The Gay Falcon (1941)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Irving Reis

Writers:

Michael Arlen (story)
Lynn Root (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

24 October 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Drama

Tagline:

The bold adventurer who's as smooth with the ladies as he's clever with crime!...Fiction's slickest super sleuth, created by Michael Arlen and portrayed by the star who thrilled you as "The Saint".

Plot:

The Falcon investigates jewel thieves who are working with hard up socialites to defraud insurance companies. First of the Falcon series. |

Plot Keywords:

The Falcon | Engagement | Secret Marriage | Diamond Ring | Secretary

Cast

George Sanders	...	Gay Lawrence / The Falcon
Wendy Barrie	...	Helen Reed
Allen Jenkins	...	Jonathan G. 'Goldie' Locke
Nina Vale	...	Elinor Benford (as Anne Hunter)
Gladys Cooper	...	Maxine Wood
Edward Brophy	...	Detective Bates
Arthur Shields	...	Inspector Mike Waldeck
Damian O'Flynn	...	Noel Weber
Turhan Bey	...	Manuel Retana
Eddie Dunn	...	Detective Grimes
Lucile Gleason	...	Mrs. Vera Gardner
Willie Fung	...	Jerry
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Florence Bates	...	(scenes deleted)

Runtime:

67 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (2005) | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #7362)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Leslie Charteris sued RKO contending that "The Falcon" was "The Saint", his creation, in disguise. The disposition of the suit has not been discovered.

Movie Connections:

Followed by The Falcon Out West (1944)

Pleasant entry in the Falcon series...

This is a pleasant B-film from The Falcon series with (by today's standards) a misleading title.

GEORGE SANDERS is the woman-chasing sleuth who always manages to get involved in a crime the police cannot solve without his help. WENDY BARRIE is the flirtatious woman who goes along with him on a series of adventures that have them on the hunt for the murder of a woman wearing a very expensive diamond. ALLEN JENKINS is Sander's side-kick, amusing as usual in a supporting role.

The cast is full of surprises--never expected to see GLADYS COOPER as a rich society dame with a key role in the mystery, TURHAN BEY (a rising young star at the time), and EDWARD BROPHY and ARTHUR SHIELDS as baffled police officers.

Sanders says every line in that dryly sarcastic manner he would use as Addison deWitt in ALL ABOUT EVE years later, but he seems to be enjoying his role. There's nothing very ingenious about the plot, but it does come up with a surprise toward the end because Sanders has information withheld from the viewer.