User reviews

George Sanders is again The Falcon in "The Falcon Takes Over," a 1942 entry into the series. This one is the plot of "Farewell, My Lovely," and Ward Bond as the nearly catatonic strongman Moose Malloy walking around in a fog looking for Velma.

They've sort of stuffed The Falcon and Goldy into this plot, a complicated story that was tough to cram into 65 minutes. Consequently this isn't the breezy Falcon we're used to, and most of the comedy goes to Goldy, who is terrified of Malloy and sees him around every corner. James Gleason, as the Inspector O'Hara, investigating the murder of a night club manager, also had a funny bit he did several times with his underling.

Hans Conreid has a serious role here as Marriot, and Turhan Bey has a small role as swami Jules Amthor.

All in all, entertaining, maybe not the usual Falcon except for his flirting with every woman, but decent.

Anyone who has seen the definitive Edward Dmytryk film noir `Murder My Sweet' (1944) will blanch at this low-budget Falcon version of Raymond Chandler's 1940 `Murder My Lovely.' Life is not fair – more viewers will have seen the subsequent performance of Dick Powell as detective Philip Marlowe than George Sanders efforts as Gay Lawrence. These films are simply not comparable although they are based on the same novel. And it isn't that Dmytryk never made Falcon-class films – he directed `The Falcon Strikes Back' in 1943. It is just that `The Falcon Takes Over' comes nowhere near the superior `Murder My Sweet' and thus anyone who has seen both versions will be disappointed.

Director Irving Reis was teamed with George Sanders on the first three of the Falcon films – this one being the last appearance for both in the series. George Sanders especially disappointed me – he has done better in this type role and I am pre-disposed to like anything that he has done. Ward Bond does a good job at playing the hulk Moose Malloy – but anyone who has seen Mike Mazurki will not be as impressed. Allen Jenkins does well as faithful sidekick Jonathan 'Goldy' Locke but in the Tom Conway Falcon series, Edward Brophy is a good substitute. James Gleason is always good as the policeman in charge.

See this to compare or to round out your viewing of the Sanders Falcon series.

This entry in an otherwise it-is-what-it-is series of crime programmers merits attention because it preserves the first filming of a novel by Raymond Chandler: Farewell, My Lovely – two years before Edward Dmytryk's Murder, My Sweet, one of that handful of 1944 films that really got the noir cycle rolling.

Often such adaptations bear scant resemblance to their original material, bringing to mind the screenplay Joe Gillis (in Sunset Blvd.) wrote that started out with Okies in the Dustbowl and ended up on a torpedo boat. But The Falcon Takes Over startlingly opens with a character called Moose Malloy (Ward Bond) looking for his Velma (Helen Gilbert can't even begin to pinch-hit for Claire Trevor). Along the way we visit that drunken old streel Jessie Florian (Anne Revere, every bit as good as Esther Howard) and Jules Amthor (Turhan Bey, complete with turban and crystal ball).

Given the quality of much of the cast and the initial fidelity to Chandler's material, the movie promises to be much better than it turns out. And what sinks it is the notion that Chandler could supply fodder for a `programmer.' First of all, 90 or 100 minutes offer too brief a span for his baroque tales to unfurl; an hour plus change mutilates them irreparably. Second, franchises like Charlie Chan, or The Saint, or The Falcon are struck from the same template, to which all material must conform. So the setting is not the languorous corruption of Los Angeles but the hurly-burly of New York; missing as well is any sense of Chandler's awareness of the advantages conferred by wealth and class.

But most conspicuous in his absence, of course, is Philip Marlowe. He disappears into George Sander's last run as The Falcon, before he bequeathed the franchise to his brother Tom Conway. (Sanders walks through this picture as if he had given up on the last one.) He has a sidekick, too (Allen Jenkins), who's chock-full of amusing malapropisms. Sidekicks and malapropisms are about as far from Chandler's dark universe as it's possible to go.

Ward Bond is Moose Malloy, deranged escaped convict searching for a one time girlfriend named Velma. Drawing considerable noisy attention to himself, the Moose tracks down a shady night club manager who seems to know something—but is quickly murdered. That's just the beginning of a complicated plot that includes seedy characters, dimly lit locales, and more questions than answers.

