Devil's Cargo

This is the first of the three low budget Falcon mysteries after RKO had ditched the character. Here he comes in a different guise played by the career magician John Calvert. He has a cute dog called Brains Trust. The funniest Brains Trust moment is when the docile dog has been tied to a chair by an intruder to the Falcon's apartment.

Other bizarre moments include a skull ornament that chatters. Obviously the Falcon has learned magic skills to operate the skull to do this. I like the poster for this film that shows the skull wearing a magician's top hat. It's an attractive piece of film poster art that helped to attract my attention to this movie in the first place.

The mystery begins when a character named Delgado visits the Falcon for help to get him off on a crime of passion crime-alleviation charge with the police. He says he has killed a man for fooling with his wife. But is he being straight? The plot becomes more involved as suspicion passes from one character to another.

I reckon that this is a well disguised whodunit. Only a twist at the very end causes the real murderer to be revealed.