Qui veut la peau du Faucon?

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.

During a day at the races, Guy Lawrence meets the wealthy Mrs Peabody and her ward, Judith Meredith and he accepts their invitation to a party later that night. Judith confides in The Falcon that she fears she will be accused if more of Mrs Peabody's jewels are stolen – she already has a suspicious insurance investigator on her case due to a previous claim. When the jewels do get stolen and a butler murdered, Judith is suspected and turns to the Falcon to help solve the mystery and save her.

Several years after the falcon series changed hands, and everyone seems a lot more comfortable than they did in that first vehicle where Conway first went solo. The plot here is the usual mix of pretty girls, mystery, red herrings and gentlemanly action. It is hardly the most original stuff ever made but it is a reasonably enjoyable little story even if it didn't grip me in the way that a really good thriller should do. The film has enough energy, intrigue and humour to do the job and, although the material is just entertainment, everything more or less comes together. The first song of the two is really cute and the humour is mostly good.

A big part of this is everyone hitting their marks right. Conway seems perfect for the role now and seems a lot more confident. He is as good as Saunders was here. Barnett is on point as Goldy as well; at first he was a poor replacement for Lefty but, after being dropped from at least one of the movies, he is good here. It is just as well really since the comic relief usually provided by the police is absent and replaced with a dour insurance man who has little to do. Corday is yet another blonde for the Falcon to woo and she does well enough for that sort of role. He's a little hammy but Cook is always interesting and we also have solid support from Robards Snr, Howard, Jane Greer and Bridge.

Overall not a superb film but a better than average entry in an entertaining series of films. Everyone seems at home and enjoying their roles and it is almost a shame that the series was just approaching the end of its 13 film run.

This is the twelfth Falcon film. It has exciting appearances in it of Jane Greer, aged 22 but looking and behaving 32, and Elisha Cook, Junior. This is apparently the only film in which Jane Greer plays a singer, and she sings very well. Her song is absolutely extraordinary in that the lyrics feature planned silences and hesitating phrases which drop out of the rhythm, and frankly I have never heard a song pull off such tricks successfully, and the film is worth seeing for the song, not because the melody is any good, but because the song is musically unique as far as I know and would repay close study and analysis by any serious song writer. Elisha Cook gets to do more acting than usual in this film, and he is even scarier than usual, and completely convincing, as always. Jane Greer did not become a noted noir player until the following year, and was still obscure at this stage. Jean Brooks is in this one, but gets very little screen time and her presence is frankly wasted. I guess because she was part of the team, they were inventing a pretext for her to have a fee. We get to see her in a revealing gown with exposed back, which menacing ice maidens don't normally show, but that's about all. Rita Corday is in this one too, and she gets a big part and shines. Vince Barnett is much less annoying as Goldie the sidekick than the atrocious Edward Brophy in the preceding film, though he still gets on one's nerves. The film was well directed by Ray McCarey, who died only two years later at the age of only 44. Believe it or not, I actually knew the man who wrote the story for this film, whose name was Manny Seff. He was a very delightful and amusing guy, a great conversationalist, story teller, and joke cracker, who was getting old when I was very young, and it adds dimension to an old movie when you can say: 'There's Manny Seff's name as the writer!' He is exactly the kind of fellow I had always imagined writing these stories, and there suddenly his name appeared on the screen to prove it. I can't say it was a total surprise, it just seemed so appropriate. Judging from what I know of him, and guess about the others, these people must all have had a lot of fun making these films, which is probably one reason why they are so entertaining.

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.