''The Falcon in San Francisco'' is a 1945 American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

and

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...

directed by

Joseph H. Lewis Joseph H. Lewis (April 6, 1907 – August 30, 2000) was an American B-movie film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966. In a 30-year direc ...

and stars

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) ...

Rita Corday Rita Corday (born Jeanne Paule Teipo-Ite-Marma Croset; October 20, 1920 – November 23, 1992) was an American actress. She appeared in 30 films during the 1940s and 1950s. She was sometimes billed as Paula Corday or Paule Croset. Biography ...

and

Edward Brophy Edward Santree Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960) was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently ...

, who played the recurring role of "Goldie" Locke. The film was the 11th in The Falcon series of

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

films, and the eighth featuring Conway as the amateur sleuth. ''The Falcon in San Francisco'' was the final film in the series produced by

Maurice Geraghty Maurice Geraghty (September 29, 1908 – June 30, 1987) was an American screenwriter, film director and producer. Early life Geraghty was the son of Tom Geraghty. His brother Gerald was also a screenwriter; and his sister was silent film a ...

, after which budgets were reduced and

location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for exam ...

largely abandoned.

Plot

While travelling by train with his sidekick and assistant, "Goldie" Locke (

), for a vacation in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, Tom Lawrence (

), a.k.a. The Falcon, meets Annie Marshall (

Sharyn Moffett Patricia Sharyn Moffett (September 12, 1936 – December 23, 2021) was an American child actress who appeared in films during the 1940s. Life and career Moffett was born in Alameda, California on September 12, 1936, to a show business family. He ...

), a lonely little girl. Annie tells them that she is being held prisoner by her nurse, Miss Carla Keyes (

Hermine Sterler Minna Stern (20 March 1894 – 25 May 1982), known professionally as Hermine Sterler, was a German-American actress whose career spanned both the silent and the talkie film eras on two continents. Career Sterler, who appeared in several Ho ...

), and butler Loomis ( Jason Robards Sr.). Annie's story is cut short when Miss Keyes comes for her. Shortly after, the little girl rushes back to Tom to tell him her nurse is dead. Tom and Goldie take charge of Annie but police are notified that the little girl was kidnapped. When the train arrives in San Francisco, the police are waiting for the Falcon. Released on $10,000 bail, posted by Doreen Temple (

Fay Helm Fay Helm (April 9, 1909 – September 27, 2003) was an American film actress. Born in Bakersfield, California, she appeared in about 65 films between 1936 and 1946. She is perhaps better known for films like A Child is Born (1939), Phantom La ...

), who promises Tom she will disclose the motive behind her generosity. At dinner that evening, Doreen brings along her bodyguard Rickey (Carl Kent), posing as a police officer. When they leave, Rickey knocks Tom out and takes him to Doreen's apartment where she interrogates him about the murder, and to stay away from gangster Peter Vantine (

John Mylong John Mylong (September 27, 1892 – September 8, 1975), also known as Jack Mylong-Münz, born Adolf Heinrich Münz, was an Austrian actor who later settled in the United States. Selected filmography * ''Der heilige Hass, 1. Teil'' (1921) - Rabo ...

) and the cargo ship, the S.S. Citadel. After Tom returns to his hotel to collect Goldie, they decide to pay a visit to Annie's house, where they meet her older sister Joan (

) who denies that she knows Doreen or Vantine. Annie claims she made up the story about being held captive, but when Tom sneaks back to the house to talk to her, she says Loomis is holding her prisoner. She takes them to Carla's room where they find a photograph of a ship's officer (Johnny Strong), signed to his wife, Carla. Loomis hears someone rummaging around in the nurse's room, but is shot dead by an unknown assailant. Returning to their hotel, Tom is confronted by Vantine, who is brandishing a gun. When Tom disarms him, he learns Doreen was the romantic interest of an ex- bootlegger, Duke Monette ( Robert Armstrong), involved with a shipment aboard the S.S. Citadel. Tom visits the Star Coastal lines where DeForrest, the company's general manager, is meeting with Joan, the owner of the company. A clerk at the office alerts Tom to go to an address, which turns out to be Doreen's apartment, where she is waiting with her gang. Vantine, also lured into her trap, arrives and begins to fight with Doreen's thugs. Tom and Joan manage an escape but on his return to his hotel room, discovers DeForrest hiding in a closet. Goldie finds a newspaper article that shows who the real owner of the steamship S.S. Citadel is: Duke Monette. That night Tom and Goldie sneak aboard the ship and find raw silk hidden among the bales of hemp cargo. Returning to the Marshall house, the little girl tells Tom that Joan has left to meet her "secret lover" on Telegraph Hill. Tom observes the rendezvous with Joan and DeForrest, who Tom thinks is really Duke Monette, confessing that he used a secret identity to protect his daughters, Joan and Annie. Fearing Doreen plans to hijack the illicit silk cargo that night, Duke asks for the detective's help. At dockside, Duke and Tom watch Vantine, Doreen and the other gang members board the S.S. Citadel. Duke suddenly knocks the ship's engineer unconscious, and blows up the unattended boiler room, then pulls a gun on Doreen and Tom. Tom tells Doreen that Duke killed Miss Keyes and Loomis, the employees she hired to watch over the girls. When Tom warns that Duke plans to blow up the ship, Doreen and Rickey lunge forward to disarm Duke, who shoots them both, but Rickey shoots Duke, allowing Tom to flee before the ship explodes.

