The Falcon's Brother (1942)

Memorable, crazy movie

A different way of telling a story

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The fourth film, and the transition, in the Falcon seriesThe Falcon (George Sanders) goes to meet his brother's boat, arriving from South America, only to find out that he's dead. The police inspector (Cliff Clark) and his detective (Edward Gargan) rule it a suicide, by poison; the Falcon surreptitiously finds that it was murder. Sanders also discovers that the body isn't his brother, but doesn't let the bumbling police know. Instead, he follows a woman who departed the ship after confirming that she knew his brother, but also did not reveal the identity of the body to the police.The Falcon and his sidekick Lefty (not Goldy this time), played by Don Barclay, follow the woman to a fashion salon; she is the head fashion designer there. While Sanders watches her inspect an unusual ring in a back office, he witnesses her being shot dead, briefly struggles with the escaping assailant (causing the murder weapon to fall at her side), but then must flee himself when he hears the police coming. The gun is removed by someone before the police arrive. Upon exiting the building, Sanders sees the ring on the finger of someone in a car, which then runs him over, sidelining him until the end of film.His brother (Tom Conway) takes over, working with Lefty and Marcia Brooks (Jane Randolph), a fashion reporter who didn't reveal Sanders' presence at the fashion salon to the police, to solve the mystery. Showing it's politically incorrect age, there are some dated scenes with the Falcon's Asian houseboy (Keye Luke - Charlie Chan's "No. 1 Son"), who speaks perfect English, mocking himself and his race by speaking "pigeon English" to obfuscate police and the women who pursue the Falcon.The missing gun is found, having been hidden a couple of times in amusing places, and turns out to belong to the murdered woman's underling, Paul Harrington (James Newill). However, he is cleared when the ballistics expert claims it's not the murder weapon. Harrington remains under suspicion by Conway et al when they discover a link between his fashion magazine covers and the timing of some key events in the war.About this time, Sanders recovers, learns of the magazine clues and figures out the significance of the ring just in time to save the day. The film ends in a way which facilitates Conway assuming the Falcon's duties from Sanders (who no longer wanted to continue the role) for the future films in the series.

'The Falcon's Brother' is most notable for being George Sanders' last outing as the Falcon and his real life brother Tom Conway debuting and taking over nine more times subsequently. Having really enjoyed the first three films, 'The Falcon's Brother' was decent enough but somewhat of a disappointment at the same time.Of the four Falcon films with Sanders, to me it's the weakest, with a lot of merits but also some glaring flaws. While Sanders is underused and it is somewhat obvious that he had tired of the role (having performed with more enthusiasm in the first two films) he is charismatic and suave enough. Conway is a strong presence, making a more than credible role debut.Mostly the supporting cast were underwhelming, but Jane Randolph was suitably sprightly and spunky with great rapport with Conway (it is their scenes where the film particularly comes alive) and Keye Luke is very amusing and brings a real charm to a character that could easily have been annoying and out of place.'The Falcon's Brother' looks just fine, with a lot of elegance and atmosphere in the settings and the film is shot with style and class as well as a real sense of genre. The music is lively and haunting, and the story is mostly suspenseful and engrossing, going at an efficient pace, faring stronger in the mystery elements than the comedy. It's complicated but it doesn't feel jumpy or rushed, which is remarkable for a film that is not that long.However, Stanley Logan's direction while efficient is unimaginative while the ending does feel rushed and abrupt. The comedy is amusing and light enough, but doesn't crackle as much as the previous three films and some of it veers on the repetitive, while the patriotic elements are laid on too thick and don't really fit very well.Particularly disappointing is the notable and deeply lamented absences of James Gleason and Allen Jenkins, scene stealers in the previous films. The replacement characters/actors are not only not as good, they don't even come close and are vastly inferior. Saw no point to the character of Lefty, and the film even fails to provide a reason for Goldy's absence which harms the continuity somewhat, and Don Barclay plays him witlessly and all annoyance and no sense of fun or charm. Cliff Clark resorts to buffoonish mugging, and Edward Gargan is particularly hampered by repetitive material (particularly the patter between him and Clark) and struggles to bring freshness to it.In conclusion, decent if disappointing. Good for curiosity value but there's better in the series. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This is a B-movie detective film from back in the day when such series were common. While The Falcon series isn't as interesting or fun as Charlie Chan or Sherlock Holmes, it is one of the better examples of the genre. Interestingly enough, growing up I often couldn't remember if I'd just seen a Falcon film or a Saint film, as both series were produced (for the most part) by RKO and many featured George Sanders playing the same character in almost every way aside from their name! The formula and action was identical--both detectives were sophisticated rich guys who mostly dabbled in investigating crimes out of a desire to avoid boredom or meet women! From a historical standpoint, this is THE must-see film of either series, as it stars George Sanders AND his nearly identical-looking and talking real-life brother, Tom Conway--who when on to play The Falcon in nine films! It seems that George was tired of this series work and wanted out of the contract, so they decided to use his equally talented older brother--who made a smooth transition to the role. In fact, it's pretty cool to see BOTH Falcons in the same film and I really appreciated the unusual and unexpected ending (which I WON'T divulge so I'll keep it suspenseful).Apart from Conway and Sanders, the film is also better than the average Falcon film, as the plot is very good and the supporting cast all do an excellent job of combining mystery with a light sense of humor. This isn't an intellectual or deep film, but represents a good and watchable B-movie that has held up well through the years.

This is the most Famous Falcon Film, the one where one brother gets fed up with the title role so the other brother steps in and continues the series for another 4 years. George Sanders was nearly always good in these kind of roles but personally I always preferred Tom Conway, maybe he just looked more comfortable in B pictures. I also preferred as sidekick Allen Jenkins as Goldie to Don Barclay as Lefty. The film quality isn't very good at this distance, sometimes it's so jumpy and grainy the continuity and the acting resemble Monogram more than RKO - are all extant copies from '50's TV dupes?Basically Gay Lawrence is after the people who murdered someone supposed to be his brother Tom, for a while both are on the case before Gay becomes hors de combat. Tom has to do the detective work himself for most of the film. The patter between the Inspector played by Cliff Clark and flatfoot Ed Gargan is repetitive but entertaining - "I'm boss. You don't mind do you?", James Gleason was also good in the role previously. Jane Randolph as the nosey reporter who doesn't seem to do much reporting is decorative but apparently unappealing to the Falcon: the solving of the crimes are everything. Not so vice versa - the Falcon would continue as a lady-killer of seismic proportions!All in all a most enjoyable 1940's murder mystery B film, but nothing really extraordinary in a most enjoyable series of 13 up to 1946.