Secret Service of the Air (1939) User Reviews (13)

Timely subject gets the B-film treatment in early Reagan film...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 4 March 2009]

Warner Bros. used their B-films as a training ground for their new contract players and this time it's RONALD REAGAN's turn to take his place as leading man in an action-filled melodrama about the Secret Service and a plan to trap criminals who are responsible for bringing illegal aliens into the U.S. from Mexico via plane.

JOHN RIDGELY is an airline pilot at the controls when he has to dispose of the illegals when the feds are closing in on them. The shocking moment has him flipping a switch so the passenger compartment opens up, ridding him of all the illegals in flight.

But the rest of the story is routine stuff, with JAMES STEPHENSON as the man heading the ring who at first trusts that Reagan (who has joined the illegals under pretext of being a criminal) is okay to be one of his pilots. It's swiftly paced and the only drawback is the comedy relief supplied by EDDIE FOY, JR. in the kind of role Frank McHugh usually played in Warner flicks.

Reagan acquits himself well as the 20-year-old newcomer and has a couple of fight scenes that look as though the stunt men got quite a workout.

Summing up: Not bad for a B-film that played the lower half of double bills.

Near-Serial thrills

[boblipton · 5/10 · 11 June 2003]

Fast, engaging Warner Brothers B movie, spearheaded by the dependable John Litel and the young(?!) Ronald Reagan as they engage in various undercover stuff. The movie is paced like a strung-together serial, and the entire production is full of gimmicky holes -- Reagan, despite being recognized as an ex-con, is hired as a pilot in about eighteen seconds -- but it hangs together through sheer speed.

For a "B", it ain't bad

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 11 July 2007]

The film begins with some criminals transporting illegal aliens into the US from Mexico. However, this is NOT the typical group of illegals--many are criminals and those running the business are evil scum. This becomes apparent when the plane is almost captured by a Secret Service agent. How he and the rest of the passengers were done away with in an early scene was truly horrifying and shocked me.

Later, airline pilot Ronald Reagan is approached by the Secret Service and asked to join. The problem is, they need to ruin his clean reputation so that the mob will believe he is their kind of person, so government frames Reagan and sends him for a short stint in prison--after which time he makes contact with the crooks and infiltrates the gang.

This was an obvious B-movie from Warner Brothers due to the style of film (emphasizing action and a very fast pace), the fact that the movie is filled with unknown actors (even star Ronald Reagan was a definite newcomer to the screen) and its short length (at just over one hour). Often, over the years' "B" has come to mean bad or second-rate, though this movie is pretty good considering that it was meant to be a lesser film in a double-feature. Sure, you can't compare it to the very best films of the time, but this breezy little film is a good showcase for Reagan and helps to hide his relatively wooden screen persona. I liked Reagan but gotta admit he wasn't the most charismatic actor of his age. About the only other negatives are common in B's and these are plot holes--little inconsistencies or logical errors that were never effectively dealt with, such as how easy it was for Reagan's cover to get blown--but what do you expect for 63 minutes?!

Enjoyable

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2008]

Secret Service of the Air (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Warner "B" flick about a pilot (Ronald Reagan) who joins the Secret Service so that he can take down some smugglers. I wasn't expecting too much out of this film but like Warner's gangster pictures, this film contains just about everything you could possibly fit into a 61-minute movie. You get a prison break, car chases, shootouts, bar fights, a silly love story, brawls, various plane chases and much more. I wouldn't exactly say Reagan gives a good performance but he is fun to watch. The film eventually runs out of steam and never gets too deep but overall this is a pretty entertaining movie.

Not bad at all -- as Ronald Reagan movies go!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 4 April 2018]

Associate producer: Bryan Foy. Copyright 4 March 1939 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 1 March 1939. U.S. release: 4 March 1939. Australian release: 6 April 1939. 61 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Brass is assigned to bring in a gang of alien smugglers. How? By going undercover and joining the gang of course. NOTES: First of the four Brass Bancroft movies, all starring Ronald Reagan. The others: Code of the Secret Service, Smashing the Money Ring, Murder in the Air. Second of four films (all made in 1939) for Ila Rhodes who was actually engaged to Ronald Reagan before he married Jane Wyman.

COMMENT: Plenty of stock footage, but also plenty of especially staged action, and a cast list as long as your arm, all testify to a fair amount of money expended on this initial entry. No wonder Ronald Reagan is always smiling.