George Sanders is excellent as Gay Lawrence—also known, of course, as the Falcon. Sanders handles the picture's serious mystery elements with gravity and style. He also manages to fit into the other half of the plot, which is essentially comic relief provided by the Falcon's right hand man Goldie Locke (Allen Jenkins) and the usual bickering police duo (James Gleason and Edward Gargan as exasperated inspector and dumb assistant detective).

Lynn Bari is fine as the female in the case – unexceptional but solid as the usual plucky girl that the Falcon teams up with. She and Sanders exchange some decent banter: "You believe me, don't you?" she asks at one point. "I like you," he answers, "which is much more important."

Easy viewing for fans of series mysteries, with Sanders' strong performance standing out.

This is an odd mix. The humor of the Falcon grafted into a Cliff notes version of Raymond Chandler that doesn't do either justice.

The plot of Moose Malloy trying to find his Velma and leaving a trail of bodies in his wake has been done several times all very seriously. Here the case is taken from Phillip Marlowe and given to George Saunders as the Falcon and its almost is a classic.

The problem is that the two styles, the Falcon's wisecracking doesn't mix with the seriousness of the source material. The two parts the humor and the crime drama are perfectly done when each takes the center stage but the shifting from one to the other doesn't really work well. Saunders is so good a hard boiled private dick that I really wonder what would have happened had be been allowed to play a real tough guy.

The worst flaw of the film is only apparent to those who know the original story and that is the speed at which its told. We fly through this story at light speed, and while it works here as a programmer, its shortening is glaring and jarring to those who love the other versions.

On its own terms its a very very good movie. As a representation of a Raymond Chandler book its a mere curio. I suggest you just take it for what it is for a good nights entertainment.

Better than average Falcon, thanks to colorful Raymond Chandler characters and noirish touches. The suspense centers on what's happened to mystery woman Velma, instead of the more standard whodunit. An even bigger mystery is why the cast credits are so skimpy. A number of principal actors appear without name credit, including the pivotal Ward Bond and Hans Conreid. So, what's the story with this?

Anyway, Sanders is his usual smooth self as he tracks down the mystery woman; at the same time, Lynn Bari makes a sprightly girl-Friday reporter. The script comes up with some good throw-away lines, so cock an ear. Importantly, director Irving Reis has a feel for noirish touches that create more atmosphere than most Falcon entries.

Of course, the Chandler original has been filmed many times, most effectively as Murder My Sweet (1944). Nonetheless, considering its programmer status, this first version manages some interest. Ward Bond makes a convincing Moose Malloy, and get a load of Helen Gilbert as Diana Kenyon. She looks like a double-scoop vanilla ice cream cone. Also, the usually riveting cult actress Ann Revere has a minor role, unfortunately as a not very convincing Jesse Florian. Too bad the script didn't develop the phony psychic thread more fully since the hocus-pocus provides both atmosphere and color. Nonetheless, it's still an entertaining 60 minutes of Falcon.

An ex-wrestler is released from prison and starts looking for his girlfriend. Problem is that dead bodies seem to turn up wherever he goes. The Falcon is on the case - if he can stay one step ahead of the law himself.

Despite anything negative I may write, overall, I've enjoyed The Falcon Takes Over each time I've had the opportunity to watch it. George Sanders is in fine form, Lynn Bari and Allen Jenkins make solid sidekicks, the movie moves at a fantastic pace and is never dull, and there are plenty of twists and turns along the way. Sounds pretty good so far, right?

But there are a couple of issues I have that put a damper on things. First, there are large gaps in the plot that are never filled in or explained. Based on what we see, there's simply no way the Falcon (or the police for that matter) would know what move to make next without making wild, but accurate, guesses. A lot of it just doesn't make sense. Second, there's Helen Gilbert as Diane Kenyon. I"m not sure when I've seen a supposed femme fatale that I was more unimpressed with. She annoyed me more than anything else. But in the end, The Falcon Takes Over is so generally fun and likeable that it's fairly easy to overlook these issues and just enjoy.

One more thing, I find it odd that there are only five credited actors in the cast. Turhan Bay, George Cleveland, and even Ward Bond (whose Moose Malloy is at the center of everything that happens) don't make the "credit cut". Odd.

