utgard14 George Sanders hands the reigns of the Falcon over to his brother Tom Conway in this fourth entry in the RKO series. This one has Tom Lawrence (Conway) stepping in for his brother who's been temporarily put of commission. Tom investigates and eventually uncovers a Nazi assassination plot. In a dark turn, Gay Lawrence (Sanders) is killed off in the end to make way for his brother to take over as the Falcon.For most of the movie, George Sanders is sidelined. But when he is on screen, at the beginning and near the end, he's enjoyable as usual. It's too bad because the little we see him with his brother shows a lot of promise. Wish we could have gotten at least one full movie of the two teaming up and bantering. I imagine it was a big deal at the time to kill off a series' star instead of just replacing him with little or no explanation. So kudos to RKO for going ahead with it. For his part, Tom Conway is a perfect replacement for Sanders. I wouldn't say he's as good but he's as good as anyone can be filling such big shoes.Some other changes in this one aren't so great. Gone are two superb character actors, Allen Jenkins and James Gleason. Jenkins played Gay's sidekick Goldie in the previous films and Gleason played Inspector O'Hara. Here we get new sidekick Lefty, played by Don Barclay, and new copper Inspector Donovan, played by Cliff Clark. The latter would stick with the series while the former would make his sole appearance here. Which is for the best, as Lefty is the Curly Joe to Goldie's Curly. This marks the first of two Falcon appearances for Jane Randolph as a feisty reporter. Keye Luke is also fun as Tom Lawrence's...ugh..."houseboy." I promise he's treated with some respect.This is a nice start to the Conway Falcon series, which would go much longer than the brief Sanders run. We could debate all day about who is the better Falcon but, for me, Conway is simply following his brother's template. He did that for most of his career, I think, but he did it well so I can't complain. If you've enjoyed the series up to this point, I doubt you won't like this one or the films that follow with the new direction.

tjm199 Wow, I really enjoy "The Falcon" movies and this has it's good moments. It also has some very bad moments. George Sanders is good for as long as he is in the movie. Tom Conway also does a good job as the Falcon's brother, Tom. Suave and smooth go hand in hand with Sanders and Conway. There is a real problem with the supporting actors, especially Don Barclay as "Lefty," the Falcon's side kick. The actor is just terrible, a droning monotone, complete lack of facial expressions and a delivery that shows the actor just walked through his lines. Cliff Clark as Inspector Donovan mugs his way through all of his scenes and Jane Randolph as reporter Marcia Brooks is entirely too predictable and annoying. But then so is her character. Mind you, I don't expect Academy Award material from these "B" movies but the first three "Falcon" movies were much better. Well, the first and third movies were better than this. I haven't seen the next movie with Conway, where Conway takes over the role of The Falcon but with the name of Tom Lawrence. The ending is also a bit abrupt and unsatisfying. All in all there are much better examples of these "B" movies. But there are worse ones as well. If you really want to see all of the movies, don't miss this one. It would leave a gap in your knowledge. One thing I really enjoy is seeing character actors doing bit parts that are quite often uncredited. Keye Luke in this one and Hans Conrad in several of the Falcon and Saint movies. Good stuff.

dbborroughs How do you keep a franchise going when your lead actor tires of the role? Bring in his brother and keep going with him. Its brilliant move that allowed for George Saunders to get away from the programmers he was stuck making (he had been in the Saint series prior to this) and allowed him to go do other things. Tom Conway, who took over the role, is just as good, and perhaps better than his brother since he managed to both be above everything like his brother, but he also came across as actually caring about the mystery at hand. Lets face it Saunders really didn't seem to care by this stage, though to be honest he did put in bit of effort here since I'm guessing he knew he was free. I like this film a great deal, as I like the entire series. Its worth seeing either because you want to see a footnote film in a movie history or because you want to see a really good mystery.

Michael_Elliott Falcon's Brother, The (1942) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Fourth in the series was also the last to feature George Sanders as he was growing tired with the role. This time out The Falcon (Sanders) gets put into a coma so his brother (Tom Conway) shows up to take over a case involving Nazis. Having Sanders top billed here is a major cheat since he's only in the opening ten minutes and the final five. The rest of the time has his character lying in bed but all the scenes in his room are shot without showing an actor, which makes it clear Sanders wasn't there. Conway was Sanders real life brother so that's a unique little thing and he does a fine job at carrying the film and he would do so for eleven more features. The story itself is pretty interesting but it certainly misses Allen Jenkins whose character isn't here but another character played by Don Barclay takes over.