O Anel da Morte

I am watching The Falcon Out West right now on TCM. It's one of the better Falcon movies with Tom Conway. This one features a Texas rancher/playboy dying in a New York night club of rattlesnake bite. How could that be possible? This interesting premise takes The Falcon to the rancher's Texas ranch where all the suspects are gathered. And there's no shortage of them. Cliff Clark and Edward Gargan are on hand as the bumbling police detectives trying to keep up with Tom Lawrence's shenanigans. Minor Watson is chief suspect Dave Colby. Lyle Talbot has a small role as victim Tex Irwin. Lovelies Carole Gallagher and Joan Barclay are the women in Tex Irwin's life. Barbara Hale appears in her second straight Falcon movie (she was also in The Falcon in Hollywood) as Marion Colby, Dave's daughter. Barbara didn't have many physical scenes when she was playing Della Street on Perry Mason, but in real life she was an expert horsewoman. Barb gets to demonstrate that here as she gets a closeup while riding at full gallop to catch up with a runaway stagecoach. After the closeup scene, the stunt person takes over the actual stopping of the runaway coach. The Falcon Out West is quite interesting with a good blend of action and witty dialogue. Just sit back for 64 minutes and enjoy this one. It's worth watching.

Mrs. Irwin tries to recruit Tom "The Falcon" Lawrence (Tom Conway) to stop her ex-husband cattle baron Tex Irwin from marrying gold-digger Vanessa Drake. They are all at a New York nightclub. The Falcon turns down Mrs. Irwin. Tex dies mysteriously from an unseen rattle snake bite. Police Inspector Timothy Donovan is in disbelief and he starts investigating accompanied by the less than competent Homicide Detective Bates. They all head out west.

This is the 8th movie in the series. The Falcon has always been a light crime mystery franchise with a comedic touch. He does his 'work' with a smirk. In this one, the series is doing it with a cowboy motif. Instead of a mansion, it's a ranch. There are horses, Indians, and plenty of cowboy gear. There is even a piece of scalp. It is what it is. The best way to describe this is if a buddy cop comedic TV show does a case in a western-style fake town. It happens as old western sets get some use. No one expects greatness and non is found here.

Average Falcon entry, with several notable touches. A wealthy Texan in a sophisticated New York nightclub dies suddenly on the dance floor. Okay, that's fairly standard B-movie plotting, except Tex dies from a rattlesnake bite of all things. Now last time I checked, rattlesnakes were not accepted on New York dance floors. Maybe they're found among celebrity gossips, but not between sashaying couples. So the unusual mystery deepens, taking Falcon and company out West to figure things out. Happily there're better humorous touches than usual, especially a twist on the stereotyped Indian use of "How". Still, Hollywood's version of Texas West means the rocky hills of greater LA, familiar from hundreds of cowboy matinees. Not that scenery really matters since plot and humor remain uppermost.

Then too, it's a good chance to catch Della Street, oops!, I mean Barbara Hale on horseback stop a runaway stagecoach and save our hero the Falcon from an untimely crack-up. And here I thought it was supposed to be the other way around—hero saving girl, not girl saving hero. But never mind, the suave Falcon takes it all in stride. Note too that the 1944 movie was circulated among overseas GI's. The guys may not have cared who killed Tex, but for darn sure, I'll bet they liked the three shapely ladies who are a part of it.

Anyway, it's an entertaining hour, courtesy RKO's slickly done detective series.

Nice idea - bringing the urbane Falcon (Tom Conway) out west to solve the murder of a rancher (Lyle Talbot) killed by a rattlesnake bite in New York City. The rancher had a fiancée (Carole Gallagher), an ex-wife (Joan Irwin), and helpers (Minor Watson and Barbara Hale as his daughter), all of whom seem to have something to hide. Once out west, the search is on for the rancher's will and deed to his house, and the Falcon finds himself in danger.

This is actually a pretty good mystery with some old-fashioned Indians and prejudices thrown in - this is pretty common in old films, and gives one a good idea of the sensibilities of the time. Barbara Hale, who went on to play Della Street on "Perry Mason" is the most familiar face here - young and pretty, she started out as an RKO starlet. Carole Gallagher, the fiancée, had the beauty of a Lana Turner but alas, none of the spark, and her career didn't amount to much. Tom Conway does a good job at the Falcon, but I admit that I prefer George Sanders in the role.

This is an okay entry into the series.

This time the Falcon goes Wild West, which was a nice change from the asphalt based crimes he usually dealt with – like a breath of fresh air. It's only a pity that cynical Cliff Clark and gorging Ed Gargan in their last Falcon film weren't given some horse riding to do too!

Tom Conway as Tom Lawrence doesn't want to get mixed up in a beautiful damsel in distress's marital problems but immediately takes over when the ex-husband is murdered by snakebite venom in a New York nightclub. The trail takes him – and all of the suspects too - back to the dead man's ranch and his Will, where the plot thickens. Favourite bit: the sudden late night poker game trying to hide the fact there was something to hide from the cops, to their disbelief. The barbecue evening was lovely with young Barbara Hale adding nicely to the scenery, Gargan concentrating on the food, Clark smoking in the background with the host and the Falcon concentrating on solving the crime – it only needed the Merry Mac's to round it off!

If you prefer serious meaningful modern films you sure wasted your time! It was a nice little unassuming atmospheric whodunit without being either heavy or too taxing of course, just how I like 'em in fact.