6/10

This little known entry in a minor series might ring a few more bells when it is known that 'the Falcon takes over' is the first adaptation of Raymond Chandler's wonderful novel 'Farewell my Lovely'. And rather good it is too. Unlike its more famous successors - Edward Dmytryk's 1943 'Murder my sweet' and Dick Richards' 1975 remake, both the very definition of earnest film noir and neo-noir - this film has a vein of parody, irony and wit, that brings it closer to Robert Altman's iconoclastic 'The Long Goodbye', or, at the very least, Eddie Constantine's Lemmy Caution series of films in France.

Of course, this has largely to do with the fixed needs of an already established series, to which any source material was fitted - Chandler was clearly just another hack writer towards whom little respect need be paid. There is none of Chandler's profound disillusionment here, no attempt to trace a society or analyse its corruption. this is the noir equivalent of a Broadway musical comedy, with background strictly a setting, like a ship or a drawing room, in which familiar types do their routine.

There is no angst-ridden, isolated, defeated knight Philip Marlowe here; in his place is the Falcon, a heavy, louche, even leery amateur of dubious sexuality (like Lemmy he is clumsily eager for the ladies, and tends to bed them as soon as he meets them (or in such a way as Hollywood code could at the time suggest); but he lives a determinedly bachelor life in a large house with his 'bit of rough' sidekick Goldie, who likes to wear incongruously svelte dressing gowns in the morning (another kind of Hollywood code), his unseen fiancee fortuitously miles away).

It is important to stress that in the very early days of noir, there was an in-built awareness of the need for parody. Noir is a powerful vision, especially in a culture of such blinding, gaudy brightness as the US. But sometimes, in its macho fatalism and frightened misogyny, it can be an exhausting vision - too much straight noir can be bad for your mental health.

But this is not to say that 'Falcon' is just a big joke. Like that other great serial film that transcended its modest origins - 'Sherlock Holmes and the Pearl of Death' - it is closer to the horror film than the detective genre. Moose Molloy's lumbering, unthinking violence is similar to Karloff's Frankenstein. The scene where the Falcon, impersonating a drunk, first meets him, is filmed with mock-horror sensationalism, as is O'Hara's creeping up on Goldie's neck later. There is an attempted murder in a fog-wafting cemetary. The scene at Jules Amthor's exotic haven has the feel of those Egyptian horrors like 'the Mummy' Universal used to churn out in the 1930s, while the soundtrack has the mysterious anxiety of horror rather than the strident fear we expect from noir.

In a genre which centres on the detective, on knowledge, on the possibility of explaining and repairing breaks in the social and moral order, the intrusion of horror will be disturbing. It asserts the opposite - the limits of knowledge, darkness over the light of reason, the vulnerability of bodies, the point of breakdown. the Falcon in this mystery is singularly inept, and is only saved from death by a singularly unconvincing deus ex machina. He is utterly exposed, his reason and detective status irrelevant faced with the cold fact of Death in a lonely forest, a very horror milieu. In this way, the amiably silly 'Falcon' is actually closer to the spirit of Chandler than more 'serious', faithful versions (Despite the scriptwriters' brave efforts, though, the plot is typically intransigent!).

Ex-con Ward Bond hijacks Alan Jenkins and beats up people looking for Velma. George Sanders is hired to hand over money to blackmailers; the man who hires him shoots him, and then is shot; Helen Gilbert and her husband want him to recover a valuable jade necklace, and there's a trail of murdered men.

It's the first film version of Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely, and the first film based on Chandler's work. It would, of course, be remade two years later as Murder, My Sweet and launch Dick Powell on a new career. But this is a pretty good version shoehorned into the B series. Bond is very good as Moose Malloy, and cinematographer George Robinson shows it's an early noir by some Dutch angles when the cops are grilling Jenkins. Meanwhile, Sanders continues to walk between the raindrops as the three threads of the plot tangle and confuse. RKO certainly gave the Falcon some good mysteries to clear up! With Lyn Bari, James Gleason, Turhan Bey and Hans Conreid. Can't make a Falcon movie without Conreid in a random role!

