MartinHafer While the film began in the big city, it soon changed venues to the American West and naturally involved an unsolved murder. Changing the locale to the West was certainly unusual and the lead seemed very out of place in such a rustic setting. However, while the locale changed, the overall story is just a typical Falcon mystery.When the series began, the Falcon films were exceptional for the genre with wonderful acting and a freshness that set them apart from the typical B-detective series films. However, as time passed and George Sanders left the series to pursue other acting opportunities, the series began to wane. While Tom Conway (Sanders' real life brother) was excellent and bore a close similarity to Sanders, he wasn't quite as good and he was also saddled with scripts that simply lost their zip and seemed more formulaic. As a result, this film was something that previous Falcon films were not--a tad dull.

kidboots While George Saunders originally starred as the Falcon in the first few films, brother Tom Conway took over the series as the original Falcon's brother - and made it his own. Although not as famous as his brother, Conway was perfect as the Falcon - being witty, urbane and sophisticated.When a wealthy Texas rancher (Lyle Talbot) collapses on a dance floor and dies presumably from a snake bite - the Falcon takes a train ticket and follows the rancher's fiancée (Carole Gallagher) out west to the rancher's spread.Mysterious things start happening - the Falcon finds an Indian scalp on his door as a death warning, someone takes a shot at him when he is out riding and lots of other things. Then Hayden (Tex's lawyer) is killed in the same puzzling way. It is all solved in 65 minutes and the Falcon finds another "lady in distress".Barbara Hale is first introduced saving a runaway coach. She plays the independent daughter of Tex's partner (Minor Watson) who is soon to be a suspect.Barbara Hale was one of RKO's promising young starlets of the 40s. She eventually found lasting fame as Della Street in the TV series "Perry Mason".Joan Barclay, who played Tex's ex wife had a reasonable career, starting with a bit in "The Gaucho" (1927) and ending with "The Shanghai Cobra" (1945). Carole Gallagher had a short, lack lustre career.

Spondonman This time the Falcon goes Wild West, which was a nice change from the asphalt based crimes he usually dealt with – like a breath of fresh air. It's only a pity that cynical Cliff Clark and gorging Ed Gargan in their last Falcon film weren't given some horse riding to do too!Tom Conway as Tom Lawrence doesn't want to get mixed up in a beautiful damsel in distress's marital problems but immediately takes over when the ex-husband is murdered by snakebite venom in a New York nightclub. The trail takes him – and all of the suspects too - back to the dead man's ranch and his Will, where the plot thickens. Favourite bit: the sudden late night poker game trying to hide the fact there was something to hide from the cops, to their disbelief. The barbecue evening was lovely with young Barbara Hale adding nicely to the scenery, Gargan concentrating on the food, Clark smoking in the background with the host and the Falcon concentrating on solving the crime – it only needed the Merry Mac's to round it off!If you prefer serious meaningful modern films you sure wasted your time! It was a nice little unassuming atmospheric whodunit without being either heavy or too taxing of course, just how I like 'em in fact.

bob the moo Tom Lawrence aka The Falcon is out enjoying himself in a New York nightclub full of society types. Among them is a Texan playboy who suddenly starts complaining of a pain that feels like a snakebite, before dropping to the floor and dying. Investigating the body, Lawrence finds two marks indicating a snake had indeed bitten the man but soon finds that a minor detail as the man's fiancé flees the scene and catches a train back to Texas. Lawrence follows her and finds the police have already gotten to Texas via plane and are waiting legal papers to take her back. Lawrence investigates the murder with all the suspects on the victim's ranch in a case where he risks his own life.By this stage in the series, things were looking like flagging and the location being built into the title (Texas and, later, Hollywood) suggested to me that the series wasn't relying on plotting and character to bring the audience in but seemed to be looking to the switching location to be enough to make the series suddenly feel fresh and interesting. In this regard the film fails because this is just the same formula but this time put into a setting that is poorly used and never really fits with the Falcon's style. The mystery story is still worth watching though because it is enjoyable in a b-movie sort of way. The setting is annoying and just seemed to be a way to drag in lots of western clichés into the film – Indians, shoot-outs, horse riding etc without really adding value at all. Fans will feel that this could have been better and they would be right because it is only average at best and isn't the best of the series by a long shot; meanwhile the causal viewer will probably not bother with this at all.The cast are OK, filled as it is with the usual b-movie actors. Conway is a great Falcon and is the main selling point of the series with a smart performance that is lacking Saunders' rather snide edge. Hale was a nice surprise since I only know her from the Perry Mason series and she is interesting in her character. Gallagher is a bit bland and blonde and isn't very impressive. Without a sidekick for the Falcon, Gargan is the sole comic relief and he does it reasonably well without interfering with the main thrust of the film, meanwhile Clark delivers a much more serious performance as the Inspector. Talbot has a few seconds of screen time and the rest of the cast are pretty clichéd Texan role although the Indians have some minor revenge by mocking Detective Bates' assumptions of their intelligence! Overall this is an average entry in the series but it is still good enough for fans to consider it worth seeing. The location is a big distraction and isn't used very well at all but the plot is reasonably interesting and the playing is quite enjoyable for a b-movie. Like I said, worth seeing it for fans of the series like myself but I doubt that this will be the Falcon film that wins over the casual viewer.