The Gay Falcon

Plot synopsis:
A high-brow detective attempts to stop crooks from running an insurance scam.Renowned Lady's man and amateur sleuth Gay Laurence AKA The Falcon (George Sanders) is going to forsake chasing dames and solving crimes for the sake of his fiancée Elinor Benford (Nina Vale). To please Elinor he and his sidekick Jonathan G. "Goldie" Locke (Allen Jenkins) agree to open a brokerage firm on Wall Street, but when Elinor asks him to go to a swanky soiree hosted by Maxine Wood (Gladys Cooper) to mingle with potential clients Gay refuses and after one day on Wall Street is ready for retirement. Gay returns home from the office to find the beautiful Helen Reed (Wendy Barrie) waiting to see him. Helen is the secretary of Wood and on her employer's behalf invites The Falcon to the same party Elinor wanted him to go to. She goes on to explain that some of Wood's parties have been plagued by jewel thefts and Maxine is particularly concerned about a diamond owned by Mrs Vera Gardner (Lucile Gleason) one of the guests. Unable to resist Gay accompanies Elinor to the party while instructing Goldie to infiltrate the event too.However, Elinor becomes angry when she realises why Gay changed his mind about attending the party and retaliates by dancing with one of the other guests Manuel Retana (Turhan Bey). In frustration, she grabs the flower from Retana's lapel and flings it at Gay. He calmly picks it up and attaches it to his lapel. Gardner then insists on dancing with Gay and while they are dancing she hands him her diamond secretly. Her action puzzles Gay greatly but before he can ask her about it she leaves the room. Moments later, a shot rings out, and she falls to the floor dead. The killer is seen by Goldie as he makes his getaway. Unfortunately, when the police arrive Detectives Bates (Edward Brophy) and Grimes (Eddie Dunn) arrest Goldie as a material witness as he was the only person in the room where Mrs Gardner was killed. Gay follows Goldie to the police station where he speaks to Inspector Mike Waldeck (Arthur Shields) and manages to convince him to release Goldie to act as bait to lure the killer out into the open.Helen meets them at the station and the three of them head off to Maxine's apartment to question her. They leave Goldie waiting in the car but while they are with Maxine, Goldie is snatched from the car by the killer Noel Weber (Damian O'Flynn). Gay tells Maxine that he suspects that Mrs Gardner was involved with a gang of jewel thieves led by Retana. Meanwhile, Weber takes Goldie to a nearby pinball parlour and orders him to phone The Falcon and make him an offer - the diamond for Goldie's life. As Goldie begins dialling the number a shot is fired and Weber falls down dead and when the police arrive they find Goldie with a dead body for the second time and re-arrest him. The Falcon returns home where Bates tells him that Goldie is once again being held on suspicion of murder and that Waldeck wants to speak to Gay back at Headquarters. Gay manages to give Bates the slip and the following day, while disguised as a tramp, he tries to apologise to Elinor who is furious because he left with Helen. She icily informs him that she has a date with Retana later that evening and never wants to see Gay again.By this point, Gay suspects Gardner must have arranged to have her diamond "stolen" so she could collect on the insurance. The flower was a signal, indicating to whom Gardner was to give the jewel. It should have been Retana but Elinor throwing it at Gay upset the scheme. Suspicious of Retana, Gay and Helen break into his apartment, but when he returns unexpectedly halfway through their search they are forced to hide outside on the patio. They observe Retana as he checks a secret compartment hidden behind a wall panel. Once Retana leaves Gay reaches behind the panel and finds the gun that killed Weber. Gay goes to the city morgue to examine the body of Weber and recognises him as the man pictured with Retana in a photograph he found during the search of his apartment. Meanwhile, as the police interrogate Goldie, Helen bursts in and confesses to Weber's murder and presents the Detectives with the gun from Retana's place. Once the police have identified the weapon as being that that killed Weber, Helen tells them all about Retana and tells them to go to the club where he is due to dine with Elinor. Gay phones Elinor at the club to warn her that the police are coming to pick up her host, but she thinks that Gay is trying to frame Retana because he is jealous so she warns him that the police are on their