The Falcon in San Francisco

On a train bound for San Francisco, Tom Lawrence, renowned as The Falcon, travels with his loyal sidekick Goldie Locke and stumbles upon a desperate situation. They meet Annie Marshall, a lonely young girl who insists she’s being held prisoner by her nurse, Carla Keyes, and the stern butler Loomis. Annie’s tale is abruptly interrupted when Miss Keyes appears, and soon after the girl rushes back to Tom to report that her nurse is dead. The moment rouses a sense of responsibility in Tom and Goldie, who decide to take charge of Annie’s safety even as the authorities are alerted to a kidnapping.

Soon after, the tension deepens when Doreen Temple posts bail for Tom in the amount of $10,000, promising to reveal her true motives in due time. At dinner, Doreen brings along her imposing bodyguard Rickey, posing as a police officer. When they depart, Rickey knocks Tom unconscious and drags him to Doreen’s apartment, where she subjects him to questions about a shipment aboard the S.S. Citadel and about a man named Peter Vantine, a shadowy connection in the crime world.

Back at Annie’s home, Tom and Goldie press the girl further and finally meet her older sister, Joan Marshall, who denies knowledge of Doreen or Vantine. Annie quickly shifts her story, claiming Loomis is the one holding her captive, and she guides them to Carla’s room, where a photograph of a ship’s officer is found, a clue tied to Carla’s life.

Tragedy strikes when Loomis is shot dead by an unseen assailant, leaving Tom and Goldie to navigate a quickly tightening trap. Returning to their hotel, Tom finds himself confronted by Peter Vantine, who brandishes a gun and forces a tense confrontation. Tom’s quick reflexes allow him to disarm Vantine, and the truth about Doreen’s romantic connection to a former bootlegger named Duke Monet begins to surface. The trail grows deeper as Tom learns that Monet has ties to illicit cargoes and a secret identity designed to shield his daughters, Joan Marshall and Annie, from danger.

Tom seeks answers at the Star Coastal Lines offices, where the general manager, De Forrest Marshall, is seen in a tense meeting with Joan—the owner of the company and Monet’s complicated link to the case. A clerk supplies a crucial lead, directing Tom to an address that turns out to be Doreen’s apartment, where she waits with her gang. Vantine, drawn into the trap, joins Doreen in a furious confrontation, and Tom and Joan manage a narrow escape. Upon returning to the hotel, Tom discovers De Forrest Marshall hiding in a closet, while Goldie uncovers a newspaper article that reveals the true owner of the S.S. Citadel: Duke Monet.

That night, Tom and Goldie sneak aboard the Citadel to uncover the hidden cargo—raw silk—that lies mixed in with hemp bales. They return to the Marshall house with the evidence, and Annie informs Tom that Joan has left to meet her “secret lover” on Telegraph Hill. Tom quietly observes the rendezvous between Joan Marshall and De Forrest Marshall, and realizes that the man he suspects as Duke Monet has been living under a secret identity to safeguard his daughters.

As fear of a hijacking grows, Monet asks for Tom’s help to safeguard the illicit silk shipments. At dockside, Monet, Tom, and the others watch Vantine, Doreen, and their gang board the S.S. Citadel, intent on seizing the cargo. Monet then takes drastic action, knocking the ship’s engineer unconscious, triggering an explosion in the boiler room, and turning the confrontation into a high-stakes showdown. He menaces Doreen and Tom with a gun, and Tom reveals that Monet killed Miss Keyes and Loomis—the very people she hired to watch over the girls.

With the ship’s fate sealed, Monet’s plan to blow up the vessel is thwarted only by a final act of violence: Rickey shoots Monet as Doreen lunges forward to disarm him, and Tom escapes just as the ship detonates in a spectacular, final blaze. The peril of Annie and Joan is averted, but at a heavy cost, leaving Tom to reflect on the tangled web of alliances, loyalties, and the price of protecting the innocent on a perilous journey through a world where crime and duty collide.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:28