PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

dougdoepke Entertaining addition to the detective series. Putting the Falcon (Conway) in Hollywood of course means getting an inside look at movie-making, along with a whodunit for plot purposes. So catch all those backlot shots from the 40's—the sound stages, the guarded gate, the prop room, the film sets. It's pretty much a snapshot tour. And guys, there're all those half-clad girls traipsing between sound stages. I'd sure like to know what their movie was so I could tune in. And while we're on tour, note shots of the LA Coliseum looking hugely empty, and the Hollywood Race Track currently being replaced with another football stadium.Okay, there's also a murder mystery to weave into a plot. Something about a bullying director and another guy getting murdered; but given the reveal, I think the writers were taking their own insider shots. To me, the best part of the cast is brassy cabbie Veda Ann Borg. She's a good snappy foil for Conway without being clownish. Then too, this is WWII time (1944), so girl cabbies have taken over for guys in uniform. Thus Hollywood has to treat them respectfully. But how in the world could Perry Mason's own sweet Della Street (Barbara Hale) possibly be counted as a murder suspect. Perry would never stand for that. Neither would grouchy Lt. Tragg.Anyway, the whodunit is pretty pedestrian, but I take that as just an excuse for the studio (RKO) tour. And, oh yes, fans of noir shouldn't look for shadowy mood—it all transpires in high-key lighting. As any good sight-seeing tour should.

Michael_Elliott Falcon in Hollywood, The (1944) *** (out of 4) Entertaining entry in RKO's series has The Falcon (Tom Conway) on vacation in Hollywood when a famous actor is murdered. The finger points to various people in the production so The Falcon must sort it all out. This is perhaps the best that I've seen from the series due in large part to a very good supporting cast and a nice little mystery that remains interesting throughout the film. Most of the action takes place on the backlot of a studio so we get all sorts of nice scenes, which work themselves well into the mystery. A lot of Hollywood props are used as gags or evidence and this too adds to the fun. The characters working on the film within the film are all very entertaining. We get your typical crazy German director, the playboy, a jealous wannabe star and a producer who's always going around quoting Shakespeare. Conway is also very energetic here and delivers his best performance in the role since The Falcon's Brother.

bob the moo While on vacation on the west coast, the Falcon finds himself approached by Peggy Callahan – the girlfriend of criminal Louie Buchanan. Peggy leaves her bag behind in place of Lawrence's companion's bag. He pursues her in a taxi driven by gobby taxi-come-stunt driver Billie Atkins and gets onto a the grounds of a Hollywood studio. While looking for Peggy the Falcon and Billie stumble onto the body of actor Ted Miles. The police are called and, even on holiday, Lawrence finds himself investigating yet another crime.After not thinking much of the Falcon being Out West and In Mexico during his last two films, I feared that him being in Hollywood would be another location gimmick replacing any actual substance or entertainment value. It may be because the Hollywood setting just meant that the production stayed at home and saved money on a lot of set design but this film was actually pretty good and used Hollywood well but as a backdrop to a solid mystery. It does take some work to get it started but once Lawrence gets onto the lot it livens up and keeps that pace well for the rest of the film. Unlike the last two films the mystery is actually pretty good and develops to a satisfying solution. Douglas uses the locations well (RKO itself being the main one) and the film has a great "off-set" feel to it that you don't always get with b-movies – nice to see compared to the gimmicky feel to the West and Mexico and it bodes well for San Francisco (which I have not yet seen).Conway seems a lot more relaxed and more like himself than when In Mexico. While in Mexico we had a Mexican "Goldie" character and here we have a female wise-@ss, in the shape of Borg; she is sassy and fu in a very clichéd and obvious manner but it works well. Parnell and Jenks are a poor man's Clark and Gargan but don't have that much to do. Perry Mason's Hale is good, as is Brooks. Shayne is a bit hammy but effective while series regular Rita Corday turns up yet again early on in the film.Overall then an enjoyable entry in the series that fans will enjoy and may be slick and enjoyable enough to suit newcomers looking for an easy b-movie to watch. The location is not obtrusive and the material is good, giving the actors more to work with than in the last two films.

Igenlode Wordsmith A welcome return to form for the Falcon series -- having run out of ideas for the standard city-based plots, the studio evidently tried putting the Falcon into unaccustomed environments to try to milk a few more scripts out of the formula, and oddly enough it actually tends to work quite well. In these later films ("The Falcon and the Co-Eds", "The Falcon Out West", "The Falcon in Hollywood") the focus seems to swing back onto the actual crime rather than the amiable surrounding tom-foolery, and the comic relief -- being more sparingly employed -- is more successfully funny."Hollywood" is in my experience the best of the films mentioned above, with a really quite ingenious plot and some interesting characters. Of course we've all seen "The Producers" now... but the cast of Hollywood 'types' -- from the Germanic martinet director to the playboy leading man, the distrait Shakespearean Englishman, the costume diva, the exotic star with a villa and swimming-pool and the gangster's moll trying to make her big break in the movies -- still has its own charms to offer, not least in watching the film subvert the stereotypes! (There's also a nod to a famous Sherlock Holmes case in there, for the alert.)