The Falcon in Mexico

This "Falcon" entry relocates to Mexico and features all the stock characters and situations that one would expect from Hollywood in that setting - some of which (the repeated footage of songs in the cantina, for instance) is obviously used simply as filler. But what raises the resulting film somewhat above average is the unexpected twist it manages to place on much of its material. Barbara's exotic young stepmother turns out to be genuinely attached to her, for instance, while the grinning, thick-witted Mexican who seems to be playing a part in a bad film turns out to be a very cool bird indeed.

There is some artful photography and some smart dialogue, and while there does seem to be a certain amount of tourist advertising blatantly inserted -- literally, as in photographs of travel brochures -- this film is more interesting than I thought it was going to be. Oddly enough, while it features a number of murders they are all left more or less in the background to the main mystery, which is the question of who faked the stolen portrait... or indeed, if it was faked at all...

So is artist Wade alive or not. His daughter seems to think so even though he's supposedly ensconced in a crypt in Mexico. Fear not, however, the Falcon (Conway) is on the case. Actually the ingredients of a good mystery are present but the script mixes them up in a sloppy fashion. Much of the problem, as other reviewers note, is the big travelogue part, which only gets out of Hollywood proper thanks to some artistic Orson Welles stock footage. Otherwise it's process shots and RKO's backlot, along with that all-purpose ethnic Nestor Paiva (Manuel) furnishing a dollop of comic relief. Then too, the musical interludes tend to interrupt at inconvenient times. (Still, I really like the enchanting two little girl singers Hunter & Alvarez.)

What's worth watching for the guys, at least, are the gals, especially Vickers who's downright beautiful, at least in my book. I could have used a couple dozen more close-ups. Too bad the director treats her so casually. Anyway, the smooth-as-silk Conway is on hand to lend this slapdash programmer some class. But he really was better off with the great Val Lewton and his classic horror fests than he is here.

Falcon in Mexico, The (1944)

** (out of 4)

The Falcon (Tom Conway) travels to Mexico where he gets involved with murder and a mysterious painting. This entry gets a minor leg up from the Mexican locations, which are probably just backlot shots but the actual mystery itself is rather bland. The screenplay is all over the place and even when the killer was revealed it still didn't make too much sense. Conway is really hit and miss in this series and I'd have to call him a major miss here. The supporting cast isn't any better and many of the members from previous films, including Cliff Clark, are missing here, which doesn't help matters.

Never far from women or trouble, Tom Lawrence meets both when he meets Dolores Ybarra trying to get into a door and recover a painting she did. Helping her, Lawrence realises he was duped and that the painting is of her, not by her. These trifling issues are put to one side when they discover a body in the building. The girl flees and, suspected of the murder (as usual), Lawrence does too. The problem with the painting is that the painter actually died 15 years earlier, but yet the portrait must have been done recently. Lawrence seeks out the artist's daughter Barbara, who reveals a mystery around her father's death and the two head to Mexico to investigate further.

After being Out West, the film series continues its attempts to freshen things up by "being places" rather than doing things. In this case we have a lazy travelogue that takes us to Mexico with lots of backdrops and footage (with supposedly a famous source!). The mystery starts out well enough and does offer intrigue to a point but it is pretty much lost in the delivery, which seems more interesting in providing a lot of footage of Mexico instead. This bothered me a bit because I was interested by the set up but this waned as I realised that the film itself wasn't that fussed. Berke's direction is fine I'm sure but he is continually overshadowed by the stock footage (supposedly shot by Orson Welles) which regularly takes centre stage. The film also features a couple of songs (a common filler in b-movie world), they aren't much cop here but do add a sanitised flavour of Mexico.

Conway is not as smooth as he was in some other of the Falcon films. He is still recognisable as the same character but it does feel like he is going through the motions somewhat with this one. He lacks much in the way of support here as well as his regular comic companions of the police and Goldie/Lefty are absent. Instead we have a bit of life from Paiva in a good sidekick character. Maris, Vickers, Currier, Callejo and others all do so-so jobs but nobody has much conviction about anything – probably not helped by the material.

Overall then a fairly uninspiring entry in the series that continues the gimmick of the location from Out West. The stock footage is all well and good but the mystery becomes slack and uninteresting all too quickly.

The Falcon films, both with George Sanders and Tom Conway in the lead role, are on the most part very enjoyable. There are some very good ones like the first two Sanders Falcon films and 'The Falcon Strikes Back', though also a few disappointments like 'The Falcon in Danger'.

While it's watchable enough, 'The Falcon in Mexico' is one of the series' weaker films. It has good things certainly, but too much is lacking too. The photography is slick and atmospheric, and Mexico looks stunningly exotic here. There is some playfulness in the script, while the mystery does start off quite well.

Salvaging it the most is the cast. Conway continues to thrive and enjoys himself evidently, everything that Sanders brought to the role Conway also brings and just as effectively. A charming Martha Vickers and a very funny and full of life Nestor Paiva are the supporting cast's standouts, Fernando Alvarado is also appealing.

However, the story does suffer from a lack of suspense, erratic pacing (tries to be bright and breezy, which it is sporadically, but is too hectic more like), a very vague and weird motive for the criminal, not being focused on enough with Mexico being favoured over it and a very abrupt ending. The stock Mexican music sounds cheap, not like the Falcon series at all, and the musical interludes were unnecessary and irrelevant to the story, also placed at inappropriate times.

The travelogue stuff is striking but doesn't add a lot and slows down the film. William Berke's direction is undistinguished, and too much of the script is awkward and confused.

On the whole, an uninspired entry in a mostly enjoyable series that suffers from too much Mexico and not enough Falcon mystery. 5/10 Bethany Cox