The Falcon

One of the things I used to love about having TCM (before my cable system dumped it) was watching the B movies and serials. Of course, I loved the big movies like "Casablanca", but those were relatively easy to find on DVD or on iTunes. But not so the smaller movies, the ones that people loved at the time of their release, but that have been largely forgotten.

So thank goodness for Warner Archive, a made to order DVD business, where one can buy these small, but wonderful movies. I have a feeling I will be buying a lot of them in the future.

In the 1940's, before television, there was the equivalent of episodic tv in the form of movie serials. These were mostly low budget movies, with running times of 70 minutes that were Saturday matinee fare as a support to the main movie.

Among them, there is one that stands out because of its interesting leading man, George Sanders. It is The Falcon. Sanders suave, sophisticated and smug persona carry these movies and make them a lot of fun. They are basically whodunits, with The Falcon solving them as the bumbling police authorities stand by baffled.

The interesting thing was that Sanders got tired of making these little movies and the starring role was given to his real-life brother Tom Conway. And he was excellent too.

Try to catch one of these flicks. They are a treat.