Executive producer: Sid Rogell. Copyright 20 July 1945 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 20 July 1945. U.S. release: August 1945. U.K. release: 6 January 1947. Australian release: 10 January 1946. 6,050 feet. 67 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: An impossibly complicated plot starts off when the Falcon befriends a young girl on the train to San Francisco. She claims she is being held prisoner.
NOTES: Number eleven in the sixteen-picture Falcon series.
COMMENT: Disappointing. True, director Joseph H. Lewis does what he can with some long, fluid takes, some through-the-bars shots and the availability of some fine standing sets. But he's ultimately defeated by the confused and confusing, not-worth-the-effort but incredibly complex plot.
Edward S. Brophy's Goldy is not much help either. Whilst he does have a few amusing moments (particularly a run-in with Dorothy Adams' put-down widow), mostly he's a pain. Conway sails through his role in his usual suave but increasingly detached manner, but Rita Corday makes a most attractive heroine, and Sharyn Moffett is quite tolerable as the young girl. The other players, with the exception of Faye Helm's villainess and her sadistic henchman Carl Kent, make little impression (including Robert Armstrong's routine shipping fleet owner).
Visually, the film is more interesting. There are only a few shots of San Francisco (most notably Conway boarding a cable car), but the sets (some doubtless standing from The Magnificent Ambersons) are extensive and well-lit.
It's easy to separate the work of the two cameramen. Although they're a good match, Miller's glossy black images using little if any fill light, such as the scenes in Moffett's bedroom, are a characteristic that few other cinematographers would duplicate.
Despite its fair-sized budget (and its many echoes from Hammett and Chandler), The Falcon in San Francisco is definitely one of the lesser entries in the series. It's just too contrived.
OTHER VIEWS: With his sweeping camera movements through crowded sets, and other establishing shots through all sorts of "frames", plus a bit of location shooting in San Fancisco itself, director Joseph H. Lewis manages to get a fair bit of production value into this entry. Unfortunately his efforts are largely wasted on a mindlessly convoluted-but-who-cares plot. Conway is unperturbed, but some of the other principals try hard (in Brophy's case too hard) to interest us in the characters, but with only passing success.
SYNOPSIS: An impossibly complicated plot starts off when the Falcon befriends a young girl on the train to San Francisco. She claims she is being held prisoner.
NOTES: Number eleven in the sixteen-picture Falcon series.
COMMENT: Disappointing. True, director Joseph H. Lewis does what he can with some long, fluid takes, some through-the-bars shots and the availability of some fine standing sets. But he's ultimately defeated by the confused and confusing, not-worth-the-effort but incredibly complex plot.
Edward S. Brophy's Goldy is not much help either. Whilst he does have a few amusing moments (particularly a run-in with Dorothy Adams' put-down widow), mostly he's a pain. Conway sails through his role in his usual suave but increasingly detached manner, but Rita Corday makes a most attractive heroine, and Sharyn Moffett is quite tolerable as the young girl. The other players, with the exception of Faye Helm's villainess and her sadistic henchman Carl Kent, make little impression (including Robert Armstrong's routine shipping fleet owner).
Visually, the film is more interesting. There are only a few shots of San Francisco (most notably Conway boarding a cable car), but the sets (some doubtless standing from The Magnificent Ambersons) are extensive and well-lit.
It's easy to separate the work of the two cameramen. Although they're a good match, Miller's glossy black images using little if any fill light, such as the scenes in Moffett's bedroom, are a characteristic that few other cinematographers would duplicate.
Despite its fair-sized budget (and its many echoes from Hammett and Chandler), The Falcon in San Francisco is definitely one of the lesser entries in the series. It's just too contrived.
OTHER VIEWS: With his sweeping camera movements through crowded sets, and other establishing shots through all sorts of "frames", plus a bit of location shooting in San Fancisco itself, director Joseph H. Lewis manages to get a fair bit of production value into this entry. Unfortunately his efforts are largely wasted on a mindlessly convoluted-but-who-cares plot. Conway is unperturbed, but some of the other principals try hard (in Brophy's case too hard) to interest us in the characters, but with only passing success.