A Date with the Falcon

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.

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.

Good lively installment in the Falcon series. Gay Lawrence (Falcon) gets mixed up with gangsters trying to take over a synthetic diamond invention. This, of course, leads to a lot of mock run-ins with the law and the crooks. Despite the programmer status, the cast is really motivated, showing more than an ordinary amount of spirit. Sanders especially is looser than I've ever seen him, even making little-kid faces at the cops. He seems to be having a good time throughout. There's also a number of good touches from director Reis— the humorously coordinated crowd scenes, the snappy dialog delivery, Goldie (Jenkins) tap-dancing his way up the sobriety line. And catch cat woman Elizabeth Russell in the very last scene, several years before scaring the pants off us in the great Val Lewton horror series. And on a more somber note, gangster Max is played by Victor Killian, himself a 1979 victim of an unsolved murder. All in all, it's a rousing little hour with the Falcon and company, sure to keep you entertained.

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!!

This Falcon entry (2/13) was played mainly for laughs, sometimes bordering on slapstick. The puns and wisecracks come thick and fast between the leading characters, all of them doubting everyone else's intelligence or honour. Wendy Barrie is almost manic in her assumed jealousy, James Gleason as the police Inspector is perfect and always brings his performance in "Arsenic and old lace" to my mind whenever I see him. But it's George Sanders as the Falcon and Allen Jenkins as his sidekick Goldie that have the majority of the smart ass one-liners, Sanders' body language is sometimes Music Hall but always believable.

Scientist Alec Craig apparently murdered by a gang after his formula to produce perfect synthetic diamonds, the Falcon unwillingly pulled into the caper whilst urgently trying to get off to get married to the frothing Barrie. As usual the entire NY police force was alerted to apprehend him as a murderer that no-one ever believes he really is. And Barrie loves him with a passion even though she knows he'll always love nearly all women. And Goldie stays with him wanting an easy life but knowing he'll never be getting one.

Enjoyable film, 61 minutes short but a lot seems to happen. Ed Gargan as Bates even shone here with a supreme show of brainpower!