utgard14 The new Falcon tries to help a woman find her brother and winds up investigating murder and theft of war bonds. Tom Conway eases into the lead role in this series effortlessly. His style is very similar to his brother George, which helps. The character of Goldie Locke returns but with Cliff Edwards playing the role. Edwards is amusing at times but no Allen Jenkins. Richard Loo replaces Keye Luke as Jerry the houseboy, a role that has little reason for existing. Cliff Clark and Edward Gargan return as Inspector Donovan and his sidekick Bates. Jane Randolph makes her second and final appearance in the series as the Falcon's lady reporter love interest. In addition to Randolph, the lovelies this time are Harriet Hilliard and Rita Corday. Edgar Kennedy steals the show as puppeteer Smiley Dugan, handling both comedy and drama in the same film. He also has a big role in the film's terrific climax, which was impressive enough for me to bump the score up a notch.

jacobs-greenwood Directed by Edward Dmytryk, this is Tom Conway's first film as the Falcon and he's got a new sidekick, Goldie (Cliff Edwards), and houseboy (Richard Loo) though he retains his journalist, girlfriend Marcia Brooks (Jane Randolph). The police inspector (Cliff Clark) and his detective (Edward Gargan) also return from the preceding Falcon film, The Falcon's Brother (1942) (George Sanders' last film in the title role).Mia Bruger (Rita Corday) shows up in the Falcon's bedroom one morning while he's recovering from a hangover. Although she claims to want his help with an immigration issue, she holds a gun on him when he refuses. A struggle ensues, which appears to be something quite different to Goldie and Ms. Brooks when they enter the room. But when the Falcon prevails, he decides to help her anyway.After driving her to a "bar" to which she directs him, the Falcon is promptly clubbed over the head. While he is unconscious, his car is used in a burglary of $250,000 in war bonds and a warrant is issued for his arrest. When the Falcon regains consciousness, he finds himself in his car and there's a comic scene involving two bums that tell him where he is (out in the country) as well as the day and time, using a stick sundial.The police soon catch the Falcon, who take him to the "bar" only to find that the establishment is now a sewing school run by Gwynne Gregory (Wynne Gibson). Though still jealous over the bedroom scene, Ms. Brooks helps the Falcon establish his alibi for the police and then reluctantly agrees to pose as a sewing girl to learn what she can about the sewing school. In the purse of Ms. Gregory, she discovers the name of a hotel in the country (which becomes the setting for the rest of the movie).Shortly after arriving at the hotel, the Falcon and his sidekick humorously "eliminate" the hotel's house detective so that Goldie can be hired to replace him. Quite a few characters are introduced into the storyline at this point including: a puppeteer (Edgar Kennedy) who is doing charity shows at the hotel, the hotel manager (Harriet Hilliard - Ozzie and Harriet), an ex-con (Erford Gage) that the Falcon helped send "up the river" working as a nurse for a German refugee (Andre Charlot), and even Ms. Bruger and Ms. Gregory turn up again.As is typical, murder becomes part of the plot-line, as do the stolen war bonds (with the aide of the Falcon's houseboy) and a fingerprint laden cigarette case. Of course, the police show up at a key moment to arrest the Falcon and take him away. But, as usual, he escapes (with the same trick used earlier in the film by his sidekick), returning to the hotel in time to solve the crime ... except this time, the police inspector actually gives the Falcon some credit.The film ends with a woman's scream and her running to the Falcon for assistance, introducing the next case and/or film in the series.FYI, the very recognizable character actor Byron Foulger plays the hotel clerk in this film.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** The high flying "Falcon" Tom Lawrence, Tom Conway, is laid low after a night of heavy drinking and is awaken in his office by Mia Berger, Rita Corday,an what seems like escapee from fascism-Nazi German occupied Europe- begging him to track down her missing brother. Not in the best shape Lawrence goes to this bar where Mia's brother is known to frequent and not only doesn't find him but is knocked out and left outside town in a car that was involved in the robbery of $250,000.00 of US Government bonds where a number of people were killed! Arrested on a tip by the police Lawrence, and later after escaping from them,is now more then determined to prove his innocence by finding Mia or whoever she is in order for him to prove he was with her when the robbery occurred. Things don't look so good for Lawrence when he finds Mia refuses to help him and is later, at the hotel she was staying in, killed by being shot by a sniper while diving off a plank at the hotel swimming pool! ***SPOILERS****Now in real hot water in not only being accused of a robbery of $250,000.00 in US Government Bonds, at the very height of WWII,but the murder of Mia as well Lawrence uses all his wits and savvy to elude the police as well as to get him out of the mess that he now finds himself in. It all boils down to an act of simple reeving on the killer's part who back in San Francisco was screwed out of his life savings by not only Mia but the person she worked with a con artist known as "The Duchess" the tea toting and all so righteous Mrs. Geraldine Lipton, Waynne Gibson, who runs-as a cover for her criminal activities- a woman's knitting school in town. The killer himself is caught in a trap that Lawrence-the Falcon-set for him using Mrs. Lipton as bate.With Lawrence hot on his tail and having really nowhere to go the killer ends up falling to his death as he slipped off the roof of the hotel that he, using an assumed name, worked at!

bob the moo Tom Lawrence gets off to a good start on his own as he wakes up with a hangover but with a sexy Latino lady standing over his bed. Mia Bruger is her name and she tells the Falcon of her concern for her missing brother. He meets her later to discuss the matter but someone knocks him out. He wakes up later on a country road in the backseat of his car with little knowledge of where he is. When he is arrested for a bank robbery and a murder, Lawrence works put that he has been set up and goes on the lamb to solve the crime and why he was set up.In his first film on his own, Tom Conway opens with a typically suave turn in bed, hungover from his night on the town and waking with a beautiful woman in his room. From here the plot moves well to set up the mystery. It isn't a gripping thriller but it holds the interest by having enough going on and sufficient plot twists occur to help keep the pace up throughout. Much more enjoyable than the previous entry (Falcon's Brother) in this regard, the film is well written and well delivered.After a so-so start in the last film, Conway seems like he was made for the role and within a few seconds of the first scene he is into it and great fun. His detecting skills are on show and he mixes them well with a debonair delivery and screen presence – the memory of Sanders slipped from my mind. Hilliard works well alongside him but, unusually for the series, there are quite a few strong female performances from Randolph, Gibson and Corday. After Lefty in the last film we get Goldie returning but this time played by Edwards. It is a basic turn and not as funny as I would have liked. Better comic support value comes from the pairing of Clark and Gargan (straight man and stupid man respectively); the simple comic scenes involving them are not imaginative but they do provide a few laughs.Overall then a good entry in the series that is much more assured than The Falcon's Brother had been the year before. Consistent and with a good pace the film benefits from solid characters and good performances to produce a typically enjoyable film in this famous b-movie series.