Enthusiasts for Raymond Chandler need to see this first filmed version of 'Farewell, My Lovely', which came out two years before the famous version entitled 'Murder, My Sweet' in the USA and 'Farewell, My Lovely' abroad. Ward Bond does an excellent version of playing Moose Molloy, unfortunately eclipsed by the unforgettable Mike Mazurki in that role in the next version. Sanders is as witty as ever, but seems somehow to be losing his enthusiasm, and a lot of the sparkle seems to have gone out of this third film, partly because Chandler and Arlen really did not mix. It must have been a terrible struggle to squeeze the Falcon and his entourage of stock characters into the brilliant Chandler novel. Chandler may have written a lot of wisecracks, but he did not write comedy, and the Falcon should never be separated for too long from gags. The brilliance of the second and the fizz of the first Falcon film do not really carry over here. One reason may be that the plot did not allow a suitable male/female battle for this one; there is a lot of kissing, flirting, and even swooning, but the true dynamics of the gender struggle are absent, and it all seems a bit forced. Hans Conreid swoops in again, this time as the suave Marriott, but he is soon killed without even having a chance to make a wisecrack as he falls. At this stage, the team were getting a bit world-weary and into the series mould. Staleness threatened, and soon Sanders would hand the role over to his brother Tom Conway, escaping while the going was good. Nevertheless, anyone with a serious interest in Chandler needs to see this, and as a Falcon film, it is not negligible, merely a lesser effort, and still manages to be amusing. If we hadn't been spoiled by the first two when the World Was Young and the falcon was fresh, maybe we would have thought this was better.

Comparing this film to Chandler's novel or to Murder My Sweet - and I'm a huge fan of both - is pointless. This 'Falcon' is a terrific 40s programmer, and I enjoyed seeing how plot elements and characters from the novel were whipped up into a frothy and fun comedy. I've read all the bios on Chandler and knowing he loathed Hollywood, he probably loathed what RKO did to his magnum opus, but Falcon fans, and me, liked it. This is my first Falcon film, watched only because Lynn Bari played the female lead. My interest in seeing Bari's films comes from reading her superbly wonderful biography, 'Foxy Lady', and Bari is terrific here as the investigative reporter who could have solved this mystery all by herself. I've always liked George Sanders, and he doesn't disappoint. The Velma actress had the right vampish allure, but her hairstyle is jarring and I got distracted wondering why RKO didn't borrow Metro's Guilaroff to fix her wig. I laughed a lot at the comedians - Jenkins, Gleason and his sidekick, the Falcon's valet. All in all, I had a very enjoyable Saturday night at the movies.

This Falcon film is inspired by a Raymond Chandler story but played more for laughs than film noir. The story is more famously known as the Philip Marlowe, Farewell my Lovely.

In this B picture Gay Lawrence (George Sanders as the Falcon) is in a club when a brute of man comes in looking for his girl Velma and causing havoc.

The police enter the scene and the Falcon goes looking for Velma and discovers he has walked into a trap. The film is high on the comedy quotient and it would had been better to see Sander's play a more hard boiled detective after his stint as the rascally The Saint.

The film is breezy and frothy, a low budget, unpretentious B film.

Put this one in the same category as "Satan Met a Lady". An amusing way to kill some time for hard-core fans (of Chandler or Hammett), but so far from "essential" that you can't even see the road back to "essential".

I guess that we have "The Thin Man" to blame for all this. The success of that movie (and franchise) must have inspired every movie studio out there to create their own version of the suave, wise-cracking society detective.

It terms of the source material, it's kind of a "mystery" to me (sorry) why they even felt it necessary to borrow part of the plot from "Farewell, My Lovely". The movie is only 65 minutes long, so you barely get past the first visit to Amthor (the psychic) and things are starting to wrap up. That's only about 1/4 or maybe 1/3 of the way through the original novel -- and most of what *is* taken from the novel had to be twisted around to fit the characters in this movie -- so you get none of the classic Chandler material about Santa Monica (excuse me, "Bay City"), the sanitarium, the gambling boat, etc, etc, etc. Also, the whole setup with Lindsay Marriott coming in to ask the detective to accompany him to his payoff is pretty absurd when the main character is a society bon vivant who solves crimes in his spare time rather than a professional private investigator. It seems to me like it wouldn't have been that much harder to just write a new mystery (or adapt some less incongruous one) but I guess that starting with "Farewell My Lovely" allowed them to finish the script for this movie in, say, twenty minutes instead of an hour.

