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Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 19th, 2009, 7:21 pm
by moira finnie
Well, well, tomorrow dawns on TCM with George Sanders deigning to play The Falcon in a few programmers before handing over the tepid mysteries and entertainingly sarcastic character to his brother, Tom Conway. If you enjoy George some of the society sleuthing might be fun, though I find Mr. Conway far more credible when playing one of Val Lewton's more untrustworthy fellows.
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Any recommendations of which ones to record and what to miss? I gotta see the ones with Gladys Cooper & James Gleason, but other than that I'm yours to command. Here's the schedule (pronounced "sked-yule" naturally in the English manner, of course) :wink:

All times shown are EST.

Friday, November 20th

6:00 AM
The Gay Falcon (1942)
A society sleuth tries to break up an insurance scam. Cast: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Gladys Cooper. Dir: Irving Reis. BW-67 mins, TV-G, CC

7:15 AM
A Date With The Falcon (1941)
The gentleman detective postpones his wedding to find a cache of stolen diamonds. Cast: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, James Gleason. Dir: Irving Reis. BW-63 mins, TV-G

8:30 AM
The Falcon Takes Over (1942)
A society sleuth and a lady reporter try to track down a murderous thug's lost girlfriend. Cast: George Sanders, Lynn Bari, Ward Bond. Dir: Irving Reis. BW-63 mins, TV-G

9:45 AM
The Falcon's Brother (1942)
A gentlemanly detective calls on his brother to help him stop the Nazis from assassinating a key diplomat. Cast: George Sanders, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph. Dir: Stanley Logan. BW-63 mins, TV-G

11:00 AM
The Falcon Strikes Back (1943)
A society sleuth is framed for murder by criminals running a war-bond racket. Cast: Tom Conway, Harriet Hilliard, Edgar Kennedy. Dir: Edward Dmytryk. BW-66 mins, TV-G

12:15 AM
The Falcon In Danger (1943)
A society sleuth tracks a lost plane carrying $100,000. Cast: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Elaine Shepard. Dir: William Clemens. BW-70 mins, TV-G

1:30 PM
The Falcon And The Co-Eds (1944)
A society sleuth investigates murder at a girls' school. Cast: Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell. Dir: William Clemens. BW-68 mins, TV-G

2:45 PM
The Falcon Out West (1944)
A society sleuth turns cowboy to investigate a Texas murder. Cast: Tom Conway, Carole Gallagher, Barbara Hale. Dir: William Clemens. BW-64 mins, TV-G

4:00 PM
The Falcon In Mexico (1944)
A society sleuth travels South of the border to investigate an art dealer's murder. Cast: Tom Conway, Mona Maris, Martha MacVicar. Dir: William Berke. BW-70 mins, TV-G

5:15 PM
The Falcon In Hollywood (1944)
A society sleuth tours the movie capital, where he uncovers an actor's murder. Cast: Tom Conway, Barbara Hale, Sheldon Leonard. Dir: Gordon Douglas. BW-67 mins, TV-G, CC

6:30 PM
The Falcon In San Francisco (1945)
A society sleuth enlists a little girl's help in nabbing a mob of silk smugglers. Cast: Tom Conway, Rita Corday, Sharyn Moffett. Dir: Joseph H. Lewis. BW-66 mins, TV-G

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 19th, 2009, 9:06 pm
by JackFavell
Hey, Moira,

I love that photo! I'll be watching as much as I can while getting my daughter ready for school....and maybe I can find enough room to record my Georgie's morning run.

One thing though. My schedule says that the movies start at 6:00am rather than 5:00 am ET.

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 19th, 2009, 9:12 pm
by ken123
I can never get enough of Jean Brooks. I like Barbara Hale also. :D

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 12:12 am
by mrsl
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Moira is your shed-ule set at EDT? Last month, expecting something you recommended, I set my timer, but only got the last 45 minutes because of the stupid time changes. Be sure to check out the movie suggestions for your dinner. I've never been able to decide which brother I like better.
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 6:26 am
by moira finnie
JackFavell wrote:Hey, Moira,

I love that photo! I'll be watching as much as I can while getting my daughter ready for school....and maybe I can find enough room to record my Georgie's morning run.

One thing though. My schedule says that the movies start at 6:00am rather than 5:00 am ET.
Well, that's what I get for copying the schedule directly from the TCM Monthly Lineup on the website. Arrgh! And sorry. Corrections made.

