Falcon Friday on TCM

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MissGoddess
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by MissGoddess »

They ARE gorgeous! I had no idea she modeled so much, how extraordinary! I love the ones with her long hair down. So romantic.

And, Moira, I read Part 1 of your marvelously researched article on Gladys...you really do need to write a book. I can't believe how much you know about movies and the people who made them. Just the British contingent alone would make a great subject for you.

When I tired to get to Part 2, the link kept swinging me back to the first part.
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moira finnie
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by moira finnie »

Thanks for your generous comments and for letting me know that there might be an issue with the links for the two Gladys Cooper's blogs. Perhaps these links below might help...Tsk, tsk, Miss Cooper would be appalled that such a thing has been allowed to happen! Ah, but I love Glad when she's a bad girl! Can't wait to view the Falcons with her in them.

P.S. I came across an interview since this blog with one of the last surviving WWI British Tommies who recalled hiding the Gladys Cooper postcards during inspection that the men had pinned as best they could to the walls of the trenches to try to forget where the hell they were once in awhile. For the rest of her life, Cooper regularly found herself face to face with a teary eyed man every few weeks. Before he could try to say what her image had meant to him and his cohorts, she very briskly took them in hand, jollying them along a bit, trying hard not to let either of them be overwhelmed by their memories. Gladys Cooper had entertained the troops in France as well as posing for over four hundred postcards over time. Here is one of my favorite images of her in her youth, though I particularly love the way she wore her age.
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Gladys Cooper: A Natural Aristocrat Part One

Gladys Cooper: A Natural Aristocrat Part One

I'll write more about the Falcon movies once I have a chance to see a few of them over the weekend.
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JackFavell
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by JackFavell »

Moira, that was a fantastic article. I love your writing - so smooth going down, but filled with so much information! Thank you for posting the link to the second half, I had a laugh out loud moment reading about Gladys falling asleep on stage.
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by MissGoddess »

I loved it, Moira! And I love Gladys, she's a girl after my own heart. Her no nonsense attitude is a breath of fresh air. Bless her.

That last picture of her in the striped top is adorable. Just adorable. Thank you for including all those links in your article, too. I will check them out.
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

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Be still my heart! :oops: :lol: :oops:
Ollie
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by Ollie »

Wendy, I think I can fill in the TOM CONWAY films for you. If there is more artwork for the Falcon series, I'd love to snag more! These photos are great.
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by JackFavell »

Ollie!

I have no Falcon artwork. Again, you come to my rescue! One day, my friend, I will find something that I want desperately, and you can send it to me.....but......

I hate to say this, and I hope those of you who are Tom Conway fans will forgive me, but I..... don't really like Tom Conway. The only film I have been in the least interested in him in is I Walked With a Zombie, in which I found him rather attractive. And I already own that one. Compared to his brother, he seems rather humorless and bland to me. Sorry! Now I feel bad. I feel sorry for him having to compete with fascinating Georgie. :( :(

Please forgive me folks.

Knitwit -

I'm totally with you. :oops: :D :oops:

Here are some pics of George with second wife Zsa Zsa Gabor.

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ken123
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

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In the Falcon Strikes Back slow burn comedian Edgar Kennedy is the villian. I cant thing of any other film in which Mr Kennedy played a bad guy. :D
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by JackFavell »

He wasn't very nice to Harpo in Duck Soup, but I wouldn't exactly say he was the bad guy.
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by ken123 »

I prefer Tom Conway as THE FALCON , IMHO George Sanders is a bit too stiff. I also liked Conway in The Seventh Victim and I always like Kim Hunter & Jean Brooks. :D
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by ken123 »

The Falcon takes over is of course Raymond Chandlers Farewell, My Lovely, remade as a lower case " A " film starring Dick Powell- Claire Trevor, Murder, My Sweet. I found the Falcon version not good Hans Conrad's Marriot ( IMHO ) was inferior to the Douglas Walton portrayal and Anne Revere was no match for Esther Howard. To be Powell was the perfect Marlow. I think Tom Conway would have better in the Falcon - Marlowe role. :)
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by Ollie »

Wendy, when someone can pull the film-addict's needle from their arm and NOT take a "completionist collector's" attitude, I applaud them. Well - I would. I can't get that needle out of MY arm, though. Darn thing... it really ruins the effect of fluffy-shirt sleeves and French cufflinks. I mean, it's not like I can put a cowboy hat over my lap and hear Madeline Kahn ask me if I'm "just enjoying the show".

