The Falcon's Adventure

I am watching this one right now on TCM. The Falcon's Adventure finds our hero helping Brazilian beauty Louisa Braganza (Madge Meredith) deliver her father's formula for making industrial diamonds. And she really needs the help after her father gets pistol whipped by a bad guy trying to steal the valuable piece of paper. The adventure takes Tom and Goldie to Miami where Professor Dennison is supposed to take possession of the formula. In addition to Madge Meredith, hard looking but gorgeous Myrna Dell has good role here after just having a bit part in the previous Falcon film, The Falcon in San Francisco. Carol Forman plays Helen Ray, Louisa's maid. Carol is best remembered for her villainous leading role in the 1947 serial, The Black Widow. Phil Warren and Steve Brodie are the hoods. Joseph Crehan and Harry Harvey play the bumbling cops. RKO churned out three more Falcon movies after this one with a different actor as The Falcon. Tom Conway didn't get away from a crime fighter, though. He played Bulldog Drummond in two 1948 movies. The Falcon's Adventure is fast paced with good dialogue and a story that's easy to follow. Watching it is a good way to spend 61 minutes on a summer Saturday morning.

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.

Reiterating somewhat what has already been said in my previous Falcon film reviews (due to that a fair few have similar strengths and flaws), 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 Adventure' is solid fun and works well. It is agreed that 'The Falcon's Adventure' does start off a little contrived and routine, that the ending is rushed and abrupt (not an uncommon problem in this series, due to the films being very short) and that the villains are not that memorable or interesting with little menace.

Much can be recommended however. The music is lively and haunting, and on the most part the production values are slick and atmospheric with particularly nicely done photography and eye catching fashions and cars. The script is humorous, there is a good deal of atmosphere and intrigue and the story is absorbing once it gets going with bright and breezy pacing and enough twists, turns and suspense to keep the mystery diverting. Direction is competent.

Conway, in his swansong performance in the title role, is dapper, suave and charismatic, uttering cutting lines with aplomb. Edward Brophy is amusing, and gives a performance not out of control or too low-key, while Madge Meredith allures in her charming if standard role. The cast generally are solid enough.

In summary, Conway's swansong in the Falcon series is a good, solid one. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Both the Falcon series and the Boston Blackie series are guilty of re-using a plot more than once - I wouldn't be surprised if that were true of many series.

In this one, the MacGuffin is the formula for industrial diamonds which I am pretty sure was used before. The Falcon (Tom Conway) saves a kidnapped woman and winds up being framed for the murder of her uncle, who owns the formula and is trying to get it to someone in Miami that has arranged for backers.

Some clever moments, one regarding a blonde the Falcon saves from someone harassing her on the train.

Tom Conway does a good job - it was his last foray as the Falcon. He's charming, but this wasn't very exciting.

Of interest, pretty Madge Meredith's career was derailed a bit when she was sentenced to five years in prison on an assault charge - it turned out that in fact she had been framed and was released. She worked into the '60s.

This is the thirteenth Falcon film. Tom Conway has lost none of his humour and style, and is not showing signs of getting tired. The film has a very satisfying story, with lots of red herrings, suspects, and dames. Madge Meredith is the good girl of the story, she plays it adequately but by no means sets the screen on fire. Myrna Dell is a bad girl, and she puts on an excellent face of stone, with eyes of agate, and you are just waiting for her to kill as many people as possible to cheer herself up. Edward Brophy is back as Goldie the sidekick, but surprise surprise, his manic over-acting has stopped, and he is actually under control. This is a fine tribute to the directorial skills of William A. Berke, who had done so many Westerns he probably was not prepared to take any nonsense from a Brooklyn dummy. The result is that for the first time, possibly in his career, Brophy was toned down enough actually to add something to a film rather than try the viewer's patience with the irritating behaviour of a retarded but unruly six year-old. It all goes along very well, and is thoroughly entertaining.

Routine Falcon entry with plenty of eye candy for the guys and a good look at high fashion, post-war style. There's some mystery in who's trying to get the stolen formula for industrial diamonds. But as in most Falcon entries, the emphasis is not on whodunit ( like Charlie Chan, for example). Instead, it's on the right mix of humor, action, and intrigue. Plus, there's Conway who unfortunately makes his last appearance as the incredibly smooth Falcon. Here, Goldie gets some amusing caustic lines; the Falcon has a heckuva scrap with a bigger guy and loses; while various shady characters maneuver to get who knows what. All in all, the 60-minutes amounts to a solid, if unexceptional, entry in the RKO series.

(In passing—too bad leading lady Meredith got mixed up in a bogus criminal conviction the year after this movie that knocked a big hole in her career. Judging from her work here, she had the looks and ability of an A-grade leading lady.)