The Falcon series of motion pictures are entertaining enough but not terribly compelling. They don’t have the compelling sense of darkness and danger that the films noir of the day offered, and they aren’t as funny and fun as the Thin Man series of movie mysteries.
But they do make for reasonably entertaining cinematic diversions, and if you’ve never experienced a Falcon picture, tomorrow, September 2, is your day. TCM is airing the first eleven entries in the series beginning at 6:15 am ET.
The Falcon originated as a character in Michael Arlen’s short story, Gay Falcon, that author’s only contribution to the annals of crime fiction. In the story, the adventurous, debonair good-guy-for-hire we know as the Falcon was actually named Falcon—Gay Stanhope Falcon. But in the movies and on the radio, his name was Gay Laurence (other names were later used) and The Falcon was his nickname, his alias; how he acquired it was never fully explained.
The Falcon was a near-carbon copy of The Saint, so much so that the Saint’s creator, author Leslie Charteris sued RKO for plagiarism (and mocked the character in his 1943 novel, The Saint Steps In). George Sanders played the character in the first four films, but had no interest in continuing his association with the series, so in The Falcon’s Brother (1942), Sanders’ real-life brother, Tom Conway, was brought in to play the Falcon’s fictional brother, Tom, who thereafter also went by the Falcon alias—convenient, no? Conway would play the Falcon in nine pictures from 1943-46.
Beginning in 1948, John Calvert took over the role of the Falcon (whose name was now Michael Waring) in the series’ final three pictures, but they were not successful. Gruff, tough Charles McGraw, a very different type than Sanders and Conway (urbane and sophisticated he was not), would take over the role in 1954 for a syndicated television series that ran for 39 episodes.
TCM is showing the first three of Sanders’ Falcon pictures, the transition entry in the film that saw Sanders and Conway both starring, and the first seven of Conway’s nine pictures in the role. Our suggestion? Take the day off , get up early and dedicate the first 12.5 hours of your Labor Day weekend to getting acquainted with the Falcon.