Leofwine_draca BANK ALARM is another low gauge thriller from the USA, made in 1937 and about a detective searching for the mastermind behind a string of successful bank robberies that have left the locality reeling. Little does he realise that he has a personal connection to the ringleader as it turns out his own sister is dating him.It's not really much of a hook on which to hang a movie but BANK ALARM tries very hard throughout. The problem is that the whole thing feels quite low brow with barely efficient plotting and a predominance of comic relief which feels very dated. In addition the pacing isn't quite right so this is a bit of a slog in places. The cast members do their best but the overall result is more than disappointing.

bkoganbing On the silent screen and the early sound era Conrad Nagel was a major star working with such people as Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. But by 1937 he was in the minor leagues working at Grand National Studios and starring in a series where he plays G-man named Alan O'Connor.In this film Bank Alarm Nagel is working on a series of bank robberies and since the New Deal and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation bank robbery is now a federal crime. It's what J. Edgar Hoover's agency did its best work.But there's another wrinkle here as someone is attempting to change serial numbers to make the loot untraceable. By dumb luck he changes a bill and makes a serial number the same as one in Nagel's hands. The second wrinkle is that Nagel's sister is actually being romanced by one of the gang.Vince Barnett plays a photographer and Nagel's sidekick. I might have shot the guy on general stupidity grounds. What was kind of touching in Scarface did not work at all in Bank Alarm for Barnett.Conrad Nagel must have wished for the arms of Greta Garbo once more.

calvinnme Conrad Nagel is the only "big" name in this film, but I'd say it's a pretty satisfying B. You have to remember this is a poverty row product, yet it is well directed and acted and has a couple of interesting twists and turns as far as the script goes. Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt play a G-man and G-woman who seem to have something romantic going - I was actually a bit confused at first as to whether or not they were playing a married couple - and are actually allowed to work together in the field in the days of J. Edgar, but then I guess that's another story. I think this film was going for the "Thin Man" married sleuth recipe that was such a hit in the 30's without being redundant, thus the federal agent angle. Nagel and Hunt display quite a bit of chemistry as well as good sleuthing teamwork. What I found distracting were some of Eleanor Hunt's headdresses! I know the well-dressed lady usually wore one up until the 1960's but gosh, I'm surprised she wasn't receiving radio signals on some of them! What brings the Feds to town is a group of bank robbers who have begun to knock off members of their own gang when they get to be too big of a risk - including one brazen murder inside a big city jail. You'd think this would have to lower morale inside the gang, but you'd be wrong. They seem to stay loyal to Mr. Big regardless of the fact that they have to know they could be next. And that's what our Fed agents are after - the Mr. Big behind it all, since the local authorities have been concentrating on picking up all of the low men on the totem pole with no lessening in the activity of the gang of robbers.There are really no surprises in this one, it's just an adequately executed bit of film history that is a good time passer. I could have done without Vince Barnett's somewhat forced pieces of slap-stick, and the local police are made to look so stupid it makes the cops in the Boston Blackie series look like Columbo, but that was probably done to make the Feds stand out as brilliant and saving the day.

MartinHafer This is a B-movie from Grand National—a relatively small-time studio by Hollywood standards. The film stars Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt as a G-man and his girlfriend. Nagel has been frustrated with his attempts to get information about a clever gang that has been involved with some daring robberies and forgeries. The local police have been no help so Hunt and an idiot photographer offer to help (they see much like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson—dumb and always in the way). One thing that no one knows is that Nagel's sister is dating a member of the gang! This is a reasonably well acted and entertaining B-movie. When I say B-movie, this is a term used to describe the second and lesser film from a double-feature. Unlike the A-picture, the B is very quickly and cheaply made---often by tiny independent studios like Grand National. While Bs often have a poor reputation, they are often fun to watch and sometimes are more entertaining than the A-film.Strengths of the film are good acting by Nagel and a plot that offers a few nice twists. The biggest negative is the limp comic relief—it didn't improve the film at all and the viewer was left wondering if anyone in real life is as big a cretin as the numb-skull photographer, Bulb. The answer is no.