Night Key (1937)

Starring Boris Karloff, J. Warren Hull, Jean Rogers, Alan Baxter, Hobart Cavanaugh
Directed by Lloyd Corrigan
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An aging inventor, after being cheated out of the chance to implement his new burglar alarm system by the man who swindled him of his previous system, plans a scheme to discredit him.

After Universal Pictures turned their back on horror films in the mid 1930s after their prior successes, Karloff was cast in this comedy/drama, which is still somewhat enjoyable in its own right, but had to be a disappointment to his fans.  Playing an elderly scientist going blind, the actor turns in a distinguished performance, but there's not much heft to the story, nor enough original material to enliven the picture.  There's a fine supporting cast with Cavanaugh memorable as a petty thief who teams up with Karloff, Baxter as a soft-spoken but villainous gangster, and Rogers of the Flash Gordon serials as Karloff's beautiful daughter, and the film was intriguingly directed by Corrigan, who became better known as a character actor in later pictures.  However, as my friend Dan Day Jr. pointed out, it's frustrating to imagine what could have been had the studio backed Karloff in another horror picture during their glory years rather than this light entertainment. 

The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940)

Starring Warren William, Joan Perry, Eric Blore, Alan Baxter, Astrid Allwyn
Directed by Sidney Salkow
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The Lone Wolf is hired to recover a valuable pearl necklace after it's secretly replaced with a cheap imitation, but his client is too eager to help him in his investigation every step of the way. 

Warren William lays on the charm and smooth deception as he outwits both the jewel thieves and the police in another installment in the long-running Lone Wolf series for Columbia Pictures.  It's an amusing and entertaining picture, with Blore and his comic timing and droll delivery an equal to William's talents.  The film lacks the polish and sheen of higher-budgeted productions or even the B-product of larger studios, but it's easy to see why this was such a successful series.