Main cast

as Tom Lawrence *

as Joan Marshall *

as "Goldie" Locke *

as Annie Marshall *

as Doreen Temple * Robert Armstrong as Duke Monette / DeForrest Marshall * Carl Kent as Rickey * Jason Robards Sr. as Loomis - the Butler (uncredited) * George Holmes as Dalman *

as Peter Vantine / Carl Dudley * George Holmes as Dalman *

Edmund Cobb Edmund Fessenden Cobb (June 23, 1892 – August 15, 1974) was an American actor who appeared in more than 620 films between 1912 and 1966. Biography Cobb was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the son of William Henry Cobb and Eddie (Edmundi ...

as Police officer *

Ralph Dunn Ralph Dunn (May 23, 1900 – February 19, 1968) was an American film, television, and stage actor. Early years Dunn was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania. His father was a veterinarian for the U.S. Army during World War I, and his mother ...

as Police officer * Eden Nicholas as Clerk * Joan Beckstead as Sexy girl *

as Miss Carla Keyes * Max Rose as Taxi driver *

Dorothy Adams Dorothy Adams (January 8, 1900 – March 16, 1988) was an American character actress of stage, film, and television. Early years Adams was born in Hannah, North Dakota. She later moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and was educated there. ...

as Chambermaid * Maxine Semon as Plain girl * Mary Worth as Dowager *

Myrna Dell Myrna Dell (born Marilyn Adele Dunlap; March 5, 1924 – February 11, 2011) was an American actress, model, and writer who appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs over four decades. A Hollywood glamour girl in the early pa ...

as Beautiful girl * Linda Van Loon as Beautiful girl * Johnny Strong as First mate * Jack Gargan as Waiter * Philip Morris as Conductor * Sam Harris as Pullman porter *

Napoleon Whiting Napoleon Whiting (September 21, 1910, Mississippi – October 22, 1984, Los Angeles, California), was an American character actor. He played many bit parts, often uncredited, as a menial worker such as the African American butler, a stereoty ...

as Pullman porter * Norman Mayes as Redcap *

Harry Strang Harry Strang (December 13, 1892 – April 10, 1972) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 500 films and television shows between 1929 and 1965. On Broadway, Strang appeared in ''The Girl in the Train'' (1910). Primarily a characte ...

as Desk sergeant * Perc Launders as Turnkey * Kernan Cripps as Police captain

Production

"My Shining Hour" (1943) (uncredited) and "The Sky's the Limit"(music only), music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer was played by house orchestra in the nightclub scene. Sequences in ''The Falcon in San Francisco'' were shot on location at prominent locations in San Francisco.

Reception

Film historians Richard Jewell and Vernon Harbin described ''The Falcon in San Francisco'', as part of a programmed series. "One of the quaint conventions of the Falcon series was that whenever Tom Conway embarked on a vacation, a corpse would pop up to interrupt his relaxation". In a recent review of the Falcon series for the ''Time Out Film Guide'', Tom Milne wrote, "Conway, bringing a lighter touch to the series (which managed its comic relief better than most), starred in nine films after The Falcon's Brother, most of them deft and surprisingly enjoyable." After its release into home video, ''The Falcon in San Francisco'' was reviewed in ''DVD Active.com'', "The plot gets thicker than Northern gravy with boiled potatoes when more bodies hit the sawdust, and links to a shipping magnate are uncovered - all linked to a man with no past and a gangster thought to be long dead. Will The Falcon unravel this mystery without taking a bullet? Will the mafia have their plan thwarted? Can Goldie find himself a bride to reduce his level of income tax?" "Review: 'The Falcon in San Francisco'."
''dvdactive.com''. Retrieved: September 7, 2016.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Jewell, Richard and Vernon Harbin. ''The RKO Story.'' New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. . * Pym, John, ed. ''Time Out Film Guide''. London: Time Out Guides Limited, 2004. .

External links

* * * *
Review of film
at ''Variety'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Falcon In San Francisco, The 1945 films 1945 crime films American mystery films American black-and-white films 1945 mystery films 1940s English-language films RKO Pictures films Films set in San Francisco Films shot in San Francisco Films directed by Joseph H. Lewis Films scored by Paul Sawtell The Falcon (film character) films 1940s American films