way. When The Falcon returns to his home he finds an armed Retana has tied up his manservant Jerry (Willie Fong) and is demanding the diamond, but when Helen unexpectedly appears at the door Retana thinks it is the police and flees.Meanwhile, back at the club Bates has arrested Elinor for obstruction and when she phones Gay from the police station he instructs Waldeck to meet him at Maxine Wood's apartment. There Maxine tells them that her life has been threatened, prompting Gay and Waldeck to promise to stay the night to protect her. Maxine retires for the night while the two guard her bedroom door, but Retana slips in through the bedroom window and threatens her. Gay and Waldeck break into the room but before they can get to Retana he collapses to the floor dead with a hypodermic needle laying by his side. Mike assumes he has committed suicide but Gay sees Maxine try to crush the hypo with her foot in order to destroy any fingerprint evidence. The Falcon declares that Maxine killed Retana, that she was married to Weber and the three of them comprised the jewellery theft ring. He goes on to explain that when she and Weber tried to double-cross Retana, he killed Weber and was about to do the same to her before she killed him with the hypodermic needle. Waldeck is amazed at how The Falcon has come to that conclusion but Gay explains that he was tipped off when Goldy was snatched from the car outside Maxine's apartment as she was the only person who could have known where he was at that exact moment and thus she must have been involved with the ring.They then all return to the police station where they release Elinor, but just as she is about to forgive Gay an attractive young woman arrives and asks The Falcon for his help in solving another crime.

Tags: romantic, mystery, murder

Review:
One of the best B-movie detective films thanks to terrific and witty dialog.
In the case of The Falcon, this is made even worse since the earlier RKO series, The Saint, is virtually indistinguishable from The Falcon--and both starred George Sanders for much of their run!
The plot itself was very good, but what really stood out in this first Falcon movie was the amazingly witty dialog!
I have seen most of the Falcon series films (both with Sanders and Conway), and this (which happens to be the first Falcon film) is by far the best.
Nina Vale, the Falcon's fiancée, comes off very well; I wonder why she made so few films.
Very logical screenplay.One perplexing thing about the move, and it doesn't bother me much: throughout the movie, the Falcon (Sanders) is saying that he loves Elinor Benford (played by Vale) and wants to marry her.
I actually preferred this series of films after Tom Conway took over from his half brother George Sanders as the Falcon, Conway seemed more at ease in the role.
What a pleasant problem for him when they immediately turned mega jealous of any other woman who showed up, no matter how innocent!It's the usual murky murder mystery, but the Falcon (as private sleuth) isn't fooled for long - fortunately he knew something the viewers didn't, which led him and the police to the culprits.
This was the first of the Falcon films starring George Sanders, based on a story by Michael Arlen.
This film is also notable for the appearance of Gladys Cooper in a major supporting role; she is as mesmerising as Sanders, and their scenes together are a marvel.
George Sanders is "The Gay Falcon," a 1941 film, the first entry into the Falcon series.
The title has a double meaning, as the Falcon's first name is Gay. Though it's a programmer, "The Gay Falcon" has quite an uptown cast, including Gladys Cooper, Allen Jenkins, Turhan Bey, and Wendy Barrie.
The Falcon and his sidekick Goldie (Jenkins) are insurance brokers in this, and Gay is, as usual, engaged.
Gay is on the case.George Sanders makes a very appealing Falcon - he's tall, elegant, and smooth, with a great voice and off-the-cuff delivery.
Though he eventually returned to his native Vienna to work as a photographer, he did quite a few television appearances in the '90s.Alas, there is a bit of casting that sort of gave the denouement away for this viewer, but the mystery is not really the point of The Falcon series.
The Gay Falcon, the first movie in the Falcon series, finds the Falcon (George Sanders) ready to give up both women and detective work at the request of his fiancé.
The only way to clear his name is to find the real killer.This may have been George Sanders first time out in the role of the Falcon, but he wears the role with the familiarity of a favorite old sweater.
