Fri 31 May 2024
A TV Episode Review: THE ADVENTURES OF THE FALCON “Kiss Me Not.”
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[4] Comments
THE ADVENTURES OF THE FALCON. “Kiss Me Not.” Syndicated / Federal Telefilms, 01 October 1954 (Season 1, Episode 15). Charles McGraw. Guest Cast: Nancy Gates, John Dehner, Herb Vigran, Betty Ball. Writer: Herbert Purdom. Director: Derwin Abrahams … (as Derwin Abbe).
For a quick recap of the long, involved and confusing history, the fellow who does the Spy Guys and Gals website does the best job I’ve ever seen. Here’s the link: spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.aspx?id=2662
He covers the books, the short stories, the movies, the radio (nearly 500 episodes), but it’s an episode of the TV series that this review is about. It begins with a gangland killing in a two-bit hashery, then continues with Michael Waring in Washington DC as an overall troubleshooter for an unnamed agency as he volunteers to help a war widow whose teen-age daughter has gone off with a hired killer.
The connection between this and the prologue? The killer in the hashery and the gun man the woman’s daughter has taken off with are one and the same. How, also, you may ask, does the government get involved? Simple. The girl has taken her mother’s monthly assistance check with her.
Charles McGraw suffers from a screenplay that makes him a one-dimensional PI, tough and gruff, but little more. John Dehner (the gunman) was always a dapper fellow, but not one you might thing would have not one, but two beautiful women fall head over heels in love with him.
But overall, not a bad story, one that makes the most of limited amount of time it has to work with (less than 30 minutes). I was happy not to have to sit through wasted time watching cars do nothing but drive from one place to another.
May 31st, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Relying on the SPY GUYS website for accuracy, and he’s generally very good in that regard, there were 39 episodes in The Falcon’s TV series, and from the story lines, many of the shows have him traveling all over the world. I have not checked to see how many others are available on YouTube, but I certainly would like to see more.
May 31st, 2024 at 10:13 pm
The television series seemed much closer to the radio series and the final movie (Devil’s Cargo) than the original story or films or the Drexel Drake books where that Falcon is a sort of undercover Fed very much in the pulp style. Though even in the original Arlen story he’s an insurance investigator and tougher and less slick than the RKO version, that frankly was pretty much the Saint lite.
May 31st, 2024 at 11:12 pm
The Saint lite was the intention, and it worked. The John Calvert films were something else entirely. For whatever reason, McGraw never had a series hit. I thought he was effective as Rick in Casablanca, but it did not fly. Arlene Dahls was the leading lady and Marcel Dalio was promoted to Louis Renault.
May 31st, 2024 at 11:33 pm
I have it wrong. It looks like Anita Ekberg, but Arlene played Ilsa in a live Lux Video Theatre presentation with Paul Douglas as a compelling Rick. Paul was too old and heavy, but he sparkled, McGraw didn’t.