So there's nothing "noir" about this movie at all; it's really only for hard-core fans of Chandler's writing or light 30s/40s mystery/comedies, but it's a fun way to pass some time on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Considering the source material, 'The Falcon Takes Over' did have the potential to be the best of the series and very easily could have been.

While it is a well above average film as a standalone and entertaining enough as a Falcon film, there is a personal preference for the first two entries in the series, which were tonally more consistent and saw more enthusiasm from George Sanders. As said, as an adaptation of Raymond Chandler it does underwhelm. It's very cliff notes and would have fared better with a longer length, less hasty pacing and a more even tone.

There is more of a blend of mystery and comedy in 'The Falcon Takes Over' than seen previously, which is brilliant. Individually both are done well, the mystery is wonderfully noir-ish, fun and suspenseful while the comedy is witty and smart (if not quite as electrifying as 'A Date With the Falcon'). What isn't so good are the constant tonal shifts, which more often than not feel abrupt and jarring, and with two very different styles together it does feel a little muddled in places and tonally odd.

Possible solutions would have been a longer length, just over an hour is the standard Falcon film length but the story here is a richer and more complicated one than before and the film just felt too short for it to be told to its full potential, just over an hour is nowhere near long enough to do Chandler justice. As well as a less frantic at times pace, which understandably was due to cramming in a lot of story in a short duration.

However, 'The Falcon Takes Over' is one of the best looking films in the series, the sets are elegant and atmospheric and there is more of a film noir look to the cinematography than before which suited the story really well. The music is lively and haunting, the script is engaging and while the story is flawed it does still engross and entertain.

It has been said here understandably that George Sanders looked bored and was losing enthusiasm in the lead role, he does look more involved in the previous two films definitely and there is too much of a laid back air at times. That said he is also very suave, elegant, charismatic and speaks with cutting aplomb, he was always a never less than watchable actor and as said in my reviews for 'The Gay Falcon' and 'A Date with the Falcon' at his best he was magnificent. Magnificent he isn't here, but watchable? Absolutely, and much more.

James Gleason stands out in support in a delightfully befuddled and amusing turn, while Allen Jenkins is great fun in the comedy sidekick role and Ward Bond is suitably intimidating. The ladies also fare well, making much of and bringing charm to roles with not an awful lot to them, which is partly the fault of Chandler as one of his few weaknesses to me is the writing of some of his female characters.

On the whole, well above average and entertaining, and will no doubt please those who seek much pleasure from the Falcon series, but for a satisfying and faithful adaptation of Raymond Chandler if a purist look elsewhere. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Gay Lawrence becomes involved with an escaped convict named Moose Malloy, who is looking for his girlfriend.

The Falcon Takes Over is a stale rehash of Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely, later re-filmed by RKO in 1944 as Murder, My Sweet. The Falcon takes the place of Philip Marlowe, but this causes plot inconsistencies, such as why the Falcon decides to turn private detective halfway through the film. The script is muddled, mainly due to the fact that they valiantly tried to compress Chandler's 300 page novel into 65 minutes.

This was the first of the George Sanders Falcon's I've seen, and I have to say, I much preferred Tom Conway. Sanders is an actor I quite like, and he's great playing cads, but he's just not as good as his brother as the Falcon. The rest of the cast is alright, with the standouts being Lynn Bari and Helen Gilbert. Hans Conreid has a good bit part.

James Gleason gives a surprisingly bad performance as the police inspector, while Allen Jenkins is this film's Goldie Locke. Ward Bond really overdoes his performance as Malloy; Mike Mazurki was much better in the '44 version.

Overall, this is by far my least favorite of the series that I've seen.

I love the Falcon and The Saint films with George Sanders. I also love Murder My Sweet. Yes they are based on the same story. I prefer to consider them seperately. Murder my Sweet was one of my favorite Noirs. The Falcon film is an amusing and entertaining film in its own right. It IS a "B" film and it was never intended to be a serious drama. It is an entertainment and well worth seeing in that light. Jenks over the top comedic antics make it more of a comedy. This is one my favorite "series" films.

