The Falcon's Alibi

Some people would kill to possess Mrs Peabody 's pearls - but when somebody does so, did they get the real necklace? And if everybody has a strong alibi, who committed the crime? The famous 'Falcon', sleuth extraordinary Tom Lawrence , must outwit the police to find the answers.

I thoroughly enjoy the Falcon series, especially when played by Tom Conway, who oozes class as the heroic character in the mould of the Saint, and usually the Falcon films are enjoyable, fast paced, and cozily fun with good production values, however this is a slightly lesser entry with some slow spots, but it's still enjoyable, and gets more suspenseful and a little edgy towards the end, especially with the Jane Greer and Elisha Cook Jnr angle.

For fans of Hollywood 'B' Movies during the so-called 'Golden Years,' the identity of the murderer in Ray McCarey's thriller should be obvious from the start. Like most of the major studios, RKO tended to cast actors in specific character roles; and this film proves no exception.

Nonetheless THE FALCON'S ALIBI does contain some incidental pleasures on the way to the resolution of a complicated plot involving counterfeit pearls, three murders and a so-called 'sophisticated' middle-aged lady (Esther Howard) who turns out not to be quite what she seems. There is a considerable amount of comic by-play involving the Falcon (Tom Conway) and his sidekick Goldie (Vince Barnett): Barnett plays Goldie as a fast-talking New Yorker who can neither make sense of the situation in hand nor comprehend the Falcon's motives. Nonetheless he proves a useful person to have around - especially when the Falcon hatches a plan for discovering the whereabouts of the missing pearls.

Conway gives a mannered performance as the eponymous hero - sometimes his gestures are a little telegraphed, as a means of registering various emotions, but he retains the kind of insouciance that enables him to cope with ticklish situations, especially when Detective Williams (Edmund Cobb) accuses him of murder. We know that he will escape the officer's clutches, but it's fun to see the intrigues he concocts in order to plan the escape.

Like all 'B' Movies, McCarey directs THE FALCON'S ALIBI in brisk fashion, combining studio settings with stock footage (of cars driving along the San Francisco streets). There are at least two musical interludes (RKO believed in trying to attract all types of film-goer to its 'B'-fare), pleasantly delivered by Lola Carpenter (played by the youthful Jane Greer). McCarey also has an ingenious means of using the songs to bridge the transitions between the musical interludes talking place on a night-club stage and the scenes of intrigue in Lola's dressing-room and its environs.

This was the twelfth entry in the Falcon series; by the mid-Forties, it was becoming a little repetitive in terms of plot and characterization. Nonetheless THE FALCON'S ALIBI is still worth a look, if only for the amount of action, incident and music that it packs into its hour- long running-time.

One of the later chapters for Tom Conway as "The Falcon"! the usual cast... Elisha Cook was in so many early black and whites and film noirs. Vince Barnett as "Goldie". Jason Robard SENIOR ! is in here as Harvey. and Rita Corday is "Joan". in the usual fashion, the falcon is caught up in the plot, and is found with the missing jewels, and tries to explain to the police why he now has the missing jewels. or are they really the missing pearls ?? The falcon has to prove himself to the po-po yet again. Can he do it in time? and as usual, Cook is "Nick", the wide eyed errand boy, who gets caught in the middle. it's all according to formula, so average marks for this one. entertaining enough, but nothing really new. Directed by Ray McCarey... he had directed Laurel & Hardy, as well as the Three Stooges, so he was a pro for sure ! he was the brother of bigshot Leo McCarey.

The 12th and penultimate RKO Falcon film was a hardboiled affair, with the two wildly different main strands converging to a rather sudden conclusion. Some nice noirish moments, atmospheric photography and natural acting by all go to make it an enjoyable ride.

Tom Conway playing Tom Lawrence aka the Falcon and Goldie (played for the only time by Vince Barnett) get called upon to protect a "lady's" pearl necklace, alas to no avail – it's already gone. An insurance scam is uncovered with Emory Parnell in his 3rd Falcon as a slapstick insurance detective. The other thread has manic Barbary Towers hotel dj Elisha Cook Jr. (the one man Radio KGR) with his own problems, not the least keeping hold of his wife, gorgeous Jane Greer. His was the watertight alibi of the picture, not a new idea then and borrowed shortly afterwards to greater effect by Claude Rains in The Unsuspected. It was Rita Corday's 6th and final Falcon film, this time pretty low-key - all those name changes surely didn't help her future career? Favourite bits: listening to Greer's pleasant singing voice; the "smudge" fire routine in the hotel bedroom ably performed by Goldie; Cook's record library - you could get all those tons of shellac onto a single mp3 player now! Needless to relate, Tom solves everything, albeit a couple of murders too late, but woe betide you if you miss that last minute – they closed this one down fast!

Nothing here for the serious, nice entertainment for us fans.

The Falcon RKO film series is mostly very enjoyable, with both George Sanders and his brother Tom Conway who took over from him being great in the title role.

Admittedly, some are better than others. For examples there are some particularly fun entries such as 'The Gay Falcon', 'A Date with the Falcon', 'The Falcon Strikes Back', 'The Falcon and the Co-eds', 'The Falcon in Hollywood' and 'The Falcon in San Francisco', while others while still very much watchable disappoint a little such 'The Falcon's Brother', 'The Falcon in Danger', 'The Falcon Out West' and 'The Falcon in Mexico'.

On the most part, while not fitting among either extreme of whether among the best or weakest Falcon films, 'The Falcon's Alibi' is solid fun and works well. The culprit is pretty obvious early on, almost from when they are first introduced, and the ending is a little hasty and abrupt (not an uncommon problem in this series). While most of the supporting cast are great, there are a few that don't quite make an impression.

Jean Brooks is wasted due to being given so little to do, and while Al Bridge and Edmund Cobb do alright, they are in types of roles filled more effectively in the Falcon series by Cliff Clark and Edward Gargan as well as James Gleason. Vince Barnett was only serviceable as Goldie, personally thought that Edward Brophy had more enthusiasm and that Allen Jenkins was more of a scene-stealer, Barnett was an admirable stooge but his material is a little bland in places and he occasionally overdid it (by all means not a bad performance).

However, a lot also does work. The music is lively and haunting, the songs are particularly great and the use of them ingenious, and on the most part the production values are slick and atmospheric with particularly nicely done photography. The film is directed with liveliness and tautness, while the script is playful and much of the story is absorbing and goes at a bright and breezy pace with the odd bit of dark suspense.

Conway is dapper, suave, charismatic and amusingly cutting here, he always thrived in the title role and 'The Falcon's Alibi' sees him give one of his most confident performances in the role. Rita Corday is low-key and charming, while Emory Parnell is amusing (though his screen time is short) and Esther Howard and Jason Robards Snr are solid. The two best supporting performances are a sizzling Jane Greer and a sinister Elisha Cook Jnr.

All in all, solid fun if not among the best or weakest of a mostly enjoyable series of films. 7/10 Bethany Cox