The Stop Button

Appointment with Murder (1948) D: Jack Bernhard. S: John Calvert, Catherine Craig, Jack Reitzen, Lyle Talbot, Peter Brocco, Ben Welden, Robert Conte. Better than last time “FALCON” entry has Calvert (sans cute dog and magic tricks) trying to unravel an art fraud deal gone wrong. Luckily for the film, director (and producer) Bernhard’s inventive on the shoestring budget, and Reitzen’s so bad as the villain, he makes Calvert seem competent. Supporting cast’s okay, and Craig’s good as the potentially fatale femme.

Dangerous Passage (1944) D: William Berke. S: Robert Lowery, Phyllis Brooks, Charles Arnt, Jack La Rue, John Eldredge, Victor Kilian, Alec Craig. Solid budget noir about newly wealthy Lowery finding himself in inheritance-related danger. He escapes on a seedy boat, finding romance with potential fatale Brooks and mystery with the weird crew. Except then there are further–and further–DANGEROUS developments. Lowery and Brooks have more chemistry than acting chops, but it’s good chemistry. Daniel Mainwaring’s script is crackerjack-paced.

Devil’s Cargo (1948) D: John F. Link Sr.. S: John Calvert, Rochelle Hudson, Roscoe Karns, Lyle Talbot, Theodore von Eltz, Michael Mark, Tom Kennedy. New take on the FALCON property (minus existing canon); non-actor, non-charmer, magician Calvert is the lead in this Poverty Row production. The new Falcon does magic tricks all the time and has replaced dames with his lovable dog. Dirt cheap, but L.A. location shooting’s interesting, and some of the supporting cast’s competent. Link’s direction’s no help, either.

The Falcon in Hollywood (1944) D: Gordon Douglas. S: Tom Conway, Barbara Hale, Veda Ann Borg, John Abbott, Sheldon Leonard, Konstantin Shayne, Emory Parnell. Middling entry has Conway stumbling across a corpse at a movie studio, wrecking his vacation. Complicating matters is an old foe, who just happens to have a fetching female associate (a rather good Hale). The big problems are the cops, who aren’t any good, and annoying cabbie Borg, who won’t leave Conway alone. Borg gets the racist bits, too.

The Falcon in San Francisco (1945) D: Joseph H. Lewis. S: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Edward Brophy, Sharyn Moffett, Fay Helm, Robert Armstrong, Carl Kent. Conway, again with a sidekick (Brophy, who does better than he should with so little), helps out little kid Moffett, who’s got a fetching old sister (Corday, a series regular always playing a new character). Good mystery, great villain in Helm, who keeps easy pace with Sanders. Not particularly cheap in scale but the production cuts too many corners.

The Falcon’s Adventure (1946) D: William Berke. S: Tom Conway, Madge Meredith, Edward Brophy, Robert Warwick, Myrna Dell, Steve Brodie, Ian Wolfe. Conway and Brophy head to Miami to help out Meredith, who’s in possession of an industrial formula. A couple real, cheap laughs for Brophy, and the setting’s good, but the ADVENTURE’s off. Conway’s charm can do a lot, and he’s game for new ideas–a giant fisticuffs scene–but it’s got limits. Quite indistinct for the series finale.

The Falcon’s Alibi (1946) D: Ray McCarey. S: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Vince Barnett, Jane Greer, Elisha Cook Jr., Emory Parnell, Al Bridge. Conway has a particularly good time this outing, which now has comely Corday as a secretary trying to find her boss’s missing pearls. The setup has the suspects all in lockdown at a hotel, but McCarey barely does anything with it. Lots of fun seeing Cook and Cook as young lovers. Parnell’s super blah. It’s lesser FALCON, but okay.

Frankenstein (2025) D: Guillermo del Toro. S: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, Charles Dance, David Bradley. Very fathers and sons adaptation blows the first half on Isaac’s one-note FRANKENSTEIN. One-note as far as writing, not acting; Isaac’s always chewing on the (elaborate but bland) CGI scenery. Elordi’s fantastic as the Creature, with lovely Wrightson-esque make-up. Del Toro tries in the wrong places, including a BRIDE nod. Shelley deserves a lot more.

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) D: Héctor Babenco. S: William Hurt, Raúl Juliá, Sônia Braga, José Lewgoy, Milton Gonçalves, Miriam Pires, Nuno Leal Maia. Beautifully acted almost-rumination on masculinity, love, gender, and avocados loses its way in the second half when it ceases pretending to be a character study. Hurt and Juliá–as cell mates with secrets who bond over Hurt’s recollections of an old movie–are phenomenal. Hurt gets a great hour, Juliá far less; neither get enough at the finish.

The Madness of King George (1994) D: Nicholas Hytner. S: Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, Anthony Calf, Amanda Donohoe, Rupert Graves, Geoffrey Palmer. Thoughtful, deliberate account of King George III’s inexplicable dissent into debilitating mental illness. Hawthorne’s mesmerizing in the lead; director Hytner gets great performances–no small parts-style–from everyone. Everyone’s great; loyal queen Mirren, scheming prince Everett, and unorthodox doctor Holm are obvious standouts. Strong script from Alan Bennett (based on his play). Third act bumps, but not excessively.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925) D: Rupert Julian. S: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, Snitz Edwards, John St. Polis. Handsome adaptation of Gaston Leroux novel successfully casts Chaney’s PHANTOM in a monstrous, fascinating but never sympathetic light. Unfortunately, damsel-in-distress Philbin’s performance is so affected and histronic, she’s not really able to convey terror (reliably). Kerry’s a little better as her beau. Chaney’s great, though. Okay overall, but the first act really shouldn’t be the most compelling.

Queens of the Dead (2025) D: Tina Romero. S: Katy O’Brian, Jaquel Spivey, Nina West, Tómas Matos, Margaret Cho, Jack Haven, Quincy Dunn-Baker. Ground zero for the zombie invasion is at a drag show where the headliner has bailed and there’s endless (amusing) drama about the show. Good performances but not enough character work for anyone; Spivey’s excellent, O’Brian seems poised for a good lead eventually, and Cho’s hilarious. Unfortunately, QUEENS doesn’t do anything with them or anyone else. But not bad.

Search for Danger (1949) D: Jack Bernhard. S: John Calvert, Albert Dekker, Myrna Dell, Ben Welden, Douglas Fowley, Michael Mark, James Griffith. Thanks again to director Bernhard (who loves that L.A. location shooting even more this time) and the supporting cast (particularly Dell, Dekker, Welden, and Fowley), the final “FALCON” picture survives Calvert’s wanting lead performance. This time he’s trying to unravel a complicated double homicide with too many suspects. The conclusion, complete with an “ah ha” moment, ties everything nicely.