Sat 1 Apr 2017
Archived Movie Review: THE FALCON IN HOLLYWOOD (1944).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[14] Comments
THE FALCON IN HOLLYWOOD. RKO Radio Pictures,1944. Tom Conway, Barbara Hale, Veda Ann Borg, Sheldon Leonard, Frank Jenks, Joan Brooks, Rita Corday. Based upon the character created by Michael Arlen. Director: Gordon Douglas.
Tom Lawrence, also known as The Falcon, thinks he’s going on vacation in California, but he should have known better. With the able assistance of a very shapely taxi driver (Veda Ann Borg), he makes quick work of this case of murder on the movie set.
It’s hopeless to criticize the brainlessness of the plot, or at least what passes for detective work in the solution of which, but it takes only three little words to explain why this movie is worth watching, and I think I’ll repeat them:
Veda Ann Borg.
NOTE: Is it possible that this was the highlight of her [Veda Ann Borg’s] career? Here are some of the other movies she made: Accomplice (1946), Big Jim McLain (1952), Big Town (1947), Blonde Savage (1947), and Revenge of the Zombies (1943). Since I’ve seen only one of these, I can’t give you a definitive answer to the question, but from the titles, I’m inclined to say yes.
April 1st, 2017 at 12:58 pm
This may have sounded to you like a solid old-fashioned pan of this movie, but surprisingly enough, not so. The symbol I used to give it a rating translates to a “C.”
From the little I remember of this movie, that sounds about right.
April 1st, 2017 at 1:02 pm
Bosley Crowther of the NEW YORK TIMES said, in part:
“…just another indifferent workout for Tom Conway as the suave, intuitive sleuth. The backgrounds of picture-making are uncommonly interesting and lead one to wonder sharply why they haven’t been used to more avail. But the story itself is as feeble and hackneyed as a prop telephone.”
April 1st, 2017 at 2:39 pm
I probably first saw Veda Ann Borg in an ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN episode titled “The Stolen Costume,” where she and Dan Seymour discover Superman’s secret identity, much to their regret.
April 1st, 2017 at 3:58 pm
I liked this film, and agree with Bosley Crowther: the best parts are in the first half, which takes us on a backstage tour of a movie studio. It was shot on location at RKO, and presumably offers an authentic look at a 1945 film studio.
Veda Ann Borg had roles, often supporting, in some creditable films:
Kid Galahad
Murder in Times Square
Isle of Forgotten Sins
Detective Kitty O’Day
Mildred Pierce
Guys and Dolls
The Fearmakers
She also made tons of films I’ve never seen. Maybe some of them are really good!
April 1st, 2017 at 6:08 pm
Says Wikipedia, which I didn’t consult when I wrote this review:
“She appeared in more than 100 films, including Mildred Pierce, Chicken Every Sunday, Love Me or Leave Me, Guys and Dolls, Thunder in the Sun, You’re Never Too Young, and The Alamo (1960), in which she portrayed the blind Nell Robertson.”
Starting in 1952, when almost everybody else in the B-movie business did likewise, she starting showing up on TV also, until the early 60s.
April 1st, 2017 at 6:41 pm
I’ve seen every episode of the Falcon series, at least twice. It’s great fun. Sometimes, though, as the critic Leonard Maltin noted, you want some “mystery relief” from the “comic relief”. This, together with The Falcon and the Co-eds, are the best two, B or C+.
April 1st, 2017 at 7:57 pm
There was an afternoon once that TCM filled with a long run of the Falcon movies. I taped all that they showed but after watching one or two I didn’t lose interest exactly but I put the tape aside and somehow never got back to it. I still have it, I’m sure. How many are out on DVD?
April 1st, 2017 at 8:03 pm
To answer my own question, Warner Archives has released two box sets of Falcon movies. Volume One has seven movies on 3 discs, and Volume Two has 6 more on two discs. This is all 13, excluding the three starring John Calvert done for another studio.
This is worth looking into, I believe.
April 1st, 2017 at 7:14 pm
Veda, in Big Jim McLain, makes one of the funniest flibbertigibbets I’ve ever seen in the movies.
April 1st, 2017 at 7:52 pm
I’ll have to see that movie again. It’s been far too long.
April 1st, 2017 at 9:35 pm
In Hollywood, Tom Conway was referred to as “the nice George Sanders.”
April 2nd, 2017 at 2:12 pm
It has been pointed out to me that another movie that Tom Conway made in which his character is assisted by a female taxi driver is TWO O’CLOCK COURAGE, an Anthony Mann film from 1945. Ann Rutherford is the cabbie in this one; when she picks up Conway, he is a victim of amnesia and the prime suspect in a murder case.
April 1st, 2017 at 10:56 pm
SPOILER AHEAD, IF ANYONE CARES ABOUT THE PLOT!
I saw this by mistake years ago and remember that the motive for the murder may have inspired Mel Brooks’ wonderful The Producers! Less lethally, of course.
April 3rd, 2017 at 8:54 pm
I would add to Moe’s best THE FALCON IN MEXICO, and THE FALCON OUT WEST. The former uses footage from Orson Welles famous South American film that ended up canned.