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.

I love these old Falcon movies--especially for the cad actions of George Sanders who made a career out of playing such characters. He was very comical or serious as needed which was a mainstay of movies of this kind in the 30s and 40s. These movies are definitely B-movies but do have an addictive nature to them. Perhaps we are not meant to watch them one after the other as I have recently done. Watching them in this way makes the continuity of characters and actions more noticeable.My main complaint in this one is the total change in character the writers and/or director imposed on Wendy Barrie. Did they even watch the first movie in the series. In "The Gay Falcon"--the first Falcon movie--Wendy's Helen was sweet, helpful, and rather innocent. In this movie, she is dressed too sophisticated, acts too harsh, and has lost all of her sweetness that made her so appealing. (She even uses a different pitch of her voice.) This problem could have been avoided by just making her a different character rather than Helen Reed. After all, the Falcon had a variety of women after him throughout the series. Wendy was in lots of these Falcon and Saint movies and usually played a different character, and there was no quibble in that as we viewers--and probably the 30s and 40s audience did too--realize that these movies were full of character actors--not big stars--and consequently these actors could be plugged into a part as needed. They were probably standing around on the lot waiting to get a script. Just look at Hans Conreid in the 2 Falcon movies--completely different characters but a scene stealer in each.Although many of complaints made by other posters are valid, this movie is a must see for those of us who love B&W B-movies from the past. ! The new Warner Brothers boxed set is very good--even though it lacks any frills, just the movies. A good way to spend about an hour.

After suffering a night of lack luster sleep I turned on the television to see what could send me to sleep. After putting on BBC2 I happened on the Movie "A date with falcon", and was hooked from the start. I've been a fan of the genre and enjoyed the mix of comedy and adventure the story portrayed. The cast are charming, suave and full of quips. I loved it and recommend it to people who want to see a action show with a little intelligence, it might be old black and white, but it doesn't effect it one bit. Worth a nights lack of sleep.The future stories are OK but the first three in the series are the better of the series, and include the original cast of characters, future stories have some of the cast switched due to people going off to other projects.

Years ago I must have taped this film which was shown on TCM and it sure was an eye opener. George Sanders,( Gay Lawrence/Falcon),"Solomon and Sheba",'59, played a role quite similar to the "Thin Man" series with Dick Powell. The Falcon was about to get married to Helen Reed,(Wendy Barrie),"Peter Pan",'50 Broadway Theatre, NYC, and suddenly was caught up in a great mystery concerning diamond dealings and plenty of gangsters. James Gleason,(Inspector Mike O'Hara), tried to keep up with the Falcon and was even forced into arresting him quite often through out the picture. This was really a slap stick Comedy, Drama "B" picture and George Sanders did a great job playing the Major Comic. If you are a fan of George Sanders, you will never believe the way he acted in this picture, entirely different than "The Lodger" or "Hangover Square".