''Appointment with Murder'' is a 1948 American crime film directed by

Jack Bernhard Jack Bernhard (November 28, 1914 – March 30, 1997) was an American film and television director. His films include ''Decoy (1946 film), Decoy'' (1946), ''Blonde Ice'' (1948), ''Unknown Island'' (1948) and ''The Second Face'' (1950). Personal l ...

and starring John Calvert,

Catherine Craig Catherine Craig (born Catherine Jewel Feltus; January 18, 1915 – January 14, 2004), sometimes credited as Kay Craig, was an American actress. Early years Catherine Jewel Feltus was born in Bloomington, Indiana, where she was a member of Phi ...

and Jack Reitzen. The film is one of three made by the low-budget

Film Classics Film Classics was an American film distributor active between 1943 and 1951.Slide p.72 Established by Irvin Shapiro, the company initially concentrated on re-releases of earlier hits by other studios, but began to handle new independent productions ...

company featuring Calvert as The Falcon who had previously been played by

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

and

Tom Conway Tom Conway (born Thomas Charles Sanders, 15 September 1904 – 22 April 1967) was a British film, television, and radio actor remembered for playing private detectives (including The Falcon, Sherlock Holmes, Bulldog Drummond, and The Saint) ...

for

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

.Hardy p.124

Premise

The Falcon travels to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

to locate some stolen paintings for an

insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

. He follows the trail from a murdered Italian painter to an art gallery in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Cast

* John Calvert as Michael Waring, the Falcon *

as Lorraine W. Brinckley * Jack Reitzen as Norton Benedict *

Lyle Talbot Lyle Florenz Talbot (born Lisle Henderson, also credited Lysle Talbot; February 8, 1902 – March 2, 1996) was an American stage, screen and television actor. His career in films spanned three decades, from 1931 to 1960, and he performed on ...

as Fred Muller *

Peter Brocco Carl Peter Brocco (January 16, 1903 – December 20, 1992) was an American screen and stage actor. He appeared in over 300 credits, notably ''Spartacus'' (1960) and '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975), during his career spanning over 60 ...

as Giuseppe Donatti *

Ben Welden Ben Welden (born Benjamin Weinblatt; June 12, 1901 – October 17, 1997) was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows. Early years Welden was born in Toledo, Oh ...

as Martin Minecci * Robert Conte as Count Dano * Jay Griffith as Detective * Michael Mark as 2nd Baggage Clerk * Carlo Schipa as Mario Farello *

Anna Demetrio Anna Demetrio (1890–1959) was an Italian-born American film actress.McLaughlin p.170 Speaking English with a heavy accent, she often played stock foreign characters in a series of supporting roles. In 1950 she starred in the sitcom '' Mama Rosa' ...

as Senora Rosa - Italian Woman * Carole Donne as Miss Connors * Barbara Freking as Barbara O'Brien - The Model * Jack Chefe as Johnny - Hotel Clerk * Eugene Gericke as 1st Thug *

James Griffith James Jeffrey Griffith (February 13, 1916 – September 17, 1993) was an American character actor, musician and screenwriter. Education Griffith attended Santa Monica High School, where he was a classmate with Glenn Ford. Both were active in s ...

as Detective * Pat Lane as Customs Officer * Robert Nadell as 1st Baggage Clerk * Frank Richards as 2nd Thug * Carl Sklover as Guard * Eric Wilton as Count Dano's Butler

References

Bibliography

* Hardy, Phil. ''The BFI Companion to Crime''. University of California Press, 1997.

External links

* * * * 1948 films American crime films 1948 crime films Films directed by Jack Bernhard Film Classics films Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Milan American black-and-white films The Falcon (film character) films Films scored by Karl Hajos 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{1940s-crime-film-stub