The Gay Falcon (1941)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Best movie ever!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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

This 60-minute programmer shows just how efficient and entertaining Hollywood's little films could be during its so-called Golden Age. It's the first of the Falcon series, at a time when amateur sleuths (Boston Blackie, The Saint, et al.) were popular movie fare. Here, the great George Sanders plays Gay Lawrence aka "the Falcon", and an imposing presence he is both physically and intellectually. No wonder the ladies line up. So what's going on at old lady Gardner's swanky parties where expensive jewels seem to disappear as part of the festivities. And guess who is intrigued enough to get on the case. Then too, he's got help from an array of lively supporting players. I love these 40's films where the women's styles are fancy and eye-catching, like the hats that sometimes resemble alien life forms and the dresses that hike up when they sit. No wonder Lawrence is often distracted. He's got two lovelies, Vale and Barrie, giving him the eye, and maybe more if he'd just slow down a bit. The plot doesn't really matter, convoluted as it is. Instead there's enough character color, snappy dialog, and lively pacing to more than compensate. However, put the writers ahead 60-years to our time. What would they think of having macho Sanders utter their innocent line, "Just call me Gay". Sometimes, I guess, changes over time are not always for the better.

This witty whodunnit outclasses most of its pot-boiler sequels. The jewel-theft and dead body set-up is conventional but the way it works out is stylishly paced and full of entertaining sidelights. The Falcon's volatile fiancée is hilarious, and unfazed when he approaches her for the price of a meal dressed as a tramp. I like his byline in a newspaper story: "FALCON EVADES POLICE - Playboy Criminologist Sought in Mystery Slaying". Wendy Barrie as his stand-in Doctor Watson (while "Goldie" Locke is unavoidably detained by crooks) is more sceptical about his personal qualities than starry-eyed: she knows she's the other woman. It adds up to a sophisticated and playful take on a routine B-film formula, which has some of the élan and sparkle you get in early 1930s genre films.

This was the first of the Falcon films starring George Sanders, based on a story by Michael Arlen. Sanders is compulsively watchable, indeed mesmerising, as the smoothie amateur detective. He persuades his fiancée not to force him to go to a boring party by saying: 'Well, if you really want to be surrounded by a lot of people while I'm telling you I love you.' So many crisp one-liners in this film. Even one of the villains approaches a woman to dance with the line: 'Will you teach me to dance?' This was when Hollywood writers knew how to write crackling dialogue. Sanders plays along with the fun with such insouciant perfection that he is a marvel of the screen. One could watch this film a dozen times and still be dazzled at the effortlessness with which Sanders oozes his caddish charm in bucket-loads. No one ever surpassed him in this quality. And his tongue is so far into his cheek you can see it poking out. This film is also notable for the appearance of Gladys Cooper in a major supporting role; she is as mesmerising as Sanders, and their scenes together are a marvel. Wendy Barrie is also quick as a whip, lively as a frog jumping on a hot rock, and winsome as a kitten. Anyone interested in B Movie gems needs to collect this one.