True, comic Eddie Foy, Jr, makes a somewhat unconvincing sidekick, but he often finds himself written out of the plot for long stretches, allowing ace villains Bernard Nedell and Frank M. Thomas to take up the running. Mind you, Mr. Foy has no reason to complain. He's way down the cast list, whereas top-billed (after Reagan) heroine, Ila Rhodes, despite an elaborate introduction, simply disappears.

Noel Smith directs the action highlights with considerable gusto. We loved the all-in brawl in the bar and the fast-paced break-out from the jail. A pity the climax itself with Foy struggling to regain control of a runaway plane isn't half as thrilling, but you can't have everything.

G-Men in airplanes

[csteidler · 6/10 · 6 April 2023]

A bold gang is smuggling in aliens via airplane. The Secret Service needs a new agent to infiltrate the gang and find out how they operate. Veteran agent John Litel knows a young pilot who has just been waiting for a chance to join up:

Ronald Reagan is the energetic young flyer who jumps at the chance for some adventure. The G-men cook up a scheme where Reagan is arrested for counterfeiting and put in prison - where he can make some contacts and do some investigating.

The dialog isn't too good but a fairly decent plot moves along quickly. Reagan is fine as the brash undercover hero. James Stephenson is predictably suave and cunning as the head bad guy whom Reagan must outsmart. Eddie Foy Jr. Tries hard but gets few laughs in a comic relief role that's more annoying than funny.

Nothing too exciting but Reagan is undeniably fun to watch.

T-Man killed in the air, the Secret Service gets their culprits

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 18 October 2012]

According to Secret Service Of The Air Ronald Reagan as Brass Bancroft was brought into the service because of his skills as a pilot flying the Trans-Pacific run. Later on in the four film series his pilot skills were not necessarily needed, but this was a B picture series and back then who cared.

An Treasury man on a counterfeiting case got wind of an illegal immigrant smuggling racket and pays with his life in a particularly nasty way being thrown out of an airplane along with the other illegals on that flight. After that the Treasury Department takes the lead on the case and you can see why Reagan is recruited into the Secret Service.

This film introduced Reagan in the role of Brass Bancroft and by the time he had finished his fourth film he was doing other and better things with films like Dark Victory and Santa Fe Trail under his belt and Knute Rockne and Kings Row to come. John Litel as his supervisor and Eddie Foy, Jr. as his sidekick were also introduced.

James Stephenson is the villain here, a really smooth and deadly piece of work. He did a really good job here, almost like he'd come down from another classier film to appear here.

Reagan is breezy, credible, and likable as a fast talking, fast thinking undercover hero. Some of the other Brass Bancroft films were infinitely worse, this one is all right.

fast-moving B from Warners

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 15 August 2014]

Criminals bring illegal aliens into the U.S. from Mexico. Many of these illegals are criminals. When the plane is nearly captured by a Secret Service agent, the agent and the passengers are all killed.

A young pilot (Ronald Reagan) is asked by the Secret Service to get in with the smuggling ring; to do so, they have to give him a criminal record. The government frames him and he spends some time in prison, and afterward, he connects with the criminals and gets into the gang.

Well-paced B movie from Warners and entertaining. Reagan as always is pleasant and likable, and not yet a star. That and politics would come later.

Ronald Reagan working for the Secret Service

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 14 January 2016]

***SPOILERS**** Hot shot pilot for the China Clipper co. Lt. "Bras-Balls" Bancroft played by future US President and leader of the free world Ronald Wilson Reagan is recruited by his good friend Tom Saxby, John Litel, as an undercover agent for the US Secret Service. Brsss' job is to stop a ruthless gang smuggling aliens of all types and from all nations illegally into the United States.

Using the cover of a convicted counterfeiter Brass is sent to federal prison and made Earl "Ace" Hemrich's played by Bernard Nedall,who was convicted of flying illegal aliens into the country, cell-mate. With "Ace" letting Brass in on a prison break the next day Brass goes along with him only to later, after crashing out of jail, getting re-captured and sent to do hard time on the notorious "Rock" Alcatraz. But instead of being sent to the "Rock" Brass is released and given clearance by his boss Saxby to get a job as a pilot for the L.A Taxi co. that Ace used to fly in illegal aliens for.

****SPOILERS**** Things get very "bally" for Brass-Balls when Ace escapes from prison and gets back to see his boss of the air freight company Jim Cameron, James Stephenson, that Brass is working for. At first talking his way out of trouble in him convincing Cameron that he made a deal with the government to get out of prison and later slugging it out with a number of his goons-including Ace- to show that he's all right Brass ends up getting Cameron together with a number of illegal aliens on his plane to fly back, from Mexico, to the states. Where unknown to Cameron the Feds as well as FBI Agents are waiting to arrest him when the plane lands.

