I love this movie so much

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Tom Conway and retainer Ed Brophy are on their way to San Francisco on a train when they make the acquaintance of young Sharyn Moffett. The Falcon charm work on women of all ages and the little girl asks for his help saying she's become a prisoner in her own home. Her rather severe nurse is later murdered on the train and the Falcon and the always helpful Goldie Locke are involved.Besides Moffett this caper will involve her older sister Rita Corday, a former bootlegger from Prohibition days Robert Armstrong, a Dutch importer John Mylong and a poor man's Gale Sondergaard Fay Helm.This is one of the bloodiest Falcon episodes that RKO did. A whole lot of people die in this one, especially in an incredibly bloody climax.Conway is charming as usual and Brophy provides much needed comic relief in this story. Still even his relief was too much. He reads that he can pay less income tax when married and starts coming on to every woman he sees with inevitable results. Now if Conway had done it...........

This is the eleventh Falcon film, notable for the entry of a child actress in a major role. Having the Falcon exchange witty lines with Sharyn Moffett who in the film 'will be 18 in nine years' time', as she puts it, and who 'has decided to marry Tom Lawrence (the Falcon)' when she grows up 'but then he'll have to stop chasing after other girls', is a refreshing and amusing change. Tom Conway does very well at communicating with a kid, and Sharyn is charming in the part. Unfortunately, the hideously boring and coarse Edward Brophy is the Falcon's sidekick in this one, which is so annoying. There is a marvellous wicked femme fatale in this one played by Fay Helm, who obviously finds it delicious to be devilish. Rita Corday appears in her fifth Falcon film, and has become a reliable fixture in the series. Robert Armstrong, solid and good viewing, appears in this one and adds conviction to a double identity. The film is well directed by Joseph H. Lewis, his one foray into falconry, with some good San Francisco location shots, excellent framing, and a nice pace. The story is satisfying in its puzzling complexity, and we really can't figure out very much at all until we get near the end. Falconers will enjoy this one, and lesser mortals should too.

I watched this expecting, given the budget limitations of B-picture series, to see only a few "establishing shots" of San Francisco from stock footage, but a surprising number of scenes appear actually to have been shot on location -- or were at least very convincingly matted. Even more impressive is the film's rather successful grasp of San Francisco atmosphere. Too-handsome tough guys, a twisted dame with a streak of brutality, a gloomy Nob Hill mansion, and details like the extras in the nightclub scene and the furnishings in the dame's apartment are all done quite as well as in the higher-budgeted "Out of the Past." Some continuity elements seem to have been left on the cutting room floor, as in other RKO noirs, but to good effect, and it is obvious the bit players (including Dorothy Adams) were carefully chosen. Better preserved than some of the Falcon pictures, this one merits attention beyond the context of the series.

About average for the Tom Lawrence version of the Falcon series. Edward Brophy does his usual sidekick role well, Rita Corday is nice to look at, Sharyn Moffett does her best as Shirley Temple, there is a reasonable plot, a few good shots of an older San Francisco, and not much else to recommend. Best for those who must see the entire Falcon series.