an obvious plot against a European royal family (which in 1938 only existed in small doses) seems forced. It all starts when Lederer discovers that princess Frances Drake has replaced her real jewelry with paste, and gets involved with her to uncover some royal scandals involving a nefarious Grand Duke (Walter Kingsford) who is obviously out to take over the throne himself.
There are a few amusing moments, but most of it seems like a rip-off of Hitchcock's "The Thirty Nine Steps". One tense incident happens when Lederer is planted in front of a board as the knife-throwing expert Kingsford starts tossing knives at Lederer in an effort to find out where he has hidden the jewels. Lederer doesn't even flinch. Then, the film goes down the territory of "The Prisoner of Zenda" and other adventure stories with fictional royal families and any slight amount of credibility that the film had before flies out the window. Lederer lacks the light-hearted warmth of both Melvyn Douglas and Warren William which makes this a disappointment in the long-running Columbia series.
There are a few amusing moments, but most of it seems like a rip-off of Hitchcock's "The Thirty Nine Steps". One tense incident happens when Lederer is planted in front of a board as the knife-throwing expert Kingsford starts tossing knives at Lederer in an effort to find out where he has hidden the jewels. Lederer doesn't even flinch. Then, the film goes down the territory of "The Prisoner of Zenda" and other adventure stories with fictional royal families and any slight amount of credibility that the film had before flies out the window. Lederer lacks the light-hearted warmth of both Melvyn Douglas and Warren William which makes this a disappointment in the long-running Columbia series.