Code of the Secret Service

CODE OF THE SECRET SERVICE has RONALD REAGAN as an agent on the trail of counterfeiters in Mexico, with ROSELLA TOWNES as his co-star. She's pretty and earnest, resembling Lana Turner in her starlet days. Reagan handles all the action in a believable enough way, so it's surprising that the film was received so indifferently by some reviewers.

Actually, it resembles a cliffhanger that could have been used as a serial for Saturday afternoon programming in the kind of serial chapters that were used in the '30s and '40s to keep the kids in their seats. Reagan keeps finding himself and Townes in precarious situations that they have to use a little ingenuity to get out of, always escaping in time to keep one step ahead of villainous MORONI OLSEN.

Not bad at all, as these crime capers go, with Reagan and Townes both giving earnest performances in what feels like a Republic serial but is actually a Warner Bros. B-film with a brief running time.

Interesting mainly for a glimpse of early Reagan as action hero in a programmer.

Early in Ronald Reagan's career, he made some surprisingly good films such as LOVE IS ON THE AIR, BROTHER RAT and SECRET SERVICE OF THE AIR. While they weren't exactly masterpieces, they were competently made and good B vehicles for the struggling young actor. However, among these films came the awful CODE OF THE SECRET SERVICE--ostensibly a follow-up to SECRET SERVICE OF THE AIR, though the films really aren't all that similar (besides, CODE OF THE SECRET SERVICE was written by chimps, the other one was not).

Reagan once again plays the character "Brass Bancroft", though oddly, he isn't a pilot in this film nor does it have much to do with the last one--especially in tempo. Instead of an action-adventure film, this film lacks depth and has so many logical errors that it looks like a bad movie serial (such as SPY SMASHER) and condenses it all into one very brief movie. Again and again, characters defy logic and the plot is amazingly banal because the emphasis is on fist fights and guns like a bad B-Western--making Reagan seem to have the charisma of a tomato. Some examples of how bad it was were the plane Reagan rode on at the beginning of the film changed from a Lockheed airliner to a Douglas DC-3 (taking off as one and landing as the other), a car that whipped around corners on a dirt rode that sounded exactly like one on asphalt and Reagan almost getting killed again and again by the Mexican police yet all he had to do was show him his i.d. and let them know he was a US Secret Service agent!! The bottom line is that this is a super-bad B-picture that is bad enough it should be considered a "C-picture"--it's THAT bad. Warner Brothers should have been ashamed of themselves.

I don't know. If you say that, you therefore are saying Bedtime for Bonzo is better. I admit I haven't seen it, but could that be true?

I suggest anyone interested in the background of this film read the IMDb trivia section - it's very good.

People are constantly demeaning Ronald Reagan's acting - at least they have since he went into politics. His range wasn't great, but he had a certain charm in lightweight supporting roles, and he always looked good on a horse.

Apparently this was part of a B serial, the first film being Secret Service of the Air, which I also haven't seen. And may skip.

Reagan plays Brass Bancroft, who is assigned to investigate and break up a counterfeit ring operating out of Mexico. Eddie Foy Jr. Is on hand for some humor, and he actually is quite good, as are Rosella Townes and Moroni Olson.

I don't know if it's true, but a re-edit got this film into some sort of shape. I admit I didn't think it was terrible. I've seen probably 6000 films, and I can assure you I've seen much worse. I think a big deal is made about how bad it is because Reagan is in it.

Don't concentrate on the details too much, and you may find it okay. By the way, it was proven to Reagan that a book can stop a bullet.

This is a lousy movie; even Ronald Reagan named it as the worst he ever made. There's only one interesting thing about it: Jerry Parr was inspired to join the Secret Service because of this movie, and he ended up saving President Reagan's life!

Besides that, it's plain and simple lousy. Reagan plays a Secret Service agent who is tasked to find a money scam in Mexico. Someone has stolen official treasury plates and is printing fake currency. Do you think the good guys will capture the bad guys before it's too late? What about inflation? Well, that's not really discussed. This movie is only an hour long, so there's not much time for details. It's a C-picture, showing how the USA always has good guys running around capturing bad guys, so you'd better not think about stealing from us! Folks, stick with Kings Row.

Someone has stolen the plates used to make $100 bills, but don't worry, the Treasury Department is right on it. They know who has them, and where, and how thy're using acid to remove the ink from $1 bills so they can reprint them for enormous illegal profits. So they send Ronald Reagan, who speaks no Spanish down to Mexico across the river from Laredo, because that's how our government works. Fellow agent Charlie Foy tags along because someone has to get Reagan out of jail and make sure he hooks up with Rosella Towne. Besides, he's the brother of Bryan Foy, who runs Warner Brothers' B division. So there.

Cheaply shot by director Noel Smith, with mismatched shots and lack of attention to detail, this one was clearly intended for the Saturday matinee audience who wanted a break from the elevated performances of Gower Gulch oaters, and just wanted to see Reagan beat up Mexicans, and kiss a girl instead of a chimpanzee. It does that.