JohnHowardReid 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.

blanche-2 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.

Michael Morrison 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.

Michael_Elliott 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.