kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** Film has the distinction of the one of the oldest living Hollywood actors John Calvert-who passed away on September 27, 2013 at the ripe old age of 102-in it as the famous detective Michael "The Falcon" Watling. It's "The Falcon" who together with his sidekick pooch "Brain-trust" are out to solve the murder of mob bookmaker Bruce "Lucky" Conroy whom the not so on the ball Ramon Delgardo, Paul Merion, confessed to murdering. Right form the start Delgardo'd confession smelled to high heaven in him claiming he did it, kill Conroy, because he was fooling around with his wife Margo, Rochelle Hudson,whom he caught in the act.It soon turns out that high priced shyster Thomas Mallon,Theodore Von Eltz, jumps to Delgardo'd defense without asking a cent, very unusual for the ambulance chasing lawyer, in fees. things get even stranger when Delgardo is found dead in his jail cell just before he was to stand trail for the late "Luck", who wasn't so lucky, Conroy's murder trial. This has "The Falcon" check out Delgardo'd belongings at a local Salvation Army clothing store that, hidden in a shoe of his, names the person who murdered Conroy and the reason why. That had to do with a long string of losing bets he had booked with Conroy that he didn't have the money to pay back.***SPOILERS*** "The Falcon" uses his wits as well as the assistance "Brain-trust" to figure out not only who murdered both "Lucky" Conroy as well as Delgardo and one of the hoods Naga, Tom Kennedy,who was blown to bits. That's when he jumped the gun and tried to get his hands on the $24,500.00 hidden in a safe deposit box that was meant for Delgardo's killer who actually murdered Conroy whom Delgardo was willing to take the rap for in case he tried to double-cross him. "The Falcon" also called the police to come to his rescue after suspecting that the person who was to call them was in fact working with Delgardo's killer and planning, like Delgardo, to set him up for the kill!

bensonmum2 The plot in Devil's Cargo (not sure why they went with that title - it has nothing to do with the movie) is easily the best thing the movie has going for it. There are a few nice twists and turns along the way. I'm not sure why I didn't see the end coming, but part of it really surprised me. Anyway, Ramon Delgado (Paul Marion) shows up one morning at Michael Watling (John Calvert) aka the Falcon's apartment to confess to a murder. He says he killed a man named Conroy who was cheating with his wife, Margo (Rochelle Hudson). Delgado claims he warned the man twice before shooting him during a struggle. He has a key he wants Watling to hold for him. He's convinced that once his story comes out, he'll be acquitted and he'll then come by to collect his key. But almost as soon as Delgado is in police custody, two things happen that rouse the Falcon's suspicion. First, there are a couple of hoods that desperately want that key. Second, Delgado is found poisoned to death in his cell. What's so important about the key and why did someone murder Delgado?But once you get past the plot, there's very little here I liked. First, and most obviously, what happened to the Falcon? This isn't the suave character played by George Sanders and Tom Conway. Calvert's Falcon is the kind of guy who I wanted to punch in the face for acting like an idiot one minute and overly cocky and smug the next. And his ever present and unwanted magic tricks serve no purpose - well, no purpose other than to annoy me. Calvert's attempts at humor are almost as bad as the magic bits. Again, it's just annoying. With a plot I enjoyed, a different actor in the lead might have made this a much better movie. The rest of the acting is generally abysmal. I'm not exaggerating when I say I cringed a few times at the poor delivery of some of the lines. And I was really disappointed in the way Rochelle Hudson was used. She's barely in the movie. Finally, I couldn't help but notice at times how bad the music was and generally inappropriate for the action on screen.As much as I enjoy the earlier Falcon movies, Devil's Cargo is a huge disappointment.

dbborroughs First of three post war Falcon films is very different than the Tom Conway/George Saunders series. Certainly the character is unrelated being named Michael Waring as opposed to Gay or Tom Lawrence. This is an extremely poverty stricken film that looks more like the shot on film TV series from a few years later. Still it manages to score points for being its own little engine of entertainment.The plot has Waring, played by John Calvert as a wise talking, magic doing, detective given 500 dollars by a client to hold on to a key for him. He is to give the key to his attorney when he asks for it. The client it seems has just committed a well publicized murder which he thinks he won't be tried for. Not long after the client is taken into custody Waring begins to be tailed, some one wants the key. Someone also wants his client dead and he somehow murdered in his jail cell.While not the Falcon most of us know, this is a good little mystery. The plot takes a few unexpected turns which coupled with Waring's magic and attitude makes this one to watch despite its cheapness. This is one to find and watch with a big bag of popcorn.

Bruce Corneil The handsome and urbane John Calvert gives a tough yet breezy performance as Hollywood private eye Michael Waring - code named "The Falcon" . Although Calvert possessed a polished and charismatic screen presence and appeared in nearly thirty films for RKO and Columbia his first love remained the art of magic through which he became an international variety star.This is a real bargain basement production and there's one particularly curious quirk that's worth listening for. Whenever any of the supporting cast refer to the last name of Calvert's character it's obvious that changes have been made in the post production process. Specifically, it seems that the name "Waring" has been cut out on each occasion and substituted with "Watling". The obvious question is .. why ? Possibly some kind of copyright issue ?