The Falcon Strikes Back (1943)

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Tom Conway is excellent--wry and witty. Jane Randolph makes her second and final appearance as a feisty reporter with a yen for the Falcon. She is very lovely, I wish she had appeared in more of the films! Rita Corday, also very attractive, makes the first of her five appearances in a Falcon film. And Harriet Nelson, of Ozzie and Harriet fame, has some sizzle as a suspicious hotel manager. Harriet, who knew? She's quite sexy here! In common with all the 1930's and 1940's series movies of this type, the police are portrayed very broadly for comedy. The two police officers here ham it up to a degree that will perhaps surprise any viewer who has not seen many of these old films. But they are no broader than Inspector Lestrade in the Universal Sherlock Holmes films. Or, though he is not a policeman, Birmingham Brown in the Monogram Chan films. The period costumes are good, especially on the ladies, and there are a couple of great old cars shown--the Falcon drives a stunning white convertible! Conway carries the movie smoothly and well. He's pleasure to watch--both shrewd and fun. The hotel desk clerk is a very familiar face from old films and old TV shows. The print on the dvd is quite good. Not as crystal clear as on the Fox Chan films, or the Universal Holmes ones, but still pretty good. There are some good exterior sets, especially at the country hotel. Recommended.

Now that George Sanders had been killed off his real and reel life brother Tom Conway has taken over the title The Falcon, he's even retained the retainer Goldie Locke, in this film played by Cliff Edwards.In this film Conway with the reputation of the Falcon preceding him Conway is neatly framed for the theft of war bonds. A crime that would arouse the anger of the public, but one that really couldn't be fruitful unless you waited till the war was over and then some for the bonds to mature. Remember this film made during World War II.The big surprise here is the dramatic performance of comedian Edgar Kennedy famous for his slow burn routine in feature films and a large number of two reel shorts. He plays a puppeteer with a traveling show and no laughs for Kennedy in The Falcon Takes Over.Fans of the series should be pleased.

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.

After doing some internet searching it appears that the Falcon series has not been put on DVDs. Does anyone know if there is a reasonable chance that that will happen? My son and I recently recorded three of The Falcon movies off of a satellite channel and enjoyed all three. I'd sure buy a DVD set of the series if it were available.The three films we saw were The Falcon's Brother, The Falcon and the Co-Eds and The Falcon Strikes Back. That is probably the order in which we would rank the three films, but for us they are pretty close. I read a comment that the earlier George Sanders films had a more film noir atmosphere, in which case we'd definitely like to see those.Thanks,