The Falcon Takes Over

The Falcon Takes Over

Promotional poster
Directed by Irving Reis
Produced by Howard Benedict (producer)
J. R. McDonough (executive producer)
Written by Screenplay:
Lynn Root
Frank Fenton
Novel:
Raymond Chandler
Characters:
Michael Arlen
Starring George Sanders
Lynn Bari
Music by Constantin Bakaleinikoff
(musical director, composer)
Roy Webb (original music)
Cinematography George Robinson
Editing by Harry Marker
Studio RKO Radio Pictures
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures (theatrical)
Release date(s) May 29, 1942 (1942-05-29)
Running time 65 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Falcon Takes Over, also known as The Falcon Steps Out, is a 1942 black-and-white mystery film directed by Irving Reis. The film was the third, following The Gay Falcon and A Date with the Falcon (1941), to star George Sanders as the character Gay Lawrence, a gentleman detective known by the sobriquet the Falcon.

Though the film featured the Falcon and other characters created by Michael Arlen, its plot was taken from the Raymond Chandler novel Farewell, My Lovely,[1] with the Falcon substituted for Chandler's archetypal private eye Philip Marlowe and the setting of New York replacing Marlowe's Los Angeles beat.[2][3] The film was the first adaptation of a Marlowe story – despite Farewell, My Lovely being written after Chandler's The Big Sleep (1939), in which the character was introduced.

Critic Louis Black, in a 1999 article for The Austin Chronicle, wrote that the film "had none of the atmosphere of Chandler's book" and recommended instead the later adaptation, Murder, My Sweet (1944).[3]

Cast

Footnotes

  1. ^ Barra, Allen (September 1, 2002). "Cover Story; Reinventing the American Mystery Story". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/tv/cover-story-reinventing-the-american-mystery-story.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved October 18, 2009. 
  2. ^ Newman, Bruce (August 29, 2002). "Storied writer's novels, screenplays take up residence on TCM.". San Jose Mercury News. "The studios had so little interest in the character that in the first two movie adaptations of Chandler's books, he was replaced. When RKO bought the screen rights to Farewell, My Lovely, the studio made a craven bid to cash in on the popularity of the Warner Bros. hit The Maltese Falcon, turning Marlowe into a detective called the Falcon (played by George Sanders) and releasing the movie with the title The Falcon Takes Over." 
  3. ^ a b Black, Louis (July 9, 1999). "Scanlines: Murder, My Sweet". The Austin Chronicle. http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:522346. 
  4. ^ M. A. (July 8, 1942). "Movie Reviews". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0KEKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eE0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3495,5704300&hl=en. 

External links