As for artwork, I'm always looking for links into Falcon and Saint poster art. Until then, I'll make-do with screen-captures.

Does anyone have an understanding about Sanders' acceptance of SAINT (1939-1941) and FALCON (starting in 1941) roles? I can understand his taking money-paying jobs. I can't understand why a studio would elect to present him. And RKO was making at least some of each of these.

The fairly awful SAINT IN PALM SPRINGS was his last Saint film and, every time I see the incredibly stupid ending-shot, I keep thinking George was asking for a faster horse - a MUCH MUCH faster horse - to ride into the sunset.

But he did several FALCON films. If "the audience confuses one character with another" was indeed a BAD thing, then why would Sanders appear in more and more FALCON films?

For me, the "similar, confusing roles with differently spelled names" is the biggest negative - but only in a casting sense, and has nothing to do with any single film. (Those stand or fall on their own merits.)

Of course, Bogart did Sam Spade AND Philip Marlowe films (and only Marlowe had a series of films, yes? The Maltese Falcon has 3 film versions, but only one story, hence I don't consider that 'a series', whereas Dick Powell and Robt Montgomery played P.I. Marlowe along with Bogart in that same time-period).

So, I'm curious why Sanders was doing one type-cast SAINT series and then jumped to the same type-cast FALCON series. I wonder if there was a Rights issue? A cheaper pay-off-the-author reason?

Then I remember the relatively underbroadcast LONE WOLF series, too, which has the same kind of suave ne'er-do-well ex-con hero. Nick Charles falls into that stew, too, and I like all of 'em. The FAST & LOOSE group...
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JackFavell
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by JackFavell »

You wear fluffy-shirt sleeves and French cufflinks? Hubba hubba. I would love to see that, even with a needle sticking out of your arm..... 8)
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ken123
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by ken123 »

Ollie wrote:
Then I remember the relatively underbroadcast LONE WOLF series, too, which has the same kind of suave ne'er-do-well ex-con hero. Nick Charles falls into that stew, too, and I like all of 'em. The FAST & LOOSE group...
Oh my The Lone Wolf, starring the great Warren William, I dont count the Gerarld Mohr entries in the series, though I do not dislike Mr Mohr. What a fabulous, but offbeat, Perry Mason did Warren Wiliam make . :D
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moira finnie
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Post by moira finnie »

Maybe there really wasn't much difference between the two series, but after catching a few minutes of several of the Falcon movies on Friday, I think I like George Sanders as The Falcon better than in the very similar but less lighthearted The Saint. I am surprised that I really enjoyed Tom Conway much more than I expected. I think my earlier impression of him has been formed by his creepy shrink character in The Cat People...Maybe I'll reflect a bit more on this after viewing a couple in their entirety. Here are some George Sanders and Tom Conway pics and posters for those who enjoy them. I hope that none of these are too big:

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George "ghosted" a book that was published in the U.K. that parodied his Falcon-Saint gentleman-sleuth characters. I can't help wondering what was really going through his mind as he signed this book for the young ladies in London. (Btw, in those pics of Sanders with his Gabor, I love the way that she always turns her face just in time toward the camera, even though she's generally being embraced by her hubby. Hmmm).

I have more unusual George Sanders images. If you'd like them posted here, let me know, please.

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A still from The Falcon's Adventure (1946) with Tom Conway, Edward Brophy and...?
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