The Falcon in Hollywood (1944)

Very well executed

People are voting emotionally.

hyped garbage

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The Falcon films, both with George Sanders and Tom Conway in the lead role, are on the most part very enjoyable. There are some very good ones like the first two Sanders Falcon films and 'The Falcon Strikes Back', though also a few disappointments like 'The Falcon in Danger' and 'The Falcon in Mexico'.On the most part, 'The Falcon in Hollywood' is very entertaining and one of Conway's better overall Falcon films. Certainly a big improvement over the previous two Falcon films 'Out West' and 'Mexico', both lesser efforts. Not everything works, Cliff Clark and Edward Gargan are missed and while Emory Powell and Frank Jenks are serviceable enough their characters don't have as much impact and their comedy not as interesting.As a result of having so many people bumped off, it is not hard to figure out very quickly who the perpetrator is, who admittedly I suspected early on. The ending is a little rushed too to a lesser extent, and the start of the film is a tad routine and pedestrian.However, a lot also does work. The music is lively and haunting enough, and on the most part the production values are slick and atmospheric with particularly nicely done photography. A new director is on board here and there is a very obvious and much-needed energy injected. Further advantages are a very playful script with dialogue that crackles with wit and a mostly absorbing story that is never less than bright, breezy and fun with some suspense and great twists and turns.Conway gives one of his best performances of the series, performing with suavity and a lot of witty energy. Barbara Hale and Rita Corday are alluring and charming, while brassy and sassy Veda Ann Borg really does liven things up.In conclusion, very entertaining if flawed and one of the better Conway Falcon films and amongst the top half of the series overall as well. 7/10 Bethany Cox

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.

Forgettable budget-constrained movie shot mostly on the lot with a lackluster plot. A post-surgery Veda Ann Borg as a wisecracking taxi driver replaces Tom Conway's usual sidekick Edward Brophy. This must have worked better during World War II. Barbara Hale as co-star does a fair job but will be better remembered as Perry Mason's Della Street. See this one only to finish up the series.

The other night was a whole night featuring the Falcon series on TV. Since I had never seen any I thought this would be a good chance. I picked The Falcon In Hollywood as I thought that it would not only introduce me to the Falcon but give me some behind the scenes of Hollwood as well. It was incredibly boring and worse than any tv movie I'd ever seen. What people don't remember is what might have been funny in 1944 is not funny any more. I like old black and white movies ( I am almost 60), but this was awful. Strange that just a few years later, Boston Blackie on TV had a real chemistry between the characters that this lacked.