Illegal Aliens Sneak Across The Border!!!!

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 9 July 2014]

Kind of fun, actually, with no time wasted.

Reagan is a transport pilot who is recruited by the Secret Service to do some undercover work in a gang of ugly thugs who run a business transporting rich white illegals from Mexico into the United States to pick melons. Well -- not to pick melons but to find a stash of bonds or engage in some other scurrilous activity.

To give the pristine Reagan the proper background, the Secret Service frames him for some outrage and puts him in a cell with a former pilot for the sneaky business. The imprisoned pilot gives Reagan the low down on the business -- "Just mention my name." But when a staged getaway is deliberately thwarted by the Secret Service, the pilot goes back to the slams and Reagan is released, now with the requisite prison record, and insinuates himself into the gang as their new pilot.

The gang is suspicious of Regan for a while and they put him on probation, but eventually accept him as a really good bad guy. That's when the original pilot gets out of the slams, and when he hears that Reagan is doing the flying, he twigs to the fact that that getaway attempt was staged by the Secret Service. How? I don't know. Call it fulgurating intuition.

It's a kinetic, no-nonsense movie, full of brawls in Mexican cantinas, the dumping of passengers out of a kind of bomb bay, Reagan's refulgent grin, and people sneaking around and spying on others. There's hardly a dull moment.

Is it a B feature? You bet, but a good example of its kind.

'B' movie, as in 'Brass Bancroft'

[morrisonhimself · 8/10 · 3 June 2009]

Too many people even today still don't realize the "B" designation merely meant lower budget -- or, sometimes, low budget.

This particular "B" movie -- the first in a series -- didn't cost as much to make as, say, an equally action-packed flick with Errol Flynn, but there is still an entertaining aspect.

The cast is a good one, with some top-notch talent not even getting screen credit. Such stellar names as John Hamilton, and Eddy Chandler and Lane Chandler, Pierre Watkin and Pat O'Malley, are not names at all, until a fan comes to IMDb to look.

Ronald Reagan is the star, and he was still looking to break out of the ranks, after being overshadowed (and I honestly don't understand why, after seeing the film recently) in "Brother Rat" by Eddie Albert.

Yes, Albert turned into a great actor, but in "Brother Rat" he was rather blah, possibly because his character was, and Reagan came across stronger, again possibly because of his character.

In this movie, Reagan shines: He is a very good-looking man, with a great smile, and he handles the action scenes well, and, perhaps most important, he displays a very winning personality.

The Brass Bancroft character appeared in several more films of this popular series and finally, after doing well as secondary characters in bigger-budget movies (with the like of Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart), he got his chance at stardom.

This "Secret Service" entry might not seem like anything startlingly new today, but in 1939 it broke some ground. Right at the beginning, when the pilot fears being caught carrying illegal aliens, the horrific act surely shocked audiences.

I've been wanting for years to see the Bancroft series or at least a Bancroft movie, and finally, thanks to Turner Classic Movies, I have.

All in all, it's a good story with a million-dollar cast.

Secret service of the air

[wynterwulf · 22 February 2005]

I can't find the movie "Secret service of the air" with Ronald Reagan anywhere, I really want to watch it. Can anyone help me? Minette [e-mail] (The email is all together) one of the actresses in this movie is from my family and I really really would like to watch it or buy it. So please let me know if someone knows or have information about where or how I can see this movie. I would be so grateful and happy to know I could someday see or buy this movie. Please let me know. I really would appreciate if someone has an opportunity to make me very happy. Thank you so much for your attention. I will be checking to see if someone will respond to my comment.

Reagan Rocks!

[gkeith_1 · 10/10 · 12 January 2016]

I'll give it a 10. If I watch a whole movie, usually I like it. Reagan, even though not my political party, I thought was an excellent actor. Witness Kings Row and Bedtime for Bonzo.

Lovely to see Eddie Foy, Jr. Of course, he could sing. He came from a famous musical family, lol.

All the bad guys . . . They never had a chance. The fed guy was great... John Litel. Foy was great in assisting Reagan in kapowing said bad guys.

The women were good in this film, and both pretty and well-dressed.

1942 brought another movie with Foy, in Yankee Doodle Dandy (which I saw), appearing as his famous father, Eddie Foy, Sr.

Loved seeing all the miniature aircraft in the skies. Also, I marveled at the obvious stuntpersons it took to make this film.

No dance movie here, but I actually liked it.

10/10