utgard14 After two entries in the Falcon series where the setting was distracting, they finally get one right. As you might have guessed from the title, the Falcon goes to Hollywood here. They make great use of the RKO backlot and all the behind-the-scenes movie stuff is fun. The supporting cast is full of familiar faces like Sheldon Leonard, Robert Clarke, Emory Parnell, Frank Jenks, Konstantin Shayne, and John Abbott. The obligatory pretty women include Veda Ann Borg, Barbara Hale, Rita Corday, and Jean Brooks. Those last three have appeared in this series before. Tom Conway is as charming as ever and has some great banter with Veda Ann Borg, who plays a cabby anxious to help the Falcon investigate. It's a very entertaining picture, with lots of comedy and a good mystery. And, as I mentioned, the Hollywood stuff is a plus.

MartinHafer In this installment of the Falcon series, Tom Lawrence arrives in Hollywood for a vacation. Like practically every other Falcon vacation, this one is punctuated by a murder and the amateur detective is sucked into determining whodunnit.It's nice to see the backlot of RKO and seeing how films are made is a rare treat. Because of this you'd think that this would be a decent addition to the Falcon series--with an unusual and engaging plot. However, no matter how hard Tom Conway tries in this film, he's saddled with one of the most annoying and pushy supporting characters from any B-detective series. Early in the film, the Falcon catches a ride with a female cabbie (something not uncommon to find during the war years). While she is pretty and could have been a welcome addition, over time she is just annoying. Why she is allowed to follow the Falcon about and annoy everyone is beyond me--Conway should have just socked her! But because he doesn't, this film ends up being a below par addition to the series.

Spondonman Back to the city and business as normal (?) for Tom Lawrence aka the Falcon in solving crimes the cops can't [#10/13]. "Hollywood" had a nice sunny feel to it, the War was a million miles away and people wanted to get even further away from it with an escapist movie industry to help.The Falcon's busy losing at a racetrack but quickly gets mixed up with 2 beautiful women (Hale and Corday) and embroiled in tracking down an apparently stolen handbag. This leads to Sunset Pictures backlots where the body of a murdered man is discovered along with a gallery of suspects. The 2 best things here are the riveting but unfortunately intermittent tour of the RKO studios and props as the Falcon and his wisecracking female taxi driver played by Veda Ann Borg investigate, and the tight intelligent scripting. I wished there'd been much more behind the scenes for an even better picture of the studio. I kept expecting Borg to exclaim "Come up to my place!" – Conway wouldn't have been as backward as Sinatra! John Abbott as the Shakespeare-obsessed studio boss had many amusing scenes, and Emory Parnell effortlessly swapped from baddie in Mexico to goodie in Hollywood. And the story actually made solid sense this time without detracting from the entertainment, you can follow it from first to last, and even though the baddie's identity is pretty obvious from early on it was all logically explained. The searching of dead Ted's apartment has always stuck with me though for the bit where the Falcon and Borg are philosophising about how sad a dead man's room is and the poignant line about if he had been "worrying about tragic things like a broken shoelace" that morning.Recommended to fans of the genre, not to others. One of my favourite Falcon's, one I've watched again and again and still hope to.

jean-13 A great tour of the RKO backlot. Tom Conway suave as ever gives us a turn around the streets of 1940's Hollywood, including a trip to the Hollywood Bowl. Barbara (Della Street) Hale is on hand again as are the fabulous Sheldon Leonard and Robert Clark(I) in his second film role. Veda Ann Borg is brash and funny, Konstantin Shayne mutter Shakespeare with panache, and Jean Brooks(II) adds her charm to an early send up of Edith Head. And take a look at that lovely underrated under used Rita Corday. It all starts at the Hollywood race track, a mad dash around street cars down the Boulevard and ending up at the RKO gate. Prop rooms, prop building, soundstages, costume shop, the RKO stock swimming pool and finally the loft of the soundstage. It's fast, funny and an exceptional tour of a working studio. There is even a charming Arab actor Useff Ali as the "I can play any ethnic" in what is only one of his two film roles. Too bad he didn't have a longer career. The B pics at RKO had a great family of ensemble players..........Enjoy them.