As often happens, Gay Lawrence stumbles into the middle of a murder investigation when he arrives at the scene by chance. When the police think that the victim was Gay's own brother, Tom, Gay plays along to find why someone is happy to have Tom killed even though the body is someone else. Investigating the case further, Gay links up with Tom and they continue together until Gay is badly injured in an attack on them. Tom continues the investigation finding it leading to a plot involving Nazi plotters in deep cover.
I haven't seen the rest of this series so I'm not sure what the quality is like, but on the basis of this film I must say that things look bad because this handover entry is one of the lesser of the Falcon films that I have seen. The actual plot is OK when it finally gets going, but this takes too long and plot development really only happens in the final fifteen minutes. Up till this point the film is rather dull trying to tie things together and hand things over before it settles to actually doing the job of entertaining the audience with this entry. The change is characters came about because Sanders no longer wanted to do the series, having become bored with it just like his life, when he became bored, he simply left without fuss.
In fairness to Sanders, he seems a bit happier knowing that he is on his way out and gives a better performance than he did in 'Falcon Takes Over', the film before this one, where he seemed half dead. Sander's real half brother, Tom Conway, takes over the lead in this film and, once he is allowed to do it he is actually OK nothing special but, in a simple film, just as able to do the job as Sanders, even if he has a bit less of a natural presence on-screen. The change in support characters was where the main loss is felt though. Replacing Jenkin's Goldy with Barclay's Lefty was a lazy move Barclay simply apes Jenkins' wit while the script offers no reason for his sudden involvement in the series where did Goldy go?! Likewise Chief O'Hara is replaced by Inspector Donovan and Clark simply copies the style of O'Hara annoying because it feels like the writers just didn't bother to do anything with this fresh start other that tread water, understandable with the basics but minor characters could have been altered a bit at least.
Overall this film was a necessary step in keeping the series going despite the loss of two of the regulars as well as the actual Falcon. For this reason the film never really gets going as it is too busy handing over. The change in minor characters is a real annoyance because it is done without thought but not have as annoying as the very glib way that it just kills Gay off and then establishes Tom with a predictable 'here we go again'. A poor film for obvious reasons that will likely even annoy Falcon fans.
I haven't seen the rest of this series so I'm not sure what the quality is like, but on the basis of this film I must say that things look bad because this handover entry is one of the lesser of the Falcon films that I have seen. The actual plot is OK when it finally gets going, but this takes too long and plot development really only happens in the final fifteen minutes. Up till this point the film is rather dull trying to tie things together and hand things over before it settles to actually doing the job of entertaining the audience with this entry. The change is characters came about because Sanders no longer wanted to do the series, having become bored with it just like his life, when he became bored, he simply left without fuss.
In fairness to Sanders, he seems a bit happier knowing that he is on his way out and gives a better performance than he did in 'Falcon Takes Over', the film before this one, where he seemed half dead. Sander's real half brother, Tom Conway, takes over the lead in this film and, once he is allowed to do it he is actually OK nothing special but, in a simple film, just as able to do the job as Sanders, even if he has a bit less of a natural presence on-screen. The change in support characters was where the main loss is felt though. Replacing Jenkin's Goldy with Barclay's Lefty was a lazy move Barclay simply apes Jenkins' wit while the script offers no reason for his sudden involvement in the series where did Goldy go?! Likewise Chief O'Hara is replaced by Inspector Donovan and Clark simply copies the style of O'Hara annoying because it feels like the writers just didn't bother to do anything with this fresh start other that tread water, understandable with the basics but minor characters could have been altered a bit at least.
Overall this film was a necessary step in keeping the series going despite the loss of two of the regulars as well as the actual Falcon. For this reason the film never really gets going as it is too busy handing over. The change in minor characters is a real annoyance because it is done without thought but not have as annoying as the very glib way that it just kills Gay off and then establishes Tom with a predictable 'here we go again'. A poor film for obvious reasons that will likely even annoy Falcon fans.