Watch The Falcon in Hollywood For Free

Pretty Good

I'll tell you why so serious

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Entertaining addition to the detective series. Putting the Falcon (Conway) in Hollywood of course means getting an inside look at movie-making, along with a whodunit for plot purposes. So catch all those backlot shots from the 40's—the sound stages, the guarded gate, the prop room, the film sets. It's pretty much a snapshot tour. And guys, there're all those half-clad girls traipsing between sound stages. I'd sure like to know what their movie was so I could tune in. And while we're on tour, note shots of the LA Coliseum looking hugely empty, and the Hollywood Race Track currently being replaced with another football stadium.Okay, there's also a murder mystery to weave into a plot. Something about a bullying director and another guy getting murdered; but given the reveal, I think the writers were taking their own insider shots. To me, the best part of the cast is brassy cabbie Veda Ann Borg. She's a good snappy foil for Conway without being clownish. Then too, this is WWII time (1944), so girl cabbies have taken over for guys in uniform. Thus Hollywood has to treat them respectfully. But how in the world could Perry Mason's own sweet Della Street (Barbara Hale) possibly be counted as a murder suspect. Perry would never stand for that. Neither would grouchy Lt. Tragg.Anyway, the whodunit is pretty pedestrian, but I take that as just an excuse for the studio (RKO) tour. And, oh yes, fans of noir shouldn't look for shadowy mood—it all transpires in high-key lighting. As any good sight-seeing tour should.

While on vacation on the west coast, the Falcon finds himself approached by Peggy Callahan – the girlfriend of criminal Louie Buchanan. Peggy leaves her bag behind in place of Lawrence's companion's bag. He pursues her in a taxi driven by gobby taxi-come-stunt driver Billie Atkins and gets onto a the grounds of a Hollywood studio. While looking for Peggy the Falcon and Billie stumble onto the body of actor Ted Miles. The police are called and, even on holiday, Lawrence finds himself investigating yet another crime.After not thinking much of the Falcon being Out West and In Mexico during his last two films, I feared that him being in Hollywood would be another location gimmick replacing any actual substance or entertainment value. It may be because the Hollywood setting just meant that the production stayed at home and saved money on a lot of set design but this film was actually pretty good and used Hollywood well but as a backdrop to a solid mystery. It does take some work to get it started but once Lawrence gets onto the lot it livens up and keeps that pace well for the rest of the film. Unlike the last two films the mystery is actually pretty good and develops to a satisfying solution. Douglas uses the locations well (RKO itself being the main one) and the film has a great "off-set" feel to it that you don't always get with b-movies – nice to see compared to the gimmicky feel to the West and Mexico and it bodes well for San Francisco (which I have not yet seen).Conway seems a lot more relaxed and more like himself than when In Mexico. While in Mexico we had a Mexican "Goldie" character and here we have a female wise-@ss, in the shape of Borg; she is sassy and fu in a very clichéd and obvious manner but it works well. Parnell and Jenks are a poor man's Clark and Gargan but don't have that much to do. Perry Mason's Hale is good, as is Brooks. Shayne is a bit hammy but effective while series regular Rita Corday turns up yet again early on in the film.Overall then an enjoyable entry in the series that fans will enjoy and may be slick and enjoyable enough to suit newcomers looking for an easy b-movie to watch. The location is not obtrusive and the material is good, giving the actors more to work with than in the last two films.

The Falcon was a character, like The Saint and The Lone Wolf and Boston Blackie, who belonged to the more-American decade of the 1940s. This was the era of individualism in movies, of the private investigator, the lone adventurer, the tough-minded gent who refused to be intimidated by bullies and crime bosses. If the era's screenwriters showed some preoccupation with physical violent potential that led to the denigration of mental toughness in favor of physical courage (during a WWII era), they also produced a few intelligent heroes such as The Falcon. He is a Brit, one who attracts trouble, and women, the way a magnet does iron filings--and who is adept at dealing with both. The part also ably played by his brother George Sanders here is essayed by low-key leading man Tom Conway. The delightful element in this entry in a low-budget fun series is that the producers play the quiet, suave Falcon off Billie", a brassy, talkative and beautiful cabbie entrusted as a role to comedic genius Veda Ann Borg. I find it miraculous that the studio bosses of the time did not notice the potent chemistry between the two characters and make a sequel with Billie as a more streetwise companion to their somewhat-taciturn hero. The other thing that is noteworthy about this story I suggest is that the action which begins at a racetrack with the old 'switched handbag routine" leads to multiple murders at a movie studio; studio-based and later location-based problems with a production headed by Shakespeare-quoting dour John Abbott help to make possible some clever character revelations, and the eventual unraveling of an intricate mystery of motivations, mayhem and secrecies. Among others in the extraordinary "B" film cast are able Sheldon Leonard, lovely Barbara Hale (later of "Perry Mason" TV fame), Rita Corday (aka Paulie Crozet), Konstantine Shayne as a nasty director, Jean Brooks in an intelligent role, and Emory Parnell and Frank Jenks as befuddled policemen.. All are very adequate at doing whatever is asked of them. This is a low-budget production all the way, of course; only localizing it in a movie studio's existing soundstages and sets obscures this fact. The location jaunt is a delight, featuring a swimming pool area and additional zones, and the racetrack sequence is also very ably directed by action-film great Gordon Douglas.. Technical credit should be given to the sound department and to Renie for her fine costumes also. This was in its day a "programmer", a story enlivened by good and by cheap touches of inspiration. But anyone who dares to call it dated needs to look at the post 1972 filmmakers' 99% fizzled blockbusters consisting of inadequate acting, special effects and missed script opportunities, This is the best of the Falcon series, and from my perspective as a writer, that is rather a proud accomplishment in the area of providing entertainment on the cinematic screen.

This is the tenth of the Falcon series, starring Tom Conway who took the role over from his brother, George Sanders. Both men are debonair and have similar speaking voices, but I've always found Sanders the smoother of the two and enjoyed his Falcon more.In this one, the Falcon goes on vacation in Hollywood and gets embroiled in a murder in a movie studio. Veda Ann Borg is the Falcon's self-assigned partner and is one of those stereotypical, wise-cracking '40s dames. She livens things up, though. Barbara Hale, who later became the Della Street of my youth, plays an actress.It's all pretty routine, with a mini-von Sternberg type director, a producer who keeps quoting Shakespeare and is superstitious, and a mysterious "Indian" character who may or may not be involved with a ruby ring found on the dead man. A pleasant enough way to pass the time.