The Falcon Takes Over (1942)

The Falcon and reporter Ann Riordan try to solve a string of murders after an ex-wrestler, released from jail, goes looking for his girl friend.

Director:

Irving Reis

Writers:

Lynn Root (screenplay), Frank Fenton (screenplay),

Stars:

George Sanders, Lynn Bari, James Gleason

Cast

Complete credited cast:
George Sanders	...	Gay Lawrence
Lynn Bari	...	Ann Riordan
James Gleason	...	Inspector Mike O'Hara
Allen Jenkins	...	Jonathan 'Goldy' Locke
Helen Gilbert	...	Diana Kenyon

Storyline

One night in New York, beefy escaped convict Moose Malloy goes hunting for his ex-girlfriend Velma, leaving a trail of mayhem behind him. Velma seems to be well-hidden, and adventurer The Falcon, intrigued, investigates on his own, approaching the heart of the mystery via a varied sequence of shady characters and attractive women.

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Plot Keywords:

the falcon | reporter | police informant | acting drunk | female reporter | 

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Taglines:

MYSTERY that you'll laugh at...when -- The Falcon TAKES OVER

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 May 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Falcão Detective

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

65 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the third Falcon entry in a row in which Hans Conried plays a different character.

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Goofs

In a night club scene The Falcon and Diana Kenyon are sitting close together talking. There is a plant pot on a ledge behind them, partially obscured and on the table a champagne glass is in front of Diana Kenyon. In the next shot, there is a gap separating the two, the flower pot is now centrally placed between them and the champagne glass has moved position.

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Quotes

Inspector Mike O'Hara: Start talkin' and talk fast, or I'll tell you where you're goin'.
Jonathan 'Goldy' Locke: Go ahead. Put the cuffs on me. A stretch in the clink will be like livin' at the Ritz after what I've been through.
Inspector Mike O'Hara: I accept your resignation.

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Connections

Followed by The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943)

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Soundtracks

"FOR HE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by Roy Webb
Sung by drunken George Sanders

User Reviews

An amusing trifle

Put this one in the same category as "Satan Met a Lady". An amusing way to kill some time for hard-core fans (of Chandler or Hammett), but so far from "essential" that you can't even see the road back to "essential".

I guess that we have "The Thin Man" to blame for all this. The success of that movie (and franchise) must have inspired every movie studio out there to create their own version of the suave, wise-cracking society detective.

It terms of the source material, it's kind of a "mystery" to me (sorry) why they even felt it necessary to borrow part of the plot from "Farewell, My Lovely". The movie is only 65 minutes long, so you barely get past the first visit to Amthor (the psychic) and things are starting to wrap up. That's only about 1/4 or maybe 1/3 of the way through the original novel -- and most of what *is* taken from the novel had to be twisted around to fit the characters in this movie -- so you get none of the classic Chandler material about Santa Monica (excuse me, "Bay City"), the sanitarium, the gambling boat, etc, etc, etc. Also, the whole setup with Lindsay Marriott coming in to ask the detective to accompany him to his payoff is pretty absurd when the main character is a society bon vivant who solves crimes in his spare time rather than a professional private investigator. It seems to me like it wouldn't have been that much harder to just write a new mystery (or adapt some less incongruous one) but I guess that starting with "Farewell My Lovely" allowed them to finish the script for this movie in, say, twenty minutes instead of an hour.

So there's nothing "noir" about this movie at all; it's really only for hard-core fans of Chandler's writing or light 30s/40s mystery/comedies, but it's a fun way to pass some time on a rainy Sunday afternoon.