The 1940s style of comedy/mystery films has always appealed to me and The Gay Falcon is a nice example.
This is a pleasant B-film from The Falcon series with (by today's standards) a misleading title.GEORGE SANDERS is the woman-chasing sleuth who always manages to get involved in a crime the police cannot solve without his help.
WENDY BARRIE is the flirtatious woman who goes along with him on a series of adventures that have them on the hunt for the murder of a woman wearing a very expensive diamond.
ALLEN JENKINS is Sander's side-kick, amusing as usual in a supporting role.The cast is full of surprises--never expected to see GLADYS COOPER as a rich society dame with a key role in the mystery, TURHAN BEY (a rising young star at the time), and EDWARD BROPHY and ARTHUR SHIELDS as baffled police officers.Sanders says every line in that dryly sarcastic manner he would use as Addison deWitt in ALL ABOUT EVE years later, but he seems to be enjoying his role.
Always enjoyed these old time movies where George Sanders, (Gay Laurence/The Falcon) plays a private detective.
Sanders only appeared in a few of these films and his brother Tom Conway took over the role and played in quite a few series of the Falcon.
Quite frankly, having watched I can't guess what comes next - whether Gay Lawrence (the Falcon) stays with his fiancée and an impending marriage that never quite comes off becomes some kind of running joke like John Howard's Bulldog Drummond of the late 30's, or if Wendy Barrie's character Helen Reed becomes the Falcon's new girl, or if the Falcon has no girl or another girl entirely in the coming entries, but the ending had me wanting to see the next one.Of course the wit and wisdom of George Sanders is a plus in any film, and as The Falcon it is unclear what his background is in this entry.
At the beginning of the film he has set up shop as a broker on Wall Street to satisfy his fiancée that he is through with "crime detecting" as she calls it and wants to settle down, although when she drops in to visit both The Falcon and his assistant Goldy Locke are dead asleep at their desks.
Later, though, the personal secretary of the society woman giving the party shows up (Wendy Barrie as Helen Reed) and pleads with the Falcon to attend the party, as jewelry has been stolen at all of the woman's recent parties, and another robbery will ruin her reputation.
Meanwhile he has both an angry fiancée on his hands and the society lady's swooning secretary, who loves the adventure of tracking down criminals alongside the Falcon.This is a very good entry that has a very interesting supporting cast.
Allen Jenkins is a natural and in good contrast to the suave Sanders as the Falcon's assistant.
Arthur Shields, brother of Barry Fitzgerald and a dead ringer for him, seems a bit out of place as Inspector Mike Waldeck, whom the Falcon is more than ready to give credit to for solving the crime.Recommended as a fast paced good start to the series..
Bored out of his brilliant mind, Gay jumps at the chance when a young lady tells him of the socialite Maxine Wood, who throws parties every few weeks but has had problems with robberies each time.
With the police unable to catch the thief, Gay goes to the party to help out but, on this occasion, the crime turns to murder  putting Gay and Goldie right in the middle of it.I have never watched a Falcon film before and I took the opportunity to watch this film when BBC2 ran a mini-series of the films in the early morning during the summer.
Aside from that obvious remark, this is a pretty enjoyable film if you are prepared for what it is trying to be  a very light, amusing little mystery that entertains.
Support is great from Jenkins; his is hardly a well-written character (he is only a standard comic sidekick) but he plays well and is actually quite funny in his couple of scenes.
Barrie is quite fun and makes for an attractive love interest while Vale is good enough to make her subplot part of the movie rather than it seeming tacked on.
Shields, Dunn and Brophy are all amusing as the usual inept cops of the genre!Overall this is not a great film but, if you know what to expect, it does manage to be entertaining.
I like his byline in a newspaper story: "FALCON EVADES POLICE - Playboy Criminologist Sought in Mystery Slaying".
Needless to say, the brokerage and the resolutions quickly go by the wayside when he is drawn into a murder mystery.George Sanders looks completely at home as the Falcon: suave, quick-witted and frequently droll, he seems to enjoy attracting trouble and he handles it deftly.Allen Jenkins is perfect as the Falcon's right hand man and comic relief.
