A Martini to Sherlock Holmes' Bourbon mix

 THE FALCON IN SAN FRANCISCO (1945)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Having seen only one Falcon film starring George Sanders in the titular role ("The Gay Falcon"), I was not sure how a different actor in the same role would fare. I had nothing to worry about because Tom Conway, George Sanders' actual brother no less, takes over the role as the amateur sleuth quixotically and with elegance and a slight brash style.

The opening sequence on a train establishes a great rapport between Conway's Falcon and his wisecrackin' sidekick Goldie Locke (Ed Brophy) as they travel on vacation to San Francisco. There is some silly humor here about the single Goldie filing his tax returns and sensing he'd pay less in taxes if he got married. Before you can say fair tax percentages, there is a small dog and a sweet young girl named Annie (Sharyn Moffett) and the death of her nurse in one of the train compartments. It is possible this stern nurse was murdered! 

All this leads to a misunderstanding involving a kidnapping; a shipping company and its pretty owner, Annie's big sister (Rita Corday) who may or may not be a prisoner in her own home; a supposedly dead gangster who may still be living, and a finale involving an exploding boiler room. "The Falcon in San Francisco" is fun and light on its feet and packs quite a solid punch. The colorful cast is tremendous fun - there is a real joy of acting on everyone's part which includes Robert Armstrong acutely showing two different sides to his character. Brophy's Goldie is very funny as he keeps trying to woo women to marry him, and Sharyn Moffett is a smart, cute Annie whom you just want to hug. The real standout is Tom Conway who brings his own downplayed suave manner to the Falcon. These Falcon movies may not be as densely layered as Sherlock Holmes stories but they just as intoxicating. The Falcon is a martini to Sherlock's bourbon. 

Heavenly Joe made me smile

 HERE COMES MR. JORDAN (1941)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

One of the most delightful fantasy movies ever made, "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" is pure heaven in every sense of the word. It is often ecstatically funny and expertly performed. Not a single wasted frame or emotion to be found, this is one of those rare fantasy movies I would call flawless.

Robert Montgomery is the "Flying Pug," a boxer known as Joe Pendleton. One fine day, he flies a small plane and accidentally plummets to the ground. He's dead but he wasn't supposed to die and his soul was taken to heaven prematurely. This irks Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains - absolutely fabulous), who is the chief of angels I gather and assists the poor young man. Joe insists it was not supposed to happen this way and the newly hired angel named Messenger 7013 (Edward Everett Horton) made a mistake retrieving his soul. So, under the orders of Mr. Jordan, Joe returns to Earth assuming another body, that of wealthy Mr. Farnsworth who has just been drowned in his bathtub by his wife and the husband's secretary. The plot picks up speed when Bette Logan (Evelyn Keyes) pleads for her father to be sprung from jail after Mr. Farnsworth had him incarcerated. Mr. Farnsworth, now Joe, emerges from the bathroom to the ground floor understandably shocking his wife and the secretary. Joe is smitten with Bette and makes the decision to free her father quickly (all this so that Joe can inhabit the body of another boxer in Australia!)

Everything in "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" comes as a delectable surprise and it is constructed with utmost care and shows tremendous pathos in its characters, thanks to screenwriters Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller. Montgomery shows such a flair for comic timing and such humanity that I was floored by his Joe character - you get the impression that he wants to make the world a better place and Mr. Jordan can see that clearly. Rains' Jordan is such a welcomely inventive character in that he sees hope in Joe's eyes and that the human race could benefit from Joe's ambitions. Spiritually occupying one body after another, I wouldn't be surprised if "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" inspired TV's "Quantum Leap." Also worth noting is Joe's manager, Max "Pop" Corkle (Oscar-nominated James Gleason), who brings every note of desperation and disbelief in equal measure - it takes some convincing for Joe to prove he's inside Farnsworth's body to Max. Evelyn Keyes is a heavenly sight as Bette who senses there is more to Mr. Farnsworth than she thought. All the performances are tied to such a touching, tender ending that it made my heart melt. "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" is a miraculous achievement.

4 reels of drama, 2 of laughs

 THE KID (1921)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Maybe my preference falls more in line with his consistent comic wizardry coupled with the Tramp's appearance as some sort of lonely clown with a heart of gold. "Modern Times," "The Circus" and "City Lights" are among Charlie Chaplin's greatest early films ("The Gold Rush" is somewhere in that list too). "The Kid" is something of a curiosity to me - it has charm and heart but not a whole lot of laughs. That is hardly a detriment to the movie but it is more dramatic than comedic and, although it still stands as poignant and often beautifully made, it is not at the same level of greatness as Chaplin's other films. 

The Kid is a baby left abandoned, reluctantly, by its mother (Edna Purviance) in the backseat of a car with a handwritten note. The car is found by thieves and when they discover a baby, they leave the baby on a dirt path near some ramshackle homes. The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) finds the baby and tries to place it in someone else's stroller yet the screaming child finds its way back to the Tramp. So he takes the baby, trying in vain to avoid the police, and the baby eventually grows up to becomes the Kid (Jackie Coogan) who lives with the Tramp and becomes his partner-in-a-minor-crime. The Kid throws stones at neighbors' windows and the Tramp fixes them with window panes he carries on his back as he just happens to walk by them. The one major cop catches on and there's expected tomfoolery with the Tramp and the Kid as they scurry around the streets. 

Meanwhile, the mother who abandoned the Kid becomes a major movie star and runs a children's charity. She unknowingly runs into the scruffy Kid (named John by the Tramp). After a fight with another kid where John is winning with his singular punches, trouble brews when a call-in doctor checking on an ill John discovers that the Tramp is not John's father. It is back to the orphanage and it is here where we get one of the most moving scenes in silent cinema. Jackie Coogan's John screams for the Tramp to help him while the Tramp is being held by the cop and the driver from the orphanage. It is here where Coogan displays with enough honest emotion and grit why he was possibly the greatest child actor of that time. 

"The Kid" does fall into some heavy dramatic scenes and they are expertly acted and emotionally true. Still I am sure that anytime we see Chaplin's poor Little Tramp, we expect to laugh on occasion. The movie veers into some laughter yet it is rather infrequent, especially for a one-hour flick or its six reels. I felt a little lost during John's fight with a bully which goes on for an eternity. And there is a finale involving a dream with angels that didn't seem suited to what preceded it. I respect "The Kid" and I can't say it isn't lovable and packed with a few thrills here and there and Jackie Coogan's Kid is unforgettable. Maybe I expect more from the Tramp or from Charlie Chaplin - it still falls short of greatness.