#43 The Falcon’s Brother

February 10, 2021
The Falcon’s Brother (1942) ** 1/2
TCM
Free
Wildcard

*phone rings*
“You take it, Jerry, but my brother’s not here. No information to anybody.”
“I understand. Mr. Lawrence receives many telephone calls from young ladies, we give them the pidgin English treatment!”

I have been a fan of George Sanders since basically my infancy, and have had a crush on him for that long. This is because he played Shere Khan in The Jungle Book, and I had the record album of the movie that i listened to incessantly. In the 1970s they made story records, you see, which included large sections of dialogue along with the songs. Which means that there are some movies where there are bits that I can recite along with, and other bits that are a complete mystery to me!

Anyway, my point is that there are precisely two lines and four words spoken by George Sanders on that album, “How interesting,” and “How delightful,” and I wore. That. Part. Out. By moving the needle back over, and over again. All this to say, George Sanders: sooper sexxy voice.

I can’t remember the first time I actually saw him himself in a movie, but he did not disappoint. He made many of movies where he played The Saint and The Falcon, and I would record them on the VCR when cable came to Brooklyn at last, and I have no memory at all of which ones I watched and which ones I didn’t, so I’m just going to assume that all of them I am seeing for the first time, as they pop up on TCM, because the plots are largely forgettable.

George Sanders actually only did a few Falcon films, the his real-life brother, Tom Conway, took over the role and did like ten more, because Tom Conway wasn’t too good for any paying job, being more of a regular working actor than his brother, who went on to win an Oscar for All About Eve.

The Falcon is one of those fictional amateur private detectives who chase women and have a friendly rivalry with a policeman who always wants to nab him for doing the murder, even though he literally never does the murder and the policeman might want to notice this fact.

In this film, the Falcon’s brother shows up, there are some murders and some Nazis, because it’s 1942, and the Falcon gets killed off and his brother takes his place, and then there are ten more films.

Another interesting part was Keye Luke as the Falcon’s Chinese houseboy, who speaks perfect English except for when he’s trying to get rid of people for the Falcon, and then he puts on the most ridiculous pidgin English you have ever heard. It’s very funny, and what makes it funny is Keye Luke visibly being totally in control of the situation. Also, he was a stone fox, so I am going to seek out more of his film performances of the ’30s and ’40s. Keye Luke: not just Master Po!

(Seven paragraphs, only one about the movie in question, and it’s only one sentence! A probable record!)