His name as printed on the broker's office door identifies him as Jonathon Locke, Associate; it seems he is more commonly known simply as Goldie Locke.Wendy Barrie also looks like she's having a ball as Helen Reed, a young woman seeking the Falcon's help.
She's even excited to meet his assistant, Goldie, whom she refers to as "your Dr. Watson, your faithful and loyal colleague!" (Goldie beams) before going on to note that "All characters like you have a kind of stooge, don't they?" (Goldie frowns).Sanders, Jenkins and Barrie are part detective team, part comedy trio.
No one looks terribly serious but they certainly are easy to watch—the banter flies, the clues add up, and it all moves very fast.The plot is relatively unimportant but competently put together; it concerns a jewel theft ring and insurance racket that turns to murder.Among the enthusiastic cast of character actors are Ed Brophy and Eddie Dunn as a couple of dim detectives.
"The line is too long." There's a little suspense, a moderately intriguing mysterybut the humorous interplay among the characters is what really makes this picture a lot of fun.Irrelevant question on the name: Elsewhere the Falcon's surname seems to be spelled "Lawrence"...but on his broker's office door in this picture it's printed as "Gay Laurence." Any particular reason for the variation?
The "GAY FALCON" is a wonderful mystery movie with George Sanders as the Falcon.
Great start to the Falcon series.
The Falcon film series is generally a lot of fun to watch, and all worth watching at least once.
The first of the series 'The Gay Falcon' is also one of the better ones from personal opinion.It maybe could have benefited from being about 10 minutes longer or something, to give the mystery aspects a little more explanation instead of a few parts being hastier and not as easy to follow as others.
The characters are also a lot of fun, apart from a few of the time racial stereotypes, but they are not in the film anywhere near long enough to mar it.George Sanders is a truly great lead, he was never less than watchable and magnificent when at his best, and he looks so relaxed and at ease here and plays with his usual suave and imposing manner while also with an elegance, cutting aplomb and charm.
Nina Vale is alluring and Wendy Barrie has a ball.Edward Brophy, Arthur Shields, Turhan Bey and Gladys Cooper also give fine support.
Coming very close to stealing the film is Allen Jenkins, who is very funny and often even more so and makes the most and much of a rather standard comedy sidekick role in hindsight.All in all, great start to a series with much entertainment value on the most part.
The first in RKO's lighthearted series about suave detective Gay Lawrence (aka The Falcon).
Playing the title role at the start of the series is the great George Sanders, fresh off playing The Saint.
In this first entry, the Falcon investigates jewel robberies and a socialite's murder while juggling two pretty ladies.
I'm a big fan of most of these old B detective series, including the Falcon.
George Sanders has rarely been more enjoyable than he is in this role -- charming, sophisticated, and witty at every turn.
Allen Jenkins is very funny as the Falcon's comic relief sidekick, Goldie.
Solid support from Wendy Barrie, Gladys Cooper, Arthur Shields, Turhan Bey, and Edward Brophy.
A good start to an enjoyable series of films..
Gay Falcon, The (1941) ** 1/2 (out of 4) First film in RKO's Falcon series has George Sanders playing the Detective who must try and track down a jewel thief who's also leaving bodies piled up.
The film goes by pretty quickly with some minor laughs but the mystery aspect isn't too interested, although there is a nice twist at the end.
Allen Jenkins steals the show as the Falcon's assistant and Wendy Barrie is pretty good as the woman who goes to the Falcon for help..
They will start at 6AM est.All of the movies starring George Sanders and Tom Conway.
Starting with the "The Gay Falcon" Gay Falcon, (1942) A society sleuth tries to break up an insurance scam.Cast: George Sanders, Lynn Bari, James Gleason, Allen Jenkins.
The Gay Falcon is the first in a series of films about a suave detective nicknamed The Falcon, played by George Sanders.
