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Very disappointing...

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

George Sanders is Gay Laurence aka The Falcon, whose hobbies are women and solving crimes. Unfortunately, his high society fiancée Elinor Benford (Anne Hunter aka Nina Vale) is tired of these antics, so she's given him three months to make it in his new, more respectable, chosen profession as a broker. Allen Jenkins plays the Falcon's wisecracking sidekick, Jonathan G. 'Goldie' Locke. However, a beautiful girl named Helen Reed (Wendy Barrie), who's also a big fan of the Falcon's (she's read about his exploits), comes to Gay with a new case. Helen is a personal secretary for Maxine Wood (Gladys Cooper), who hosts society parties attended by wealthy persons, but some of the ladies have been robbed of their jewelry. Since Gay had been asked by Elinor to attend the next such party, he goes with her, but Helen quickly descends upon them and his fiancée learns that he is still looking at other women and working on mysteries. Elinor decides to dance with Manuel Retana (Turhan Bey). Meanwhile, Helen introduces Gay to Mrs. Vera Gardner (Lucile Gleason), who slips him her diamond ring while they're dancing. He doesn't fully understand why she's done this until later.Goldie couldn't afford the $100 ticket to attend the party, so he decides to crash it by climbing the fire escape. A shot rings out and Goldie witnesses a man, later identified as Noel Weber (Damian O'Flynn), leaving the apartment where a dead Mrs. Gardner is discovered. Two police detectives at the party, Bates (Edward Brophy, who would later play the Falcon's sidekick) and Grimes (Eddie Dunn), arrest Goldie for her murder. Gay goes to the police station to convince Inspector Mike Waldeck (Arthur Shields) to release Goldie, if for no other reason than to force the criminals to try to eliminate him as a witness. The Inspector, who's evidently gotten a lot of free help from Gay in the past, claims the idea as his own and allows Goldie to leave, with a couple of men to follow him, as soon as he gives a description of the man he'd seen to a sketch artist (Hans Conried, uncredited). Goldie then perfectly describes Inspector Waldeck! Of course, Helen (now unofficially part of "the team") is able to quickly lose the police tail by driving fast and turning down an alleyway to hide. But later, while Helen introduces Gay to Maxine, Goldie is "snatched" by Noel, who wants the diamond but is then shot through his apartment's window by an unknown person. Goldie is again arrested by the police for being in the same room as a dead body.The police suspect Gay might be involved, he does still have the diamond, so they go to his flat to arrest him too, but Helen arrives, enabling him to escape. The Falcon suspects Manuel; later, with Helen at Manuel's apartment, Gay discovers a picture of Manuel with Noel and the secret location of a gun, which he then takes. He uses Helen in a convoluted way to find out whether the gun is the murder weapon. It is, so Manuel is the prime suspect. Since he's been spending time with Elinor, she assumes Gay's attempt to warn her about the man are motivated by his jealousy. So Manuel is able to escape a restaurant while she's arrested and held by Waldeck at Gay's request. Helen helps Gay again, this time by saving his life when she interrupts Manuel, who'd gone to the Falcon's apartment to retrieve the diamond. Even though Manuel escapes, Gay has a pretty good idea about what's been going on. The trail leads to Maxine's apartment where Gay brings the Inspector. Ostensibly there to protect her, the two overhear a conversation between her and Manuel, who's come to kill Maxine. However, she manages to kill him with a hypodermic needle full of poison, revealing in the process that she is really Maxine Weber. She and Manuel had been running a party- jewelry stealing scam before her husband Noel got out of prison. When he returned, the couple conspired to cut Manuel out of the deal. Hence, Manuel decided to kill them both, but now the Inspector has only her to arrest for the crime(s).Gay promises again to give up his hobbies and urges Elinor to marry him right away, but he's interrupted by a woman (Virginia Vale, uncredited) who hears his name - the Falcon - and asks if he'd help her solve another case ... and so the series begins!This crime mystery drama was directed by Irving Reis, with a screenplay from Lynn Root and Frank Fenton based on a story by Michael Arlen. Willie Fung plays Gay's Servant Jerry. Jimmy Conlin appears uncredited as an incredulous bartender asked to make spinach juice.

