Appointment with Murder

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.

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.

This is the second of John Calvert's three "The Falcon" features released on 24 NOV 48.

You may recognize many of the actors from the time. That is part of the fun in watching; this includes the third Falcon, John Calvert, who might not be as revered as the first two Falcon actors.

-------- Michael Waring aka The Falcon (John Calvert) is hired by an insurance company to retrieve two stolen paintings. In the process, he travels to Italy and encounters murder.

The plot thickens when many people are double-crossed and even the paintings are suspected to be forgeries.

Will the Falcon succeed? Or there just might be another murder!

After the Falcon series ran its course with Tom Conway at RKO, the character was taken over for a few films with John Calvert in the role, made on a low budget for the interesting "Film Classics" company, which specialized in indie crime/noir/mystery films for a few years in the late 40s--this was the 2nd of 3 such Falcon entries. It most resembles the later PRC product, but is a step below PRC in the professionalism department, with a mix of veterans and seeming amateurs in the cast, and with a few small cheap sets. The plot revolves around art theft and fraud, and setting is LA and Italy, Italy being represented by a room and a staircase! John Calvert is quite different from Tom Conway as an actor--yes,he is tall and has a thin moustache, and he speaks in an subdued, educated manner, but he isn't the charmer or the wit of Conway's character, and here he is in the employ of an insurance company, where he reports to the hardest-working-man-in-b-movies, Lyle Talbot. There's never really any doubt about who does what to whom, but the various characters are all attempting to fool other characters as to their true identity and motives, so the "mystery" is how long that will keep up... as well as whether the Falcon will be able to resolve the art fraud situation. I've watched this film twice in the last year, and it's a decent late 40s low-budget mystery that's as good as the average 45-47 PRC film or late 40s/early 50s Eagle-Lion/Lippert output. Like a good little-known detective novel that you stumble across from the 40s or 50s, this film does what it needs to do and no doubt satisfied its audience in its day. Director Jack Bernhard--who made the amazing Decoy and the almost-as- amazing Violence the year before at Monogram--doesn't have the same kind of over-the-top, pulpy material to work with here, but no doubt could work efficiently in the vein of a William Berke or a Sam Newfield. Don't expect another Decoy here. Anyone who is seriously into low-budget post-WWII detective movies enough to even know what this film is will probably want to see it.

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.