Society Smugglers (1939) User Reviews (4)

T-men on the high seas. ;)

[ripplinbuckethead · 7/10 · 2 September 2019]

When the Treasury Department suspects a luggage company-which has recently run a contest offering a European cruise-of smuggling diamonds, they plant a woman as a secretary in their office, and a t-man on the cruise ship. There will be intrigue and danger both on the high seas and on the land...

I watched this one simply because Preston Foster is the lead, and as usual, he made it fun. Fiesty Irene Hervey was good as his co-worker/on again, off again love interest too, as was Fred Keating as one of the main crooks. Throw in Frank Jenks in a cute role, and good ol' Regis Toomey as the t-man (of course) planted on the cruise and you've got yourself a solid cast.

I wouldn't say this was one of Foster's best, but I still liked the story, there's some witty dialogue, and a couple of surprises, too. Worth a look!

Why not?

[searchanddestroy-1 · 2 February 2014]

I usually Watch this kind of movies. Rare and B films found thanks of TCM or from bootlegged stuff, transfered from 16mm prints. Joe May is a director whose I don't really know the work, except maybe some of his latest features. He was a film maker who ran away from Nazi Germany, that's all I know from him.

It is more a comedy and drama rather of a crime flick. Some fists and gunfights scenes, especially at the end, so suddenly that it almost woke me up, in the pure Tarantino style, at the moment you don't expect at all. But it's not BEAST OF THE CITY either, nor LAW AND ORDER (Eddy Cahn's film, of course, not the Nathan Juran's one.)

Preston Foster is not here as terrific as he was in KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL. The usual grade B picture from Universal Studios.

Don't blink. Don't take a potty break. Well not before putting this on pause first.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 28 June 2022]

F-men, G-men, t-men. Did the government cover every letter in the alphabet for its investigative agencies? Perhaps too complex and convoluted for its own good, this wisecracking crime drama deals with an elegant luggage company that uses unsuspecting passengers to smuggle jewels duty free. Federal agent Irene Hervey is planted among the luggage company employees to infiltrate the racket, and is easily discovered, which puts her in danger even though heads of the racket decide to just make sure she doesn't get any additional info while keeping an eye on her.

Treasury boss Preston Foster has more than a passing interest in her as do several others. This is fast moving and often funny, but I'm still perplexed over why the feds would arrange for five people to be contest winners, and out of the blue send one of them to Hawaii instead. There's plenty of action and interesting twists and turns, but perhaps watching too many late 30's programmers has gotten me expecting better plots and less messy issues along the way. Fine as a B Universal programmer, but also frustrating in ways that made me feel more seasick than the passengers.

Well Written, Directed And Performed Cops-and-Robbers Yarn

[boblipton · 8/10 · 11 September 2019]

Irene Hervey chooses five slogans from the publicity contest that her boss, Clay Clement, has been running. The people who wrote them get a full set of the firm's luggage and a guided tour of Europe. What they don't know is that Miss Hervey is an agent with the Treasury Department. Her boss, Preston Foster, is leading her and fellow agent Regis Toomey, trying to figure out what they're smuggling and how.

It's a slick and well written movie, the third directed by Joe May in the United States, and he directs at afine clip, with some nice performances. Miss Hervey has a lot of admirers, from Foster, who wants to marry her, even though she likes her job; Frank Jenks, who works at her, knows she is out of his class, and keeps clumsily and sadly trying; and Walter Woolf King, who's the unseen head of the ring. The gambits are clever and unexpected, and heartily amusing and human.