The Gay Falcon is the first in a series of films about a suave detective nicknamed The Falcon, played by George Sanders. The Falcon series was intended to replaces the Saint films also starring George Sanders.This Saint lite adventure sees the Falcon investigating a series of parties embroiled in jewellery thefts assisted by his uncouth sidekick, Goldie Locke and pretty assistant Helen.The film is entertaining enough, a time waster but does not reach the standards of Sander's debonair Saint films. The story is straightforward with few twists and turns.

I haven't seen any of the other Falcon films, so I have the benefit of seeing this and not knowing what comes afterwards. Quite frankly, having watched I can't guess what comes next - whether Gay Lawrence (the Falcon) stays with his fiancée and an impending marriage that never quite comes off becomes some kind of running joke like John Howard's Bulldog Drummond of the late 30's, or if Wendy Barrie's character Helen Reed becomes the Falcon's new girl, or if the Falcon has no girl or another girl entirely in the coming entries, but the ending had me wanting to see the next one.Of course the wit and wisdom of George Sanders is a plus in any film, and as The Falcon it is unclear what his background is in this entry. The Falcon seems to be a man of means, but he doesn't seem to have a profession nor does he seem to be a reformed criminal either. At the beginning of the film he has set up shop as a broker on Wall Street to satisfy his fiancée that he is through with "crime detecting" as she calls it and wants to settle down, although when she drops in to visit both The Falcon and his assistant Goldy Locke are dead asleep at their desks. She has come to ask him to a society party, the idea obviously bores him, and he declines. Later, though, the personal secretary of the society woman giving the party shows up (Wendy Barrie as Helen Reed) and pleads with the Falcon to attend the party, as jewelry has been stolen at all of the woman's recent parties, and another robbery will ruin her reputation. Suddenly the Falcon is interested in attending, but doesn't tell his fiancée why.Jewelry is not stolen at this party, but one of the guests in attendance slips the Falcon an expensive ring while they are dancing - she has no explanation as to why she does this and seems to have the Falcon confused with someone else. A few minutes later she is found shot dead. Worse, Goldy is held as a material witness to the crime, so now the Falcon is involved and must solve the crimes. Meanwhile he has both an angry fiancée on his hands and the society lady's swooning secretary, who loves the adventure of tracking down criminals alongside the Falcon.This is a very good entry that has a very interesting supporting cast. Allen Jenkins is a natural and in good contrast to the suave Sanders as the Falcon's assistant. Edward Brophy is cut from the same cloth as Jenkins and is good as a police detective. Turhan Bey shows up outside of a Universal film for a change as an exotic and mysterious suspect. Arthur Shields, brother of Barry Fitzgerald and a dead ringer for him, seems a bit out of place as Inspector Mike Waldeck, whom the Falcon is more than ready to give credit to for solving the crime.Recommended as a fast paced good start to the series.

I have seen this movie several times (months ago), and kept it on my DVR, meaning to write a review. Don't miss this movie. I have seen most of the Falcon series films (both with Sanders and Conway), and this (which happens to be the first Falcon film) is by far the best. It is excellent in its own right.Everything about it is great -- the writing, direction and acting. Nina Vale, the Falcon's fiancée, comes off very well; I wonder why she made so few films. I particularly liked Wendy Barrie; I think this is her best performance. No need to mention all the other great well-known supporting cast.There isn't a wasted scene in the movie. It was meticulously made. Wonderful dialog and gibes. Very logical screenplay.One perplexing thing about the move, and it doesn't bother me much: throughout the movie, the Falcon (Sanders) is saying that he loves Elinor Benford (played by Vale) and wants to marry her. Yet in scene after scene he is constantly flirting with Helen Reed (played by Barrie) and other women, in front of Elinor. And the women return the favors.