The Falcon films, both with George Sanders and Tom Conway in the lead role, are on the most part very enjoyable. There are some very good ones like the first two Sanders Falcon films and 'The Falcon Strikes Back'. At the same time there are a few lacklustre ones, with 'The Falcon in Danger' being one of the biggest examples.
Not unwatchable certainly. Tom Conway continues to thrive and enjoy himself as the title character, everything that Sanders brought to the role are also present in Conway's performance and with full impact. The music is lively enough, and on the most part the production values are slick and atmospheric. Cliff Clark is much better here than in his previous two Falcon films, where he suffered from poor writing that made his character a mugging buffoon and that James Gleason was (still is admittedly) sorely missed, here he's amusing at being befuddled and indignant.
It starts off well too, with a tense opening (pretty poor effects aside) that makes one wish that the rest of 'The Falcon in Danger' was just as good. The roller-skating scene is funny, Elaine Shepherd is alluring and fits well enough and Edward Gargan boasts the best comic moments.
On the other hand, any sense of danger and suspense is lost after the opening. The running time is too short, which has not always been a problem in a film series with short durations but it was less forgivable with so much crammed in and paced so frantically here. 'The Falcon in Danger' does suffer from trying to cram in and tell too much in a short space of time, which makes a lot of the mystery underdeveloped and confused, with almost all of it a long way from suspenseful, and a few scenes and transitions rushed. The script is full of red herrings and sudden revelations, a vast majority of which done rather unsubtly and out of nowhere, any surprises turn out even not to be all that surprising.
A lot of the mystery is forced to take a backseat to the romance, which is dull and lacks chemistry. A contender for the worst thing about 'The Falcon in Danger' is the exceedingly annoying performance of Amelita Ward, if there was an award for the worst or most annoying performance in a Falcon film Ward's a very strong contender.
Summing up, starts off well and definitely watchable, but the rest of the film doesn't match up to the promising standard of the opening, being rushed, over-stuffed and confused and Ward really grates. 5/10 Bethany Cox
