The Gay Falcon (1941)

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The Falcon film series is generally a lot of fun to watch, and all worth watching at least once. The first of the series 'The Gay Falcon' is also one of the better ones from personal opinion.It maybe could have benefited from being about 10 minutes longer or something, to give the mystery aspects a little more explanation instead of a few parts being hastier and not as easy to follow as others. This said, that is very much a minor complaint compared to how good the rest of 'The Gay Falcon' is.When it comes to the production values, while not among the most visually stunning films ever made (then again 'The Gay Falcon' is not that kind of film), 'The Gay Falcon' is very meticulously filmed and lit with sets that are elegant and atmospheric. The music is lively and haunting, while the direction solid, the script is witty and smart and the story a vast majority of the time very engrossing and never incoherent or a test for endurance. The characters are also a lot of fun, apart from a few of the time racial stereotypes, but they are not in the film anywhere near long enough to mar it.George Sanders is a truly great lead, he was never less than watchable and magnificent when at his best, and he looks so relaxed and at ease here and plays with his usual suave and imposing manner while also with an elegance, cutting aplomb and charm. Nina Vale is alluring and Wendy Barrie has a ball.Edward Brophy, Arthur Shields, Turhan Bey and Gladys Cooper also give fine support. Coming very close to stealing the film is Allen Jenkins, who is very funny and often even more so and makes the most and much of a rather standard comedy sidekick role in hindsight.All in all, great start to a series with much entertainment value on the most part. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The "GAY FALCON" is a wonderful mystery movie with George Sanders as the Falcon. As other reviewers have commented, his brother, Tom Conway made a more believable Falcon. Wendy Barrie is very entertaining. The character of Goldie Locke as portrayed by Allen Jenkins is much more tongue and cheek than future character actors portraying the Goldie Locke character. I have viewed most of the Falcon movies, mostly on TCM. Presently, the Falcon series is being ran on Saturday mornings at 10:45(EDT). If you have a DVR make sure you record for future viewing.The earlier Saint movies with George Sanders are all great, also.If you enjoy this genre of movie, you will enjoy Boston Blackie and Charlie Chan,too.

The Gay Falcon, the first movie in the Falcon series, finds the Falcon (George Sanders) ready to give up both women and detective work at the request of his fiancé. This promise, however, doesn't last long as a pretty woman with a story of stolen jewelry soon walks into his life. In no time at all, the Falcon is up to his elbows in murder and hiding out from the police. The only way to clear his name is to find the real killer.This may have been George Sanders first time out in the role of the Falcon, but he wears the role with the familiarity of a favorite old sweater. I would argue, however, that his Saint series (which ended just prior to the start of the Falcon series) was so similar to the Falcon that it was hardly a stretch for Sanders. Regardless, Sanders makes everything seem so effortless and natural. He is joined by an especially strong cast. Gladys Jenkins, Edward Brophy, and Arthur Shields should be familiar to any fan of classic B-fare. Oddly though, all are upstaged by the strong performance of Nina Vale who surprisingly only appeared in two other films. I can't believe she didn't do more. She's quite good and imminently watchable. As for the movie, none of the Falcon movies are particularly deep affairs and The Gay Falcon is no different. It's light, breezy entertainment. The 1940s style of comedy/mystery films has always appealed to me and The Gay Falcon is a nice example. The comedy elements hit their mark and are, at their worst, amusing. Nothing to make you fall in the floor with laughter, just good, light-hearted fun. The mystery elements in the movie also work and are sufficiently convoluted to make it interesting throughout. And it helps that the final solution to the mystery at least makes sense and is ultimately satisfying. Director Irving Reis keeps things moving at an entertaining pace with no time for a wasted scene in the movie's relative short 67 minute runtime. Overall, it's a solid effort.

I really enjoy B-movie detective movies such as Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes and The Falcon. However, I also must admit that so often these films all tend to look a lot alike. Plots, characters and pacing is often so similar that they don't seem to stand out. In the case of The Falcon, this is made even worse since the earlier RKO series, The Saint, is virtually indistinguishable from The Falcon--and both starred George Sanders for much of their run! So, it was with great pleasure that I watched this film because it WAS different. The plot itself was very good, but what really stood out in this first Falcon movie was the amazingly witty dialog! Again and again and again, the film abounded with sharp comments and great humor. And, for once, the lady assistant was wonderful and didn't make the usual stupid decisions sidekicks make AND had some great lines herself. All in all, I can't think of another B-detective film that's made me laugh as much.