The Falcon In Hollywood (1944)
This post is my contribution to Goatdog's Blog-a-thon, Movies about Movies. Be sure to click on the Movies about Movies banner above to be taken to the Movies about Movies page where you can jump to all the great posts from other contributors. Since this blog is usually about actresses of the twenties and thirties, I hold to that premise to the degree that in addition to information about the film, I am featuring the two principal actresses, Veda Ann Borg and Barbara Hale. They are really "forties women", just check the hair styles, but when I received an invitation to participate in this Blog-a-thon, The Falcon in Hollywood was the first movie that came to mind, and that was because I remember so enjoying Veda Ann Borg's performance.
Before we look at The Falcon In Hollywood, just a bit about the origin of the Falcon. Depending on who is narrating the Falcon's history, he was either Michael Waring, created and novelized by Drexel Drake in 1936, or he was Gay Stanhope Falcon, created by Michael Arlen in a 1940 short story. Both authors created a crime fighter who worked without the involvement of the police. On film, he followed the appearance of similar characters The Saint in 1938, and Boston Blackie, who first appeared in silent's as early as 1919.
The Falcon in Hollywood was the tenth film in the series that was first brought to the screen in a 1941 RKO film,
The Gay Falcon. Initially the role was played by George Sanders (who had previously played The Saint) in the lead, and then by Sanders' real-life brother, Tom Conway, who took over the role in
The Falcon's Brother (1942).
Click in the images for a larger view.
Tom Conway doesn't scowl nearly to the degree pictured here.
Usually he keeps that debonair Falcon-like countenance.
Veda removes that cap once throughout the entire film and then for only a few seconds.
The Falcon in Hollywood was filmed on the RKO back lot and studios, using the same stages where Fred and Ginger danced 10 years earlier and Fred and Ethel harassed each other 10 years later when Desilu used the studio for a time to shoot I Love Lucy. However, when the Falcon hails a cab to follow a car to return a mistakenly or purposely misplaced handbag, he is picked up by cabbie Billie (Veda Ann Borg). During a somewhat hair raising ride, she reveals she is also a movie studio stunt driver, a lucky coincidence since the car they are following pulls into Sunset Studios, a studio Billie tells the Falcon she knows like the back of her hand. Indeed she becomes his sidekick for the balance of the film and when the Falcon discovers a dead body of the lead actor of a film currently filming, they both start sleuthing. I am not about spoilers, so I won't give away any more of the plot, but suffice to say, all the usual suspects are present. There is a good send-up of the temperamental and demeaning type European director, a playboy, a producer quoting Shakespeare, a gangster played by Sheldon Leonard, and an actress hopeful who believes all the studio mishaps can be predicted through numerology. We also get to see a gaggle of starlet types walking through the back lot at all times, and at the RKO swimming pool. I would like to have seen more of the studio's inner workings, but after all this is a mystery, not a tour of a studio. That being said, we do see a few scenes being shot, with full crew and equipment on hand.
You may find Veda's performance a bit over the top as the wise-cracking, man aware, and sassy Billie. I personally think it was what kept the film moving, recognizing the fact that it was another B-programmer mystery. And I must say I think all the performances were credible.
This film and most of the films in the Falcon series do appear on TCM from time to time. I hope you get a chance to see this unpretentious programmer that provides a few laughs, a nicely turned set of characters and of course, my favorite in this film, Veda Ann Borg.
Veda is not at all happy the The Falcon received a kiss from Rita Corday
Frame captures from The Falcon in Hollywood
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Veda Ann Borg became a model in 1936 before signing a contract at Paramount. She made only one picture at Paramount and then moved over to Warner Brothers. Veda appeared in 16 films for Warner's, including a pivotal role in
San Quentin (1937). That year she also appeared, not in the role of Della Street, in
The Case of The Stuttering Bishop, a Perry Mason mystery, pre-dating Barbara Hale's involvement with Perry by twenty years. In 1939 she went to Columbia and it was that year she was nearly killed in a serious automobile accident. Veda had her face completely reconstructed through plastic surgery, and she took on a more chiseled look that served her well for the tough, sassy dame roles that defined her career. B pictures were Veda's lot, but she did land small roles in A-films, such as
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Guys and Dolls (1955). Her last appearance was in
The Alamo (1960) after a career in over 100 films. Her son Josh McLaglen and daughter Mary McLaglen are both very active in film direction and production. Veda is quoted as saying "I felt I had come back from the grave." (On her first major role after plastic surgery). Veda died in 1973 in Hollywood .
Veda in 1937 - during the filming of San Quentin
Frame captures from San Quentin
Publicity still from Blonde Savage (1947)
Publicity still
Barbara Hale was born in DeKalb, Illinois, in 1922. She started to take lessons in ballet and tap at the age of twelve and also started to participate in local theater. Barbara also discovered her natural artistic ability and enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. She found making a living as an artist no easy road, but coincidentally met the head of a Chicago Modeling agency, who her sent photos to RKO Studios. An audition was arranged and shortly after that, Barbara signed a contract and went off to Hollywood.
Barbara's first significant role was in
Higher and Higher (1943) opposite Frank Sinatra. Throughout the forties and early fifties Barbara was in a number of films including
First Yank Into Tokyo (1945), the westerns
West of the Pecos opposite Robert Mitchum (1945), Lone Hand (1951) and Last of the Commanches (1952). She worked with Robert Young in
Lady Luck (1946), and with James Stewart in The Jackpot (1950). And... in 1957 she landed the role of Della Street in the Perry Mason series with Raymond Burr. It ran from 1957 to 1966 and she was nominated for an Emmy twice, in 1959 and 1961, winning in 1959. She continued the role in television movies and mini-series. Barbara has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She currently resides in Palm Desert, California and Los Angeles, California.
Publicity still from Higher and Higher.
Barbara and Robert Young in Lady Luck
Publicity still
Postcard from 1926-1928
Publicity still