The film opens with Moose Malloy (Ward Bond) lurking outside Club 13. He is on the trail of his ex-girlfriend Velma. He kills the Club 13 manager who Moose suspects has taken up with Velma. Moose has broken free from prison where he's doing 20 years for a manslaughter rap. Ex-wrestler Moose has the ability to kill any of his victims by shaking them to death once he has hold of their neck.

George Sanders plays the Falcon who takes on the case of finding Velma before Moose can get to her. He traces the address of Jessie Florian (Anne Revere) who he suspects is protecting somebody and who might know where Velma is hiding. The Falcon is a smoothie with the ladies. We see him stop a woman screaming by giving her a smothering full-on kiss.

There is a good atmospheric scene where the Falcon walks into a misty churchyard and is seemingly shot in the back. Inexplicably roaming about the churchyard at night is a wannabe newspaper reporter (Lynn Bari) who pulls a gun on the Falcon after he lifts himself up from the ground quite alive. She drives a backfiring car which comes to the rescue of the Falcon later on. This is a somewhat comedic take on a Noir pulp story before it got the full Noir treatment in 'Murder My Sweet' (1944). It is surprising to see that only five of the players in this Falcon mystery received onscreen credits with Ward Bond especially and also Anne Revere sorely missing out on their contributions getting credited.

Except that GEORGE SANDERS seems bored by his role as The Falcon (it was his next to last assignment in Falcon films), and that he is no substitute for the tough detective Philip Marlowe, this early version of Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely" is geared for a mixture of mystery, mirth and murder. LYNN BARI as an ambitious young newspaper reporter adds some zest to the co-starring female lead.

Interesting to see character actress ANN REVERE as a tough old broad, HANS CONREID as a double-crossing playboy and TURHAN BEY as a Swami. But the standout supporting roles are filled by WARD BOND as Moose Malloy and ALLEN JENKINS as Goldy, the Falcon's right-hand man afraid of Moose.

Bond looks like an impressive hot-tempered hulk and his scenes with Jenkins are both menacing and humorous. Jenkins plays his role for all the humor in the script--and there's plenty of that to go around. JAMES GLEASON as an exasperated detective is at his bombastic best.

It's a fun ride with a running time of just an hour, so the Chandler story had to be compressed. In that it's an intricate tale of murder and deception, it never gets the full treatment here. Nevertheless, for fans of GEORGE SANDERS, it's a worthwhile flick with overtones of humor and noirish mystery in the Chandler manner.

The third in RKO's Falcon series starring George Sanders is one of the best. It's notable for being the first adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel "Farewell, My Lovely," with the Falcon character substituted for Philip Marlowe. The plot has a brute named Moose Malloy (Ward Bond) searching for his former girlfriend Velma. The Falcon tries to find her first. Sanders is great as usual. Ward Bond, who is best remember today for his supporting roles in many John Ford movies, is very good as Moose. He's clearly wearing a padded suit to make him look more imposing but it doesn't detract from his performance. The always enjoyable Allen Jenkins provides comic relief as the Falcon's sidekick Goldie. Pretty Lynn Bari is the reporter who, of course, falls for our charming hero. She and Sanders have nice chemistry, but Sanders generally had nice chemistry with all his female costars I think. The rest of the excellent cast includes Selmar Jackson, Helen Gilbert, Hans Conried, Anne Revere, Edward Gargan, and the wonderful James Gleason, one of my all-time favorite character actors. As an adaptation of Chandler's novel, it's not the best. "Murder, My Sweet" starring Dick Powell holds that distinction. But it's still fun, helped by a great cast, brisk pace, and short runtime.

The character of the Falcon, an amateur gentleman detective similar to Leslie Charteris' "the Saint", was created by Michael Arlen, a Bulgarian-born British writer of Armenian descent, and was then taken up by Hollywood in a series of crime dramas. Arlen's hero was named Gay Falcon, but in the films he was, for unknown reasons, renamed Gay Lawrence, "the Falcon" being a nickname. (Arlen's choice of a forename for his hero was a strange one. I am well aware that in the thirties and forties the word "gay" did not carry its modern meaning of "homosexual", but even then "Gay" was well-established as a feminine Christian name). In the first four films the Falcon was played by George Sanders, who had also played the Saint in a series of films based on Charteris' books. Feeling that he was becoming typecast, Sanders dropped out of the series after the fourth film in which a new Falcon was introduced, Gay Lawrence's brother Tom. This character was played by Sanders' real-life brother, Tom Conway. (His real name was Tom Sanders; "Conway" was a stage name).

