Directed by William Clemens, with a screenplay co-written by Fred Niblo Jr, this is Tom Conway's second film in titled role, aka Tom Lawrence. In lieu of the more typical male sidekick this time, he's got a fiancée Bonnie Caldwell (Amelita Ward), a Texas girl who seems to get him into, instead of "out of", trouble. Cliff Clark and Edward Gargan reprise their roles as Inspector Donovan and Detective Bates, respectively, as does Eddie Dunn as Detective Grimes. Those familiar with the series will also recognize Jean Brooks, who plays another prominent role in this film.
An airplane crash lands with no passengers nor pilot aboard; Selmer Jackson appears, uncredited, as an official at the airport. The police are baffled, so naturally, Inspector Donovan, with Detectives Bates & Grimes in tow, seeks the assistance of the Falcon. However, Lawrence's Southern accented fiancée Bonnie had made him promise not to get involved in any more cases given their pending nuptials. As the police are exiting, in walks a beautiful blonde who turns out to be Nancy Palmer (Elaine Shepard, who had a short-lived career as an actress for good reason), the daughter of one of the two important passengers, along with the pilot, who are still missing from the mystery plane. The Falcon is drawn to her and reads the ransom note she carries which warns of police involvement, but coyly defers to Bonnie who insists that he help the poor heiress in locating her father. The three of them go to inspect the plane, where they run into Donovan, Bates, and Grimes, who has a box of items that includes half of a small padlock that the Falcon surreptitiously confiscates. While exiting the plane, the Falcon meets the daughter of the other missing man; her name is Iris Fairchild (Brooks). She too has a similar ransom note, warning against contacting the police, which asks for $25,000 to be delivered to a specific time & place.
Because of his fiancée's misinterpretation of the situation, the Falcon almost fails to get the license plate of the men who pick up the ransom. However, once he does, the two go together to the owner's address, an antique shop run by Morley (Felix Basch) and his two sons George (Richard Martin) and Evan (Erford Gage). It turns out Morley is owed a considerable amount of money by Nancy Palmer's fiancé, Kenneth Gibson (Richard Davies), who works, worked?, for her father. However, Mr. Palmer (the recognizable Clarence Kolb) shows up at home, unharmed, and he relates a story of the events; his doctor is played by Charles Trowbridge, uncredited, according to IMDb.com. Russell Wade is shown to have been the pilot. Later, Morley, who'd been given paper in lieu of money for the ransom anyway, is concerned with retrieving the notes to keep from being indicted. Using a trick which would have only worked during the blackout periods of World War II, the Falcon and his bride-to-be escape with the help of a policeman and an Air Raid warden, but not before being wounded. Though she initially insists that her fiancé remain in the hospital, when Bonnie discovers his nurse is pretty (Rosemary La Planche, a former Miss America and veteran of several Falcon films herself), she allows him to continue to pursue the mystery.
Suspicion is then cast on Iris herself, her father having been cheated by Palmer and "forced" to work as his assistant for $10,000/year. A forgettable sequence involving the Falcon and she being tailed by Detective Bates ensues. A couple of equally useless scenes at Palmer's place of business, whose purpose seems to be to give the clueless police some screen-time, follows before the story returns again to Morley's, and then continues at the Palmer home. Their butler is played by Ian Wolfe. Now all the suspects are under the same roof, including Morley, who Iris and the Falcon followed to the Palmers, where he met Gibson, and the others as well as Nancy's big dog. Miraculously, the Falcon seems to have suspected the culprit in the kidnapping all along, and the whole thing unravels with, as usual, the guilty party being killed.
The film ends typically, with an hysterical woman beckoning the Falcon to yet another case.
