The Gay Falcon (1941)

George Sanders is Gay Laurence (aka The Falcon), a bored stock broker and amateur sleuth who becomes involved in a jewel theft, and tries to keep his fiancee from getting the wrong idea.

The Falcon series was criticized as a cheap rip-off of The Saint. I haven’t seen any of the Saint films, but from what I gather it’s an unfair comparison. The Falcon is a series of mystery films featuring an erudite womanizer who solves crimes, starring George Sanders in the title role of four of them, includes an embarrassing asian stereotype character in a servant role, with one film named The Falcon Takes Over, while The Saint is a series of mystery films featuring an erudite womanizer who solves crimes, starring George Sanders in the title role of five of them, includes an embarrassing black stereotype character in a servant role, with one film named The Saint Takes Over. There’s no comparison at all.

Many character actors are here, notably Wendy Barrie, who appeared in three Saint films and another Falcon. Willie Fung played the asian stereotype servant Jerry. He died tragically young at 49. Comic actor Allen Jenkins is The Falcon’s assistant in this and two other films. He appears in a surprising number of films, including King Kong, and most recently as a bumbling detective in SH! The Octopus.

Twelve year olds today may giggle at the character name, particularly when he says ‘Call me Gay’ to a lady in a vaguely foppish manner, but there is no queer coding here. Cary Grant may have gone “gay all of a sudden” three years earlier in Bringing up Baby, but that meaning hadn’t yet entered the popular vernacular.

Saunders grew tired with the role and perhaps thought himself too good for such films. I would agree. His purring sarcasm was a delight with the proper script and he would go on to appear in some great films. He handed it over to his real life brother, Tom Conway, a fine actor perhaps more suited to B movie roles. Conway appeared in three of the Lewton horrors and finished out the string of sixteen Falcon films.

There is no end to light mystery series made during the 30’s and 40’s. Torchy Blane, Boston Blackie, Philo Vance, Sherlock Holmes, even the Thin Man, and many more. The Gay Falcon is, by all accounts, no worse than the rest, and I briefly toyed with the idea of shooting through the series, to which my son retorted “Well, you know what you should do”. Yea. We will leave this series where it is. AMRU 3.