Arlen, in fact, only wrote one "Falcon" story, which formed the basis for the first film, "The Gay Falcon"; for all the others a new plot had to be found. "New", however, did not always mean "original", and for the third instalment in the series, "The Falcon Takes Over" (aka "The Falcon Steps Out"), the producers borrowed the plot of Raymond Chandler's novel "Farewell, My Lovely", also to be filmed as "Murder, My Sweet" two years later. (A third adaptation of the book, under its original title, was made in the seventies). They moved the action from Los Angeles to New York and substituted the Falcon for Chandler's hero Philip Marlowe.

I won't go into the plot in any detail; as one might expect with Chandler it is extremely complex. It revolves around Moose Malloy, a thuggish former wrestler who has escaped from prison and is looking for his old girlfriend. Besides Moose and the Falcon, other characters include an attractive lady reporter, a wealthy heiress and the Falcon's assistant Jonathan 'Goldie' Locke, who plays Watson to his Holmes. Locke is a wisecracking New Yorker with a strong Brooklyn accent; the idea was presumably to provide a contrast with the Falcon himself, who is played as an upper-class English gentleman.

The film was made as a B-movie, which meant that it had a very short running time of only just over an hour. This was really insufficient to deal with all the complexities of Chandler's plot and as a result the film comes across as very rushed, muddled and difficult to follow. That is not always a problem with forties crime dramas; nobody, for example, would claim that the plot of Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep", also based on a Marlowe story, is easy to understand, yet it is still a great movie. Director Irving Reis, however, is unable to capture that powerful sense of atmosphere which is so important a quality of Hawks' film.

I have often admired Sanders as an actor, but normally in better films than this one. He often seemed to be at his best in supporting roles rather than as the main star, for example in "Rebecca", "Samson and Delilah", "Foreign Correspondent", "Ivanhoe" and "All about Eve", for which he won a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar. (Indeed, in a number of these films, notably "Samson" and "Foreign Correspondent", he actually gave a better performance than did the film's official main star). Here, however, he is the lead, and hardly makes the most of it, seeming far too relaxed and laid-back. This may be in line with the Falcon's character, but in real life even the most insouciant individuals tend to become more serious when grave matters like murder are at stake. Allen Jenkins as Goldie starts off as amusing but his appeal wears off after a while.

Reis was clearly attempting the film noir style which was becoming very fashionable in 1942, but noir seems to have needed the greater budget and running-time of an A-movie to succeed. Many noirs from the period remain marvellously watchable today, but "The Falcon Takes Over" is not amongst them. 4/10

As I watched the opening credits, I was surprised to see that this Falcon movie was actually based on the Raymond Chandler book "Farewell, My Lovely"--which I'd seen twice before in the forms of MURDER, MY SWEET (1944) and FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (1975). What particularly surprised me about this is that was a originally Philip Marlowe story, NOT a Gay Lawrence (a.k.a. "The Falcon") film. Now Raymond Chandler purists might balk at this, but the film actually compares reasonably well to these later films--even with a leading man who is so unlike the hard-boiled detective, Marlowe. While the settings were "classed up" quite a bit compared to the novel, the overall plot is still there with only a few minor changes (such as at the very end and the disposition of "Velma"). Additionally, Allan Jenkins, Lawrence's lady friend and the cops were integrated into the original plot.

Now if you were going to rate this film, you can't really compare this RKO B-film to the two later higher budget films. The later films are more faithful to the book, but they also have the advantage of being made AFTER Chandler became more famous--and when producers would have never considered getting rid of the Marlowe character. And, while some might be very critical of the lower budget THE FALCON TAKES OVER, if you compare it to other B-detective series films of the day (such as Boston Blackie, Charlie Chan or The Lone Wolf), it is clearly superior--mostly due to the basic foundation laid by Chandler. Plus, George Sanders is his usual affable and suave character--a guy that's hard not to like even if he isn't as jaded and tough as Marlowe.

For lovers of the B-movie genre, this is an exceptional and engaging film--significantly better than the later Tom Conway films in the series. In fact, aside from 'the earlier THE GAY FALCON, it might just be the best in the series.