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 9:16 am
by MissGoddess
This is one day I wish I had called in sick. I could watch these all day very happily. I should have recorded them.

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 11:11 am
by JackFavell
There are simply not very many great photos of George Sanders on the web. I found several from other films, but thought I would stick with photos that were taken from around the same time period as The Falcon series. There are some interesting shots, much like number six, shown below, in which Sanders' penetrating stare is used to great effect. That look he had is one of my favorites, showing a great focus of concentration and also showing his enormous brain power. The stare usually comes as he is about to realize something of great import. In my favorite performances, it will be a sort of sad self-realization, which is followed by rueful resignation. The sad truth is immediately shaken off with a bon mot, guaranteed to make everyone laugh, and a quick, faultless exit.

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Self-Styled Siren has a great article about Sanders here:

http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/200 ... ic_09.html

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 11:34 am
by MissGoddess
Those are some of the best pictures of George I've seen; great finds, Jackie!

I highly recommend SUMMER STORM for those who are George (and/or Linda Darnell, Douglas Sirk) fans. However be warned, it's one of the most depressing movies I think I've ever seen. George has one of the great roles of his career as the conflicted Judge Petroff. It's also interesting to see this Russian actor play a Russian. The character seems to fit him like a glove.

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 12:25 pm
by JackFavell
I was just reading about Summer Storm, MissG, and it really fascinated me, especially the Russian thing...I think this is my next George Sanders movie purchase.
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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 4:45 pm
by JackFavell
I've been dying to post these pictures of Gladys Cooper somewhere, and just realized I could do it right here. It also gives me a chance to mention that Gladys was really fun to watch this morning in The Gay Falcon. Did anyone else think maybe this film showed a few slight sparks of what her stage performance as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter might have been like?

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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 6:04 pm
by MissGoddess
Lovely pictures of the lovely Gladdie. I just watched her in "The Twilight Zone", the one with Robert Redford. She was great to the last. And still beautiful in a way. She never lost the traces of her legendary beauty and then, that amazing poise she had. A way of carrying herself that wasn't haughty (unless the part called for it), but certainly dignified. In other words, a real lady.

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 6:11 pm
by mrsl
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My poor overrun DVR has copied all but two Falcon movies today. I've had a few things going today, but find weekends during the day are rather dry around the dial, so these should keep me happy throughout most of Saturday and Sunday

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Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 7:50 pm
by JackFavell
mrsl -

I recorded all the Georgie ones, but neglected Tom, for reasons of space. I have to burn some discs in order to free up more recording time on my dvr.

George has a warm,almost tender quality under the polished exterior that I find irresistible. Even when he is at his most evil, you can still understand his motivations.... usually his despicable-ness is caused by his unrequited love for a woman, like Delilah. The only film in which I cannot even remotely sympathize with him is The Picture of Dorian Gray. His chilling portrayal of Lord Henry makes me feel a little sick by the end of the movie. Most of the time though, when I see him, I smile.

MissG -

I found those photos of Gladys Cooper while looking for George Sanders photos. One of them popped up in my search for George, so I followed it. She was so stunning that I ended up doing a search of her photos just for fun. I posted these here, then went back to search for more. I discovered that she had been a postcard model from the early 1900's to the 1920's. She was photographed thousands of times from the time she was six years old, and became incredibly popular in Great Britain, just on the strength of those photographs alone. I kept on looking and ended up at .....MoiraFinnie's blog on Gladys! I can't believe that I ended up posting photos here when Moira already posted all about Gladys at moviemorlocks last month. Her column is here, and it is really interesting:

http://moviemorlocks.com/2009/10/14/gla ... at-part-1/

It's a small internet.

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 8:49 pm
by MissGoddess
Well isn't Moira the quiet one! Thank you so much for posting the link, Jackie! I'm going to read about Gladdie right now. I'd heard she was a famous beauty but I never knew about the post cards...wow, what a treat it would be to find one of those for your collection.

She had such fine, delicate bone structure and limpid eyes, no wonder she made the male half of England's heart go pitter patter!

Re: Falcon Friday on TCM

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 8:56 pm
by JackFavell
I am sending out Gladys Cooper birthday and Christmas cards this year.....they are so beautiful! gladyscooper.com has oodles of pictures, although most of them are small sizes.
http://gladyscooper.com/