Excellent but underrated film

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The Falcon and Goldie get mixed up with stolen jewelry and a series of mysterious murders surrounding the disappearance.The movie's a brisk, better than average entry in the Falcon series, with a good little mystery, understated humor, and a drop-dead sexy Jane Greer. In fact, where else can you see creepy little noir icon Elisha Cook actually smooching with a gorgeous noir vamp like Greer. Then too, Cook gets an unusually assertive role here that he plays to the hilt. I really like the way his character uses his all-night radio program as a cover. It's a good little glimpse of old time radio. Also, watch for the slatternly Esther Howard (Mrs. Peabody) playing an uptown lady for once, that is, until her final scene. Of course, Conway, Corday, and Barnett are their usual reliable selves in this solid Falcon entry.

While in jail, The Falcon tells Goldie that, when in a jam, insouciance is required. Suave insouciance is Tom Conway's forte, but there is too much of that here. Conway is heading toward apathy. After all those previous Falcon movies, Conway seems like he is walking through his part. His performance lacks energy. The same could be said for Rita Corday. Jean Brooks, who always played a most intriguing romantic part in previous Falcon films, has so little to do here, she is practically an extra.I suspect that this film was made as a showcase for Jane Greer. Her part with Elisha Cook, Jr, unstable as usual, is almost a separate story. Greer has many closeups and sings sultry songs. She gets a lot of attention in an other rushed movie.The mystery is not really developed but it is okay. It is always nice to see the Falcon. He was a proto-James Bond

This is the twelfth Falcon film. It has exciting appearances in it of Jane Greer, aged 22 but looking and behaving 32, and Elisha Cook, Junior. This is apparently the only film in which Jane Greer plays a singer, and she sings very well. Her song is absolutely extraordinary in that the lyrics feature planned silences and hesitating phrases which drop out of the rhythm, and frankly I have never heard a song pull off such tricks successfully, and the film is worth seeing for the song, not because the melody is any good, but because the song is musically unique as far as I know and would repay close study and analysis by any serious song writer. Elisha Cook gets to do more acting than usual in this film, and he is even scarier than usual, and completely convincing, as always. Jane Greer did not become a noted noir player until the following year, and was still obscure at this stage. Jean Brooks is in this one, but gets very little screen time and her presence is frankly wasted. I guess because she was part of the team, they were inventing a pretext for her to have a fee. We get to see her in a revealing gown with exposed back, which menacing ice maidens don't normally show, but that's about all. Rita Corday is in this one too, and she gets a big part and shines. Vince Barnett is much less annoying as Goldie the sidekick than the atrocious Edward Brophy in the preceding film, though he still gets on one's nerves. The film was well directed by Ray McCarey, who died only two years later at the age of only 44. Believe it or not, I actually knew the man who wrote the story for this film, whose name was Manny Seff. He was a very delightful and amusing guy, a great conversationalist, story teller, and joke cracker, who was getting old when I was very young, and it adds dimension to an old movie when you can say: 'There's Manny Seff's name as the writer!' He is exactly the kind of fellow I had always imagined writing these stories, and there suddenly his name appeared on the screen to prove it. I can't say it was a total surprise, it just seemed so appropriate. Judging from what I know of him, and guess about the others, these people must all have had a lot of fun making these films, which is probably one reason why they are so entertaining.

The 12th and penultimate RKO Falcon film was a hardboiled affair, with the two wildly different main strands converging to a rather sudden conclusion. Some nice noirish moments, atmospheric photography and natural acting by all go to make it an enjoyable ride.Tom Conway playing Tom Lawrence aka the Falcon and Goldie (played for the only time by Vince Barnett) get called upon to protect a "lady's" pearl necklace, alas to no avail – it's already gone. An insurance scam is uncovered with Emory Parnell in his 3rd Falcon as a slapstick insurance detective. The other thread has manic Barbary Towers hotel dj Elisha Cook Jr. (the one man Radio KGR) with his own problems, not the least keeping hold of his wife, gorgeous Jane Greer. His was the watertight alibi of the picture, not a new idea then and borrowed shortly afterwards to greater effect by Claude Rains in The Unsuspected. It was Rita Corday's 6th and final Falcon film, this time pretty low-key - all those name changes surely didn't help her future career? Favourite bits: listening to Greer's pleasant singing voice; the "smudge" fire routine in the hotel bedroom ably performed by Goldie; Cook's record library - you could get all those tons of shellac onto a single mp3 player now! Needless to relate, Tom solves everything, albeit a couple of murders too late, but woe betide you if you miss that last minute – they closed this one down fast!Nothing here for the serious, nice entertainment for us fans.