the audience applauded

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Blistering performances.

George Sanders is Gay Laurence aka The Falcon, whose hobbies are women and solving crimes. Unfortunately, his high society fiancée Elinor Benford (Anne Hunter aka Nina Vale) is tired of these antics, so she's given him three months to make it in his new, more respectable, chosen profession as a broker. Allen Jenkins plays the Falcon's wisecracking sidekick, Jonathan G. 'Goldie' Locke. However, a beautiful girl named Helen Reed (Wendy Barrie), who's also a big fan of the Falcon's (she's read about his exploits), comes to Gay with a new case. Helen is a personal secretary for Maxine Wood (Gladys Cooper), who hosts society parties attended by wealthy persons, but some of the ladies have been robbed of their jewelry. Since Gay had been asked by Elinor to attend the next such party, he goes with her, but Helen quickly descends upon them and his fiancée learns that he is still looking at other women and working on mysteries. Elinor decides to dance with Manuel Retana (Turhan Bey). Meanwhile, Helen introduces Gay to Mrs. Vera Gardner (Lucile Gleason), who slips him her diamond ring while they're dancing. He doesn't fully understand why she's done this until later.Goldie couldn't afford the $100 ticket to attend the party, so he decides to crash it by climbing the fire escape. A shot rings out and Goldie witnesses a man, later identified as Noel Weber (Damian O'Flynn), leaving the apartment where a dead Mrs. Gardner is discovered. Two police detectives at the party, Bates (Edward Brophy, who would later play the Falcon's sidekick) and Grimes (Eddie Dunn), arrest Goldie for her murder. Gay goes to the police station to convince Inspector Mike Waldeck (Arthur Shields) to release Goldie, if for no other reason than to force the criminals to try to eliminate him as a witness. The Inspector, who's evidently gotten a lot of free help from Gay in the past, claims the idea as his own and allows Goldie to leave, with a couple of men to follow him, as soon as he gives a description of the man he'd seen to a sketch artist (Hans Conried, uncredited). Goldie then perfectly describes Inspector Waldeck! Of course, Helen (now unofficially part of "the team") is able to quickly lose the police tail by driving fast and turning down an alleyway to hide. But later, while Helen introduces Gay to Maxine, Goldie is "snatched" by Noel, who wants the diamond but is then shot through his apartment's window by an unknown person. Goldie is again arrested by the police for being in the same room as a dead body.The police suspect Gay might be involved, he does still have the diamond, so they go to his flat to arrest him too, but Helen arrives, enabling him to escape. The Falcon suspects Manuel; later, with Helen at Manuel's apartment, Gay discovers a picture of Manuel with Noel and the secret location of a gun, which he then takes. He uses Helen in a convoluted way to find out whether the gun is the murder weapon. It is, so Manuel is the prime suspect. Since he's been spending time with Elinor, she assumes Gay's attempt to warn her about the man are motivated by his jealousy. So Manuel is able to escape a restaurant while she's arrested and held by Waldeck at Gay's request. Helen helps Gay again, this time by saving his life when she interrupts Manuel, who'd gone to the Falcon's apartment to retrieve the diamond. Even though Manuel escapes, Gay has a pretty good idea about what's been going on. The trail leads to Maxine's apartment where Gay brings the Inspector. Ostensibly there to protect her, the two overhear a conversation between her and Manuel, who's come to kill Maxine. However, she manages to kill him with a hypodermic needle full of poison, revealing in the process that she is really Maxine Weber. She and Manuel had been running a party- jewelry stealing scam before her husband Noel got out of prison. When he returned, the couple conspired to cut Manuel out of the deal. Hence, Manuel decided to kill them both, but now the Inspector has only her to arrest for the crime(s).Gay promises again to give up his hobbies and urges Elinor to marry him right away, but he's interrupted by a woman (Virginia Vale, uncredited) who hears his name - the Falcon - and asks if he'd help her solve another case ... and so the series begins!This crime mystery drama was directed by Irving Reis, with a screenplay from Lynn Root and Frank Fenton based on a story by Michael Arlen. Willie Fung plays Gay's Servant Jerry. Jimmy Conlin appears uncredited as an incredulous bartender asked to make spinach juice.

I have seen this movie several times (months ago), and kept it on my DVR, meaning to write a review. Don't miss this movie. I have seen most of the Falcon series films (both with Sanders and Conway), and this (which happens to be the first Falcon film) is by far the best. It is excellent in its own right.Everything about it is great -- the writing, direction and acting. Nina Vale, the Falcon's fiancée, comes off very well; I wonder why she made so few films. I particularly liked Wendy Barrie; I think this is her best performance. No need to mention all the other great well-known supporting cast.There isn't a wasted scene in the movie. It was meticulously made. Wonderful dialog and gibes. Very logical screenplay.One perplexing thing about the move, and it doesn't bother me much: throughout the movie, the Falcon (Sanders) is saying that he loves Elinor Benford (played by Vale) and wants to marry her. Yet in scene after scene he is constantly flirting with Helen Reed (played by Barrie) and other women, in front of Elinor. And the women return the favors.

The Gay Falcon, the first movie in the Falcon series, finds the Falcon (George Sanders) ready to give up both women and detective work at the request of his fiancé. This promise, however, doesn't last long as a pretty woman with a story of stolen jewelry soon walks into his life. In no time at all, the Falcon is up to his elbows in murder and hiding out from the police. The only way to clear his name is to find the real killer.This may have been George Sanders first time out in the role of the Falcon, but he wears the role with the familiarity of a favorite old sweater. I would argue, however, that his Saint series (which ended just prior to the start of the Falcon series) was so similar to the Falcon that it was hardly a stretch for Sanders. Regardless, Sanders makes everything seem so effortless and natural. He is joined by an especially strong cast. Gladys Jenkins, Edward Brophy, and Arthur Shields should be familiar to any fan of classic B-fare. Oddly though, all are upstaged by the strong performance of Nina Vale who surprisingly only appeared in two other films. I can't believe she didn't do more. She's quite good and imminently watchable. As for the movie, none of the Falcon movies are particularly deep affairs and The Gay Falcon is no different. It's light, breezy entertainment. The 1940s style of comedy/mystery films has always appealed to me and The Gay Falcon is a nice example. The comedy elements hit their mark and are, at their worst, amusing. Nothing to make you fall in the floor with laughter, just good, light-hearted fun. The mystery elements in the movie also work and are sufficiently convoluted to make it interesting throughout. And it helps that the final solution to the mystery at least makes sense and is ultimately satisfying. Director Irving Reis keeps things moving at an entertaining pace with no time for a wasted scene in the movie's relative short 67 minute runtime. Overall, it's a solid effort.

I really enjoy B-movie detective movies such as Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes and The Falcon. However, I also must admit that so often these films all tend to look a lot alike. Plots, characters and pacing is often so similar that they don't seem to stand out. In the case of The Falcon, this is made even worse since the earlier RKO series, The Saint, is virtually indistinguishable from The Falcon--and both starred George Sanders for much of their run! So, it was with great pleasure that I watched this film because it WAS different. The plot itself was very good, but what really stood out in this first Falcon movie was the amazingly witty dialog! Again and again and again, the film abounded with sharp comments and great humor. And, for once, the lady assistant was wonderful and didn't make the usual stupid decisions sidekicks make AND had some great lines herself. All in all, I can't think of another B-detective film that's made me laugh as much.