A Date with the Falcon (1942)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Second in RKO's fun series of B mystery films about a suave detective named Gay Lawrence (aka The Falcon). In the first few movies in the series, the Falcon is played by the great George Sanders. Here the Falcon investigates the disappearance of an inventor who has discovered how to create synthetic diamonds that are identical to the real thing. Sanders is terrific in this role -- charming, witty, and flirtatious. It's a shame he didn't do more than the few he did. But his brother Tom Conway was a fine replacement so I can't complain. Wendy Barrie returns as the Falcon's love interest. Allen Jenkins steals the show as the comic relief sidekick, Goldie. The rest of the solid supporting cast includes James Gleason, Mona Maris, and Edward Gargan. Hans Conreid has a funny bit as a hotel clerk. In the previous Falcon movie, he played a police sketch artist. The Falcon series was admittedly formulaic, and this whole business about a kidnapped inventor is definitely nothing new, but it was undeniably entertaining. The brisk pace, short runtime, and healthy amounts of comedy help a lot. It's lighthearted fun for anybody looking to kill an hour and change.

A Date With The Falcon finds George Sanders as the smooth gentleman crook getting himself involved with a kidnapping plot. The victim in this case has developed a process to manufacture synthetic industrial diamonds. Remember this was the time when American ingenuity developed synthetic rubber so the concept was not that far fetched to 1942 audiences. In any event the crooks kidnap the guy who invented the synthetic diamond and Sanders has to convince the authorities he's not in on the plot. He also has to convince Wendy Barrie that he's not two timing her with femme fatale Mona Maris. I leave it to you which is tougher.This one really developed into more comedy than a serious B film drama with the hero himself taking over from Allen Jenkins as sidekick Goldie Locke and James Gleason as the police inspector. Even Barrie with her jealous antics was mugging for the camera.Not the best of the Falcon series.

In the 1930s and 40s there were a ton of B-detective series films, such as Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes, Boston Blackie, The Lone Wolf as well as The Falcon. All these movies shared some common traits--the movies were short (only about an hour in length), were very quickly made, had rather formulaic plots, featured stupid cops and were a lot of fun to watch but also tend to blend together in your mind because the stories are all so similar. I like these films a lot and have probably seen more of them than a person should! Of these series, The Falcon may be my favorite due to the excellent dialog and better than average supporting characters. It's really a shame George Sanders only made a few, though his brother (Tom Conway) continued the series with about nine of his own. It's also a shame that as the series continued, the films became less and less interesting--perhaps due to the frequency of their being produced (six in a two year span alone).As I mentioned above, The Falcon series had good supporting characters. In this case, the Inspector was played very capably by veteran character actor James Gleason. Unlike most cops in other series, Gleason wasn't particularly dim. He did have a dim assistant (Leo Cleary), but despite Brody's lower than normal I.Q., he did manage to catch the criminals single-handedly. All this was such a relief to me--finally cops in a detective film that weren't total buffoons! In addition to these actors, George Sanders' assistant is the old reliable character actor, Allen Jenkins--who is always great for a laugh.The plot is about a synthetic diamond formula that is so good that even experts can't tell these fakes from high quality originals. Not surprisingly, the inventor and his formula are kidnapped (after Gleason does about the only bone-headed thing in the movie--leaving the scientist alone in his lab to wait for a bodyguard to arrive). Now that I think about it, the plot itself really isn't all that important--it's the characters and Sanders' witty comments he made throughout this breezy little gem.

Rather lackluster entry in the George Sanders "Falcon" series. Rather than charming his fiancé, the Falcon appears to be intimidated by her - which appears to be out of character. Wendy Barrie as the fiancée spends the entire movie trying to get the Falcon to leave town on a trip -- was this an overnight trip before they were to be married? James Gleason is excellent, as always, as the police detective. Allen Jenkins is good as sidekick Goldie but appears insufficiently on screen to carry the comic side of the story. The two females (Mona Maris is characterized by the Falcon as a skinny old hag) appear on screen too much and simply do not work. The writing, music, and gowns (by Renie) are the best part of this film. Not much here to be recommended.