I like old B-detective films and have seen dozens. And of all these series films, the Falcon films are among my favorites--even the later Tom Conway versions (that were slightly less enjoyable than his brother's Falcon films). It has the usual amiable performance by Conway and a decent script (without the usual bumbling cops--here they actually weren't totally stupid) but is totally destroyed by one of the most awful and annoying characters I have seen in this type of film. In other words, an exceptional film is undone by one major weak link--this time in the form of Amelita Ward as Tom Lawrence's totally obnoxious fiancée. While she isn't hideous to look at, her personality is so bad that she would be the perfect poster child for a "retroactive abortion campaign". I simply wanted this loud-mouthed and ditsy dame to die and die soon--and hopefully painfully.<br /><br />You can't blame all of this on Ward, as I suppose she was just being the sort of wretched character the writers and director envisioned. However, with so much of the film showing excellent and intelligent writing, I truly wonder what was going on here that we don't know about today. For example, could Ward have have held incriminating photos that forced RKO to put her in the film or perhaps the writers wanted the public to totally hate her? These might explain the discrepancy between this character and the rest of the film!! As far as the plot goes, it's pretty interesting and is all wrapped up nicely, but because Ward is so terrible and so grating, I don't recommend this film to anyone but those determined to see every film from the series. Don't say I didn't warn you!