Appointment with Murder

Not that RKO was the cream of studios in Hollywood. But those Falcon movies that were done there looked like Gone With The Wind next to these last Falcon movies with John Calvert. In fact this independent makes a typical PRC film look good.

Calvert is off to Italy and back searching for a pair of paintings that the owner Peter Brocco claims were stolen. When Calvert finds one of them he finds out also it's a fake and the artist who copied it is murdered.

So it's back to Los Angeles and to art dealer Catherine Craig who is involved though Calvert does not know how much.

These Falcon films aren't a patch on the George Sanders/Tom Conway films done at RKO. This one is one dull snooze.

Another forgettable in-name-only Falcon movie from Film Classics starring John Calvert. The plot has the supposed Falcon Michael Watling (Calvert) tracking down stolen paintings for an insurance company. Riveting stuff. Most scenes involve Calvert walking into a drab room and exchanging boring lines with someone you wouldn't be able to pick out of a lineup five minutes later. It's a cheap-looking film with little action or humor. Just lots of talking and not a single line of memorable dialogue. Calvert is very dull. He may sound a bit like Lee Van Cleef but has none of his screen presence. I miss Conway and Sanders. This is not a good movie. Only of interest to insomniacs.

The movie may lack visual style, but the two leads, Calvert & Craig, certainly don't. They wear their wardrobes like statuesque models that make for an eye-catching duo. Plot-wise the screenplay should have been junked-- no suspense, no whodunit, and barely any interest, unless, that is, you care whether the classic paintings are original or not. In fact, the narrative plays sloppily with the idea bouncing it around for 67-minutes. At the very least, a re-write was in order, but then the budget production may have been on a hurry-up schedule.

On the plus side is comparatively decent acting, especially from the lively Craig who steals the show, at least in my little book. Also picking up a payday is the versatile Ben Welden who has a real knock-down-drag-out with Calvert. I also like the way the detective shows his battle scars for the rest of the film, something Hollywood usually erased in the next scene. Also, watch for the deliciously eccentric James Griffith just starting out and as a detective, no less. There're also a few good location shots of downtown LA circa 1948.

But on the whole, the detective flick fails to register, thanks mainly to a boring screenplay.

APPOINTMENT WITH MURDER is a late entry in a long-running series of films about The Falcon, an international crime fighter who tours the globe bringing various criminals to justice. I haven't seen any of these films before - at least, I don't think I have - so I wasn't sure what to expect from this one.

What I got was a murky little potboiler with a few neat action sequences to recommend it, but a film which is overall let down by a convoluted plot line and a poor choice of hero. The pockmarked John Calvert has a face that is permanently contorted into a sneer, so he ends up looking more like a villainous henchman than the hero of the piece. By contrast one of this movie's chief villains looks like a cuddly teddy bear so you can't take him seriously as a menacing figure.

The plot is about the hunt for a couple of stolen and priceless paintings but it doesn't really amount to much apart from lots of back and forth sort of stuff with the authorities and some tacked-on romance type material. You have to laugh at the way the police don't bother getting involved in the proceedings and corpses are left laying around at various intervals. I didn't mind the brief fight scenes but overall APPOINTMENT WITH MURDER is a letdown.

The remarkable John Calvert stars as The Falcon in "Appointment with Murder" from 1948. This was one of three Falcon films made in 1948 by Calvert.

In this film, The Falcon (now called Michael Waring) is working for an insurance company and is sent to Europe to trace some paintings. He becomes involved with art forgers and the murder of an art forger in Italy.

A note about the name - supposedly The Falcon's name here is Michael Waring but it sounded in the film like Watling every time someone said it.

Calvert was debonair and sophisticated, but the movies aren't as much fun as the films with George Sanders. This film was very dry without the usual humor seen with The Falcon.

Calvert's actual career was that of a magician. He was the inspiration of Siegfried and Roy, and Mrs. Houdini said he was second to Harry as far as talent. Throughout his life, he traveled extensively doing magic shows, teaching, and occasionally doing a bit of acting.

Calvert was invited to perform his magic act both on Broadway in New York City and at the London Palladium Theatre on his 100th birthday. He died at the age of 102.