Having taken over for his brother (George Sanders as Gay Lawrence) and struck back, Tom Conway was ready for a little danger in his third of 10 films in RKO's popular Falcon series. He had to be ready early, as the series was doing so well the studio moved up production dates to get the next film into theatres sooner. This time out, the niece of a kidnapped industrialist hires him after her uncle's plane crashes with nobody on board. That sets the stage for murder, blackmail and crooked business deals before Conway solves all of the mysteries in a fast-moving 63 minutes. As in the other series films, besides solving mysteries Conway has to contend with a series of beautiful women, including B-movie staple Jean Brooks as the niece of the industrialist's assistant, pretty Elaine Shepard as the industrialist's niece and his own jealous fiancée, played by Amelita Ward. As in Conway's other early Falcon films, character actor Edward Gargan provides comic relief as the bumbling assistant to Conway's main police contact, Inspector Donovan (Cliff Clark). The Falcon series was made on low budgets--in this installment the RKO entrance and several buildings on the lot were used as the airport where the plane crashes--but audiences loved them. Conway would continue with the series through 1946.

By Frank Miller