The Worst Film Ever

Absolutely Brilliant!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

George Sanders played The Saint and later played The Falcon. Wanting to move on to better things he appeared in 'The Falcon's Brother' with his real life brother Tom Conway who then inherits the role for future instalments.The film was made several months after Pearl Harbour and this is incorporated in the plot with a hunt for renegade Nazis and an assassination plot, you even have poisoned cigars.The film starts with the Falcon finding out that his brother may have died, in fact he has not and later on the Falcoln himself is injured when someone tries to run him down. Conway takes over to continue the investigation and in the final reel the Falcoln is shot, presumably fatally and Conway assumes his identity.The film still mixes B movie standards with humour, its mainly played for laughs but its not so interesting and the acting is a bit pantomime.

George Sanders makes his last appearance as Gay Lawrence, aka the Falcon, in this fun if fairly standard B mystery. There's a corpse in an ocean liner stateroom; the victim is apparently Tom Lawrence, the Falcon's brother; Gay Lawrence goes aboard and quietly identifies the body. Not surprisingly, it's not as simple as all that.A clever shot introduces Tom Conway as the Falcon's brother: First we watch the Falcon, just off of the ship, race off in a taxi following another taxi as the cops hop into their car to follow him. Then, over in a shadow, we see a dark figure strike a match and light a cigarette, his face lit up just for a moment before the match goes out and he is in darkness again. It's the Falcon's brother—not so dead—watching it all from the shadows.Eventually we learn that the plot involves Nazi espionage, some South American spies, and a fashion magazine. The cast of characters includes the usual grumpy police inspector (Cliff Clark, this time, as an Inspector Donovan) and dumb assistant detective (Edward Gargan back as Detective Bates, always saying "Sorry, Chief").Jane Randolph is lively and funny as the usual spunky girl reporter who sticks her nose in and helps out: "Well, I'm only a fashion reporter," she admits early on, "but I'll get a police beat someday!" Conway is good as the new Falcon, stepping into the role quite confidently. Sanders, on his way out of the series, is perhaps a little less interested…but fun to watch nevertheless, especially in the couple of scenes he shares with brother Conway.

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.