If you had any doubts about how slick The Falcon could be, just watch as Gay Laurence (George Sanders) handles the Monsoon Diamond by sliding it on, and later removing it from Detective Bates' (Edward Brophy) cigar. Great sleight of hand there even if it didn't look like it.
Actually, I don't think it was established, in this the first of The Falcon series, what exactly was the basis of that name. Come to think of it, the 'Gay' part of it only comes into play because that was Laurence's first name, but today, seventy five years after the film came out, the colloquial use of the word sends an entirely different message about the character. Easy enough to overlook though.
This was a nice breezy heist and murder mystery solved by The Falcon in relatively short order, all the while narrowly averting the flirtations of various contenders to his fiancé's affections. I have to admit, I was pretty sure Laurence was going to trade Helen Reed (Wendy Barrie) for Elinor Benford (Nina Vale) any moment; I kind of wish he had. Not that Elinor didn't have reason to be a pill around all those other women, but she could have lightened up a bit.
Anyway, a nice kick off the The Falcon series. I've only seen a couple of the others starring Tom Conway, so I'll have to be on the lookout for more from George Sanders, an actor who'll grow on you the more you see him.
Actually, I don't think it was established, in this the first of The Falcon series, what exactly was the basis of that name. Come to think of it, the 'Gay' part of it only comes into play because that was Laurence's first name, but today, seventy five years after the film came out, the colloquial use of the word sends an entirely different message about the character. Easy enough to overlook though.
This was a nice breezy heist and murder mystery solved by The Falcon in relatively short order, all the while narrowly averting the flirtations of various contenders to his fiancé's affections. I have to admit, I was pretty sure Laurence was going to trade Helen Reed (Wendy Barrie) for Elinor Benford (Nina Vale) any moment; I kind of wish he had. Not that Elinor didn't have reason to be a pill around all those other women, but she could have lightened up a bit.
Anyway, a nice kick off the The Falcon series. I've only seen a couple of the others starring Tom Conway, so I'll have to be on the lookout for more from George Sanders, an actor who'll grow on you the more you see him.