''The Falcon Takes Over'' (also known as ''The Falcon Steps Out''), is a 1942

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

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 sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

directed by Irving Reis. The B film was the third, following '' The Gay Falcon'' and '' A Date with the Falcon'' (1941), to star George Sanders as the character Gay Lawrence, a

gentleman detective The gentleman detective, less commonly lady detective, is a type of fictional character. He (or she) has long been a staple of crime fiction, particularly in detective novels and short stories set in the United Kingdom in the Golden Age. The hero ...

known by the sobriquet the Falcon.Barra, Alle
"Reinventing the American mystery story."
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', September 1, 2002. Retrieved: September 4, 2016.

Plot

Brutish prison escapee Moose Malloy (

Ward Bond Wardell Edwin Bond (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 200 films and starred in the NBC television series ''Wagon Train'' from 1957 to 1960. Among his best-remembered roles are Be ...

) forces "Goldie" Locke (

Allen Jenkins Allen Curtis Jenkins (born Alfred McGonegal; April 9, 1900 – July 20, 1974) was an American character actor and singer who worked on stage, film, and television. Life and career Jenkins was born on Staten Island, New York, on April 9, 1900. ...

) to drive him to Club 13, a posh nightclub, where Moose hopes to be reunited with his old girlfriend Velma. After bashing his way into the club and not finding Velma, he kills the club manager and forces Goldie to drive him away from the club. When Gay Lawrence ( George Sanders), an amateur sleuth and Goldie's boss, arrives at the club, he learns that Moose is the suspect, because the manager died of a broken neck. Police Inspector Mike O'Hara ( James Gleason) arrests Goldie as an accomplice, but after being questioned, Goldie is released. Lawrence and Goldie head out to the house in Brooklyn where Moose is hiding. Pretending to be drunk, Lawrence enters the house while Moose makes a getaway in Goldie's car. In the house, Jessie Florian (

Anne Revere Anne Revere (June 25, 1903 – December 18, 1990) was an American actress and a progressive member of the board of the Screen Actors' Guild. She was best known for her work on Broadway and her film portrayals of mothers in a series of critical ...

) is on the telephone, shouting hysterically and demanding protection from Moose. Jessie is told to send Moose to a certain address. Jessie tells Lawrence that Velma is dead. Seeing the address, he knows where Moose will be. When Lawrence returns to his apartment, a call from Quincy W. Marriot ( Hans Conried) to deliver ransom money for a stolen jade necklace, sends Lawrence to a deserted graveyard. Marriot ambushes him, grabbing the detective's gun and shoots him, but, in turn, is shot by an unseen assailant who makes his escape. Seeing Lawrence is still alive, Reporter Ann Reardon (

Lynn Bari Lynn Bari (born Marjorie Schuyler Fisher, December 18, 1919 – November 20, 1989) was a film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s. ...

), who has been trailing him, helps the detective to his feet, learning his gun was loaded with blanks. Lawrence searches Marriott's coat pockets and finds a business card from psychic Jules Amthor ( Turhan Bey), at 415 Morton Avenue, the address where Moose is going. Lawrence asks Ann to track down the stolen necklace that belongs to socialite Diana Kenyon ( Helen Gilbert). He makes a date to meet Diana at the Swan Club later that night, while Goldie heads to see Amthor. When he enters the house, Goldie sees Moose arrive, but the lights go out and gunfire erupts. When the lights are back on, O'Hara enters and discovers Amthor's dead body. Lawrence and Goldie return to Jessies's house, to find her dead, with a broken neck. Working on clues left at Jessie's house, Lawrence is convinced something is wrong with the theory that Moose is a murderer. Returning to his apartment, he meets Ann, who, after spending the day at police headquarters, learns the police think that Moose pleaded guilty to the manslaughter to protect Laird Burnett (

Selmer Jackson Selmer Adolf Jackson (May 7, 1888 – March 30, 1971) was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson. Jackson was born in Lake Mills, Iowa a ...

), the owner of the Swan Club. Diana goes on a drive with Lawrence who has already guessed her true identity, as Velma. When she tries to kill Lawrence, Moose, who had been driving, turns on her, but is shot and killed. Ann arrives in a backfiring car that gives Lawrence a chance to disarm Velma. Ann gets her first big scoop, uncovering a sordid blackmail scheme that involved Velma, Burnett and Marriott. Just when Lawrence is about to leave the squad room to meet his fiancée, a glamorous woman asks for his help and he comes to her aid.

Cast

* George Sanders as Gay Lawrence aka The Falcon *

as Ann Reardon * James Gleason as Police Inspector Mike O'Hara, head of the homicide squad *

as Jonathan "Goldie" Locke * Warren Jackson as Montgomery, Club manager * Helen Gilbert as Diana Kenyon, known as "Velma" *

as Moose Malloy, an escaped convict * Edward Gargan as Bates *

as Jessie Florian *

George Cleveland George Alan Cleveland (September 17, 1885 – July 15, 1957) was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1930 and 1954. Career Cleveland was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. His first appearance on the stage ...

as Jerry * Harry Shannon as Grimes * Hans Conried as Quincy W. Marriot * Turhan Bey as Jules Amthor * Charlie Hall as Swan Club Waiter Louie * Mickey Simpson as Bartender *

as Laird Burnett (uncredited)

Production

Although the film featured the Falcon and other characters created by Michael Arlen, its plot was taken from the

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

novel '' Farewell, My Lovely'', with the Falcon substituted for Chandler's archetypal private eye

Philip Marlowe Philip Marlowe () is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The hardboiled crime fiction genre originated in the 1920s, notably in ''Black Mask'' magazine, in which Dashiel ...

and the setting of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

replacing Marlowe's

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

beat. The film was the second adaptation of a Marlowe story, after '' Time to Kill'', released earlier in the same year. That film, also, did not use Marlowe as the main character, changing the name to Michael Shayne.

Reception

''The Falcon Takes Over'' was considered a "co-feature" or the second half of a double bill.M.
"Syncopation: The Falcon Takes Over."
'' St. Petersburg Times'', July 8, 1942. Retrieved: September 4, 2016. Theodore Strauss in his review for ''

'', wrote, "For a man of Mr. Sanders's cool talents, "The Falcon Takes Over" is a distinct waste of time."Struass, Theodore (T.S.)
"At the Rialto."
''The New York Times'', May 30, 1942. Later, similar reviews were received. Critic Louis Black, in a 1999 article for ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

'', wrote that the film "... had none of the atmosphere of Chandler's book" and recommended instead, the later adaptation, '' Murder, My Sweet'' (1944).Black, Louis. "Scanlines: Murder, My Sweet". ''The Austin Chronicle'', July 9, 1999. Film reviewer Bruce Newman, wrote in ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'', "The studios had so little interest in the character that in the first two movie adaptations of Chandler's books, he was replaced. When RKO bought the screen rights to ''Farewell, My Lovely'', the studio made a craven bid to cash in on the popularity of the Warner Bros. hit, ''The Maltese Falcon'', turning Marlowe into a detective called the Falcon (played by George Sanders) and releasing the movie with the title, ''The Falcon Takes Over''". Newman, Bruc
"Movie reviews."
''San Jose Mercury News'', August 29, 2002. Retrieved: September 4, 2016.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Jewell, Richard and Vernon Harbin. ''The RKO Story.'' New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. .

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Falcon Takes Over, The 1942 films 1940s mystery thriller films 1940s crime thriller films American crime thriller films American mystery thriller films American black-and-white films American detective films Films based on American novels Films set in New York City RKO Pictures films Films directed by Irving Reis Films based on works by Raymond Chandler The Falcon (film character) films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films