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.
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.