A Date with the Falcon
                  
        
Director: Irving Reis
Year:  1942
Rating: 5.0
The second Falcon film perhaps wanders a bit too much into comedic territory but it is still fairly entertaining. This is one of the major differences between the Falcon films and the Saint films – the comedic sidekick and at least in the first two films a running joke with the jealous fiancée. For some that could get a little annoying but I didn’t mind. George Sanders is back as The Falcon along with his comedy support Allen Jenkins and Wendy Barrie returns too as Helen Reed. In the last film she was his Girl Friday while the Falcon had a fiancée – but apparently between films she got rid of the fiancée and installed herself but has also taken on the demeanor of the other fiancée – angry and frustrated at The Falson. An added addition is one of my favorite character actors – often as a policeman – James Gleason as Inspector O’Hara. The Falcon is about to go off with Barrie to catch a plane to see her parents. He doesn’t quite get there.



A scientist who has invented a way to create synthetic diamonds that are impossible to detect is kidnapped by a gang run by a fellow named Max (Victor Kilian) and the femme fatale (Mona Maris, no relation to Roger) who keeps trying to seduce The Falcon to no avail. Why or how The Falcon gets involved in all of this is not easy to determine but he does or there would not be much of a movie. The best scene is a funny one which in a mystery is probably not a good thing – The Falcon has discovered a dead body in a hotel room and when he hears the cops approaching he hides outside on the ledge. But Barrie spots him from below and starts yelling and a crowd quickly gathers taking bets if he will jump or making snide smart-alecky remarks. This is New York City after all.



There were in total sixteen Falcon films running from 1941 to 1949. Sanders is in the first four until he hands the nickname and gig over to Tom Conway who was his real life brother and his brother in the film. Conway was in nine of them until John Calvert sort of took over the role – sort of because his name in the films is Michael Waring which was the name of The Falcon in a series of three books written by Charles Huff in the 1930’s but The Falcon character was based on a short story by Michael Arlen titled Gay Falcon in 1940. Slightly confusing but there must have been a reason.