Appointment with Murder * (1948, John Calvert, Catherine Craig, Jack Reitzen, Lyle Talbot, Robert Coote) – Classic Movie Review 10,130

Director Jack Bernhard’s 1948 thriller Appointment with Murder is the second of John Calvert’s poor trilogy of Falcon films, and the 15th part in the series, following Devil’s Cargo (1948), and with just one more to go – Search for Danger (1949).

Appointment with Murder looks like an obviously very cheaply made movie, with a feeble production and a dull mystery about a gang of art robbers.

Calvert’s Michael Waring character is no substitute for either George Sanders or Tom Conway as The Falcon, who is hired by an insurance company to recover two stolen renaissance paintings, possibly fakes, and murder follows in its wake.

Also in the cast are Catherine Craig, Jack Reitzen, Lyle Talbot, Robert Conte, Peter Brocco, Ben Welden, Jay Griffith, Anna Demetrio, Michael Mark, Carlo Schipa, Carole Donne, Barbara Freking, James Griffith, Eric Wilton, Bert Stevens and Pat Lane.

Appointment with Murder is directed by Jack Bernhard, runs 67 minutes, is made by Falcon Pictures Corporation, is released by Film Classics (1948) (US) and International Film Distributors (1949) (UK), is written by Don Martin, based on a story by Joel Malone and Harold Swanton, based on the character The Falcon by Michael Arlen, is shot in black and white by Walter Strenge, is produced by Jack Bernhard, is scored by Karl Hajos, with Set Decoration by Earl Wooden.

It was shot August 1948 and released on 24 November 1948.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,130

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