A Date with the Falcon (1942)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Irving Reis

Writers:

Lynn Root (original screenplay) and
Frank Fenton (original screenplay) ...

Release Date:

16 January 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

ALL NEW THRILLS! (original ad - all caps)

Plot:

In the second film of the series (and not a second part of anything), Gay Lawrence, aka The Falcon, is about to depart the city to marry his fiancée...

Plot Keywords:

The Falcon | Diamond | Second Part | Secret Formula | Synthetic Diamond

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Nov. 20

7:15 AM

TCM

Cast

George Sanders	...	Gay Lawrence / The Falcon
Wendy Barrie	...	Helen Reed
James Gleason	...	Inspector Michael 'Mike' O'Hara
Allen Jenkins	...	Jonathan 'Goldy' Locke
Mona Maris	...	Rita Mara

Also Known As:

Falken nära döden (Sweden) [sv]
Ta diamantia tou thanatou (Greece) [el]
Una cita con El Halcón (Argentina) [es]

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (2005) | Australia:PG | UK:U | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:Approved (PCA #7653) | Sweden:15

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: When the Falcon glimpses the room number for the "scientist" in the hotel, it's easy to read the number 506 in the book. However, when he later enters the scientist's room, the number 516 can be clearly seen on the door.

Movie Connections:

Followed by The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943)

Average 'dame trouble' stuff takes the lead over the actual plot to the detriment of the film

Samson is a hard working scientist who has developed a technique for developing synthetic diamond for the purposes of tooling and industrial use.

However the synthetic diamonds are so realistic that even experts cannot tell them apart – making Samson a target for criminals. When Samson goes missing, Inspector O'Hara turns to Gay Lawrence for help. Despite having woman troubles with his fiancé, Helen, the Falcon finds himself in the middle of the investigation and pursued by the gang, who are understandably keen to get such a keen mind off the case before he makes progress.

With a pretty standard (and unlikely) set up, it is not long before the Falcon is drafted onto the case. The plot is not great though and isn't as focused on the actual investigation as I would have liked. Instead it mixes it with the side kick of Falcon's fiancé and, while I can see what they were trying to do with it, it doesn't really work awfully well at all. Indeed it would have made a nice play with Helen being the sidekick that the Falcon has in other films but here this aspect and the actual plot mix about as well as oil and water and, sadly, the investigation into Samson's disappearance occasionally plays second fiddle to Lawrence having woman troubles.

However most viewers of this series will have gotten used to the fact that the crime plots are never the strongest here but often this is covered by some good humour. While there are quite a few nice touches to this material, the film is not nearly as amusing as it should be. The Falcon himself has a certain swagger to him but too much of the film is him looking flustered and frustrated by trying to balance his couple of women. The script does throw out some good material for minor roles and has some funny set ups (playing drunk to escape the baddies is a good moment) but generally it isn't funny enough to cover the fact that the plot can't even manage to stretch to an hour. As a result the cast don't do as well as they could have. Sanders is very good in some scenes but then in others he is very poor and not anything like the cool, crisp mind that I expect him to be. Jenkins is poorly used considering how funny he can be when used sparingly in support – but here he is far too sparingly used and has nothing to do until late in the day. Gleason's inspector is good but Barrie is annoying and Maris is nowhere near the femme fatale she was clearly trying to be.

It is still an OK little film but not one of the better in the series even if fans still enjoy it for what it is. The film gets better as it goes but too much in the first half is poorly judged and the actual case/plot mostly plays as second billing behind some flat comedy involving a couple of 'dames' and several misunderstandings.