best movie i've ever seen.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Tom Conway is excellent--wry and witty. Jane Randolph makes her second and final appearance as a feisty reporter with a yen for the Falcon. She is very lovely, I wish she had appeared in more of the films! Rita Corday, also very attractive, makes the first of her five appearances in a Falcon film. And Harriet Nelson, of Ozzie and Harriet fame, has some sizzle as a suspicious hotel manager. Harriet, who knew? She's quite sexy here! In common with all the 1930's and 1940's series movies of this type, the police are portrayed very broadly for comedy. The two police officers here ham it up to a degree that will perhaps surprise any viewer who has not seen many of these old films. But they are no broader than Inspector Lestrade in the Universal Sherlock Holmes films. Or, though he is not a policeman, Birmingham Brown in the Monogram Chan films. The period costumes are good, especially on the ladies, and there are a couple of great old cars shown--the Falcon drives a stunning white convertible! Conway carries the movie smoothly and well. He's pleasure to watch--both shrewd and fun. The hotel desk clerk is a very familiar face from old films and old TV shows. The print on the dvd is quite good. Not as crystal clear as on the Fox Chan films, or the Universal Holmes ones, but still pretty good. There are some good exterior sets, especially at the country hotel. Recommended.

That Harriet Nelson (aka Hilliard) could even be suspected of murder seems sacrilegious. What would Ozzie Nelson say or David and Rickey. After all, her sweet tempered, sensible mother was one of the iconic moms of the 1950's (1). Oh well, she does show an edgier side here as the hotel manager. All in all, results look like she was a fine actress whose all-around talent was seldom tapped. The movie itself is a fairly routine Falcon. Seems a war bond scam is going on at the hotel, but who's behind it and how does it tie in with a series of murders. Leave it to the Falcon to sort out, along with his humorously dim-witted sidekick, Goldie (Edwards). There's plenty of eye candy for the guys. And since this is in the middle of the big war (1943), I expect the girl- heavy cast was for the guys in uniform. In fact, Erford Gage (Rickey) was killed in action near war's end. Note too that the director is Ed Dmytryck who went on to direct such noir classics as Murder, My Sweet (1944) and Crossfire (1947). Catch some of that style in the shadowy lighting and odd camera angle.Anyway, the plot's pretty convoluted, but that's not the main draw, for me at least. Instead, it's the suave Conway, snappy throwaway lines, and, of course, the comely girls, which makes this latter a special treat.(1) The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, (1952-1966)

***SPOILERS*** The high flying "Falcon" Tom Lawrence, Tom Conway, is laid low after a night of heavy drinking and is awaken in his office by Mia Berger, Rita Corday,an what seems like escapee from fascism-Nazi German occupied Europe- begging him to track down her missing brother. Not in the best shape Lawrence goes to this bar where Mia's brother is known to frequent and not only doesn't find him but is knocked out and left outside town in a car that was involved in the robbery of $250,000.00 of US Government bonds where a number of people were killed! Arrested on a tip by the police Lawrence, and later after escaping from them,is now more then determined to prove his innocence by finding Mia or whoever she is in order for him to prove he was with her when the robbery occurred. Things don't look so good for Lawrence when he finds Mia refuses to help him and is later, at the hotel she was staying in, killed by being shot by a sniper while diving off a plank at the hotel swimming pool! ***SPOILERS****Now in real hot water in not only being accused of a robbery of $250,000.00 in US Government Bonds, at the very height of WWII,but the murder of Mia as well Lawrence uses all his wits and savvy to elude the police as well as to get him out of the mess that he now finds himself in. It all boils down to an act of simple reeving on the killer's part who back in San Francisco was screwed out of his life savings by not only Mia but the person she worked with a con artist known as "The Duchess" the tea toting and all so righteous Mrs. Geraldine Lipton, Waynne Gibson, who runs-as a cover for her criminal activities- a woman's knitting school in town. The killer himself is caught in a trap that Lawrence-the Falcon-set for him using Mrs. Lipton as bate.With Lawrence hot on his tail and having really nowhere to go the killer ends up falling to his death as he slipped off the roof of the hotel that he, using an assumed name, worked at!

Falcon Strikes Back, The (1943) *** (out of 4) Edward Dmytryk directs this fifth film in the series, which has The Falcon (Tom Conway) trying to track down war bond thieves. Up to this point in the series, this film here is clearly the best as it deals with a very interesting story and also features Conway in fine form. The story of the war bonds being stolen adds a great interest and I'm sure it was even more fascinating back when the film was released. The supporting cast is also in fine form with Cliff Edwards really coming into form as The Falcon's partner. The film also manages to be quite funny with several neat little twists including a great gag on how The Falcon gets away from the police. There's a little puppet show including, which isn't too good but there's an added bonus of a Goofy puppet and even Sherlock Holmes gets a poke in the ribs during a joke.