The Falcon series was intended to replaces the Saint films also starring George Sanders.This Saint lite adventure sees the Falcon investigating a series of parties embroiled in jewellery thefts assisted by his uncouth sidekick, Goldie Locke and pretty assistant Helen.The film is entertaining enough, a time waster but does not reach the standards of Sander's debonair Saint films.
Allen Jenkins' "Goldie" Locke, all arms and legs and quizzical looks as he vainly tries to escape arrest by the police, has one delicious moment where he is asked to describe a criminal for the benefit of a police artist, and ends up describing the police inspector Mike Waldeck (Arthur Shields) instead.
Nina Vale's Elinor Benford, a star-struck fan of The Falcon (George Sanders) thoroughly enjoys herself as she ends up in scrape after scrape, if only for the fact that she can sit next to the Falcon in a car and repeatedly ask him: "So what do we do next?" Gladys Cooper plays an affluent socialite, apparently vulnerable but concealing a devious nature; while Turhan Bey enjoys himself as a dubious Mexican lounge-lizard.
This 60-minute programmer shows just how efficient and entertaining Hollywood's little films could be during its so-called Golden Age. It's the first of the Falcon series, at a time when amateur sleuths (Boston Blackie, The Saint, et al.) were popular movie fare.
Here, the great George Sanders plays Gay Lawrence aka "the Falcon", and an imposing presence he is both physically and intellectually.
RKO Studios debuted The Falcon detective series with George Sanders in the first of his four appearances in The Gay Falcon.
But there's always a damsel asking for the assistance of Sanders and Allen Jenkins who's as plebeian as they came in classic Hollywood.In this film it's Wendy Barrie who works for society grande dame Gladys Cooper and she wants The Falcon's aid in apprehending the robbery of valuable jewels from society women.
And she's got one coming up for the war effort.Through some misdirected signals Sanders winds up with the intended swag but another society grande dame Lucille Gleason winds up murdered and Allen Jenkins arrested for it.
It's both brilliant and hilarious.There are a few plot holes, but they're nicely papered over by the performances of the unflappable George Sanders and the rest of the cast.
The Gay Falcon was a good beginning to the series..
I love 40s comedic detective movies, but most of them aren't as good as The Gay Falcon.
But it's not terrible, just a little dopey.Sometimes I watch a string of mediocre movies of this type and think, maybe I've seen all the good ones, but then something like The Gay Falcon comes along to restore my faith.
The first film in the Falcon (comedy-mystery) series, features George Sanders.
George Sanders is Gay Laurence aka The Falcon, whose hobbies are women and solving crimes.
Allen Jenkins plays the Falcon's wisecracking sidekick, Jonathan G.
However, a beautiful girl named Helen Reed (Wendy Barrie), who's also a big fan of the Falcon's (she's read about his exploits), comes to Gay with a new case.
Since Gay had been asked by Elinor to attend the next such party, he goes with her, but Helen quickly descends upon them and his fiancée learns that he is still looking at other women and working on mysteries.
Two police detectives at the party, Bates (Edward Brophy, who would later play the Falcon's sidekick) and Grimes (Eddie Dunn), arrest Goldie for her murder.
Gay goes to the police station to convince Inspector Mike Waldeck (Arthur Shields) to release Goldie, if for no other reason than to force the criminals to try to eliminate him as a witness.
But later, while Helen introduces Gay to Maxine, Goldie is "snatched" by Noel, who wants the diamond but is then shot through his apartment's window by an unknown person.
The Falcon suspects Manuel; later, with Helen at Manuel's apartment, Gay discovers a picture of Manuel with Noel and the secret location of a gun, which he then takes.
Helen helps Gay again, this time by saving his life when she interrupts Manuel, who'd gone to the Falcon's apartment to retrieve the diamond.
Even though Manuel escapes, Gay has a pretty good idea about what's been going on.
Hence, Manuel decided to kill them both, but now the Inspector has only her to arrest for the crime(s).Gay promises again to give up his hobbies and urges Elinor to marry him right away, but he's interrupted by a woman (Virginia Vale, uncredited) who hears his name - the Falcon - and asks if he'd help her solve another case ...
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.
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.