A Date with the Falcon

This is the second of the Falcon films starring George Sanders. The dialogue crackles with even more electricity than in the first. This film has more substance and plot than its predecessor, but is even funnier, with both sight gags and witty remarks throughout which are often hilarious. Who can ever forget George Sanders standing and smoking a cigarette nonchalantly on a window ledge of a New York hotel, while the crowd below gasps and take bets on whether he will jump. When a policeman forces him inside the window at gunpoint, the street crowd sighs in disappointment, and one man says: 'I figured him for a phoney.' When Sanders goes into a florist shop to buy roses for his (new) fiancée, the woman running it is an old girl friend. She is surprised and disappointed that he is getting married: 'You're much too undependable to be taken out of circulation. It's a crime.' He drolly replies: 'Yes, and I can't solve it. It's a perfect crime.' Hans Conreid, who stole scenes in the previous Falcon film as a police artist, really runs away with his scenes in this one as a hotel clerk. Wendy Barrie scintillates as much as ever, sometimes ferocious, at other times gentle, but always on fire. What a cracker! They don't make 'em like this any more. And all that on a low budget, with a couple of cars and a few cheap sets. Today's directors with their hundred million dollar budgets ought to take a look at some of these old cheapies and learn how to make real movies. Then we would not all be so bored by their silly special effects and exploding cars which they substitute for acting and witty dialogue, and we could enjoy a film again like people could in 1941.

The Falcon film series is generally a lot of fun to watch, with many of the films very enjoyable and all worth watching at least once. The second outing 'A Date with the Falcon' is one of the better ones.

Not perfect by all means. 'A Date with the Falcon' did feel a little too short, if it was 10 minutes longer it would have given the mystery aspects a little more explanation instead of a few parts being hastier and not as easy to follow as others. Wendy Barrie was very likable and entertaining in 'The Gay Falcon' (the first and very enjoyable outing in the series), but here she is in a more brashly written role and the performance feels overdone and annoying.

When it comes to the production values, while not among the most visually stunning films ever made (then again 'A Date with the Falcon' is not that kind of film), 'A Date with the Falcon' is very meticulously filmed and lit with sets that are elegant and atmospheric. The music is lively and haunting, while the direction solid, the script is witty and smart (even more so, and more electrifying than that of 'The Gay Falcon') and the story a vast majority of the time very engrossing and never incoherent or a test for endurance. The characters are also a lot of fun with the only exception being Barrie's.

As said with 'The Gay Falcon', George Sanders is a truly great lead, he was never less than watchable and magnificent when at his best, and he looks so relaxed and at ease here and plays with his usual suave and imposing manner while also with an elegance, cutting aplomb and charm. James Gleason is also excellent.

Hans Conried steals scenes gleefully, and while he doesn't have as much to do Allen Jenkins is still enormous fun and also a scene stealer. Mona Maris is an alluring femme fatale.

In conclusion, one of the best outings in a series of films that are most enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Sanders plays Gay Lawrence, The Falcon, who has at last been lured into marriage by his fiancé, Helen (played by Wendy Barrie). Just before he goes off to get married though, he gets mixed up in a case where a reclusive scientist who has created a formula to make fake diamonds that are indistinguishable from real ones get kidnapped by crooks and forced to spill the beans. As usual, the relationship between the falcon and the Law is pretty borderline at best, the keep on trying to arrest him on suspicion of being involved in the plot, murder and anything else they can pin on him. Needless to say he leads the police to the gang, and makes the 'plane to fly off with his fiancé. This is a great movie, and Sanders plays it with an insouciance that is quite invigorating: you cannot decide whether he is in his heart laughing at the whole film in its simplicity. The gangsters are almost a parody of gangsters, the police are bumbling goons, and his fiancé increasingly jealous and frustrated as he keeps on tripping over beautiful women who have known him in the past (but a few loving words and a kiss from him always seems to calm her down - what luck!). A great lark, and great to watch just for Sander's voice!!

George Sanders is the Falcon in "A Date with the Falcon," part of the enjoyable Falcon series, which was eventually taken over by Sanders' brother Tom Conway so that Sanders could appear in another series, "The Saint." In this one, a man disappears with his invention, simulated diamonds that pass for the real thing, which can be used in place of industrial diamonds in the manufacture of war weapons. The Falcon becomes involved in the case, even though he's supposed to be leaving town with his abrasive fiancée (Wendy Barrie) in order to meet her parents.

A little disjointed, and though others have complained about the Wendy Barrie character, I seem to remember the Falcon had an even more annoying fiancée in another film, "The Falcon in Danger," only this time, it was Gay's brother Tom who was now The Falcon. Why these women were written with such a heavy hand is beyond me, but they do distract.

Still, this film is entertaining - James Gleason is excellent as the harried head of the investigation, and Allen Jenkins is funny as Gay's assistant. Always a pleasant way to pass the time.

Waldo Samson has perfected the manufacturing of synthetic diamonds. Criminals kidnap him for his secrets. New York Police Inspector Mike O'Hara recruits Gay "The Falcon" Lawrence (George Sanders) to find the missing scientist. He has to delay his planned wedding. He gets pulled in by jewel thief Rita Mara.

I enjoy George Sanders' devil-may-care cavalier attitude and Goldie's silliness. It's fun. It's a little ridiculous for a crime thriller. It's the second in the franchise and it has set up the pattern with these well-defined characters.