The Falcon and the Co-eds
The Falcon and the Co-eds is a 1943 film directed by William Clemens, and produced by Maurice Geraghty, the same team that had worked on The Falcon in Danger and would stay together for the next film in the Falcon series. The story and screenplay was by Ardel Wray, a frequent collaborator with Val Lewton in his RKO horror series, who added supernatural elements to the proceedings.
As he had in the past three Falcon films, Tom Conway played the suave amateur sleuth, this time backed up by a bevy of young starlets, including Jean Brooks, Rita Corday and Amelita Ward.
Plot
Jane Harris, a student at the Bluecliff Seminary for Girls, asks Tom Lawrence, aka the Falcon, for his help to investigate a death predicted by her unstable roommate, Marguerita Serena, a clairvoyant. Professor Jamison has recently died, with uncertainty as to whether it was suicide or homicide.Posing as an insurance investigator, the Falcon meets the Dean, Miss Keyes ; the school's Psychology teacher, Dr Anatole Graelich ; the Drama teacher, Vicky Gaines ; and the Music teacher, Mary Phoebus. Inspector Donovan and Detective Bates are also looking at the local Coroner's verdict of suicide.
The Falcon begins his investigation at the dead professor's room and then goes to the undertaker's, where he finds out it is assumed Professor Jamison committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Believing the death was murder, a group of suspects are carefully watched by the Falcon, including Marguerita, who thinks she has inherited her father's insanity, and a love triangle involving Graelich, Mary and Vicky, all with motives for murder.
Before Tom can confront the killer, Dean Keyes is murdered; and when Marguerita tells Mary that she saw her standing over the dead body of Miss Keyes, Mary tries to force the hysterical girl to jump from the cliffs by the school. Tom races to the cliffs and startles Mary, who topples to her death. She had been behind all the murders, starting with Jamison who was killed in a jealous rage, and the Dean, who would have dismissed Graelich, whom Mary had married in secret, as married couples could not work at the school.
At the conclusion, Jane's mother, a famous actress, arrives at the school with another actress and asks the Falcon to solve a murder at the theater.
Cast
- Tom Conway as Tom Lawrence
- Jean Brooks as Vicky Gaines
- Rita Corday as Marguerita Serena
- Amelita Ward as Jane Harris
- Isabel Jewell as Mary Phoebus
- George Givot as Dr. Anatole Graelich
- Cliff Clark as Inspector Timothy Donovan
- Edward Gargan as Detective Bates
- Barbara Brown as Miss Keyes
- Ruth Álvarez as First Ugh
- Juanita Álvarez as Second Ugh
- Nancy McCollum as Third Ugh
- Patti Brill as Beanie Smith
- Olin Howland as Bluecliff Driver
- Dorothy Christy as Maya Harris
- Dorothy Malone as Dorothy
- Ian Wolfe as The Undertaker
- Margie Stewart as Pan
Soundtrack
Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be?Traditional
Arranged by Dave Dreyer
Sung by the Three Ughs - Nancy McCollum, Nita Hunter and Ruth ÁlvarezCan't Take the Brooklyn Out of Me
Sung by Amelita WardI Get The Neck Of The Chicken
Written by Frank Loesser and Jimmy McHugh
Production
Principal photography on The Falcon and the Co-eds took place from August 17 to mid-September 1943. The growing popularity of the Falcon series led to filming two films nearly back-to-back, with the previous film in the series, The Falcon In Danger, which was in production, April 13 to early-May 1943. The last scene in the earlier film foretells the Falcon accepting a job to help a pretty student, setting up the story of The Falcon and the Co-eds.Amusingly, the title is a misnomer. Since Bluecliff is an all-girls school, the students are by definition not co-eds.