Agente especial

Saw 'Special Agent' for two main reasons. One is my high appreciation for Bette Davis, considered an acting legend, well more like a legend in any field, for good reason. Her performances in the likes of 'All About Eve' (iconic), 'Now Voyager' and 'The Letter' are evidence of that. Also love the genre it fits under, many good to classic films in the genre, and when it is done right (many cases of that being the case, but others have fallen into the potential traps) melodrama can be great.

Found 'Special Agent' to be a well done film on the whole. It may not fit my definition of a "special" film and may not be in the extraordinary category. Not everything works, the story could have been better or at least consistently executed. A vast majority of elements do work though, and generally wonderfully. A lot of good things here in 'Special Agent', namely the lighting and the acting, and it is just good fun. As long as not too much is expected, many should enjoy it.

Will start with what doesn't quite work, and actually it isn't a lot and is more mixed feelings than anything disastrously done. While always compelling and well paced, the story can be far-fetched and at times a touch over-complicated. The final third is not always easy to swallow.

Davis does very well in her role and admired that she tried to break away from her relative type-casting at the time, but can see where another commentator is coming from in their feelings of her sophisticated image not always fitting with the film's atmosphere.

The cast do a great job, with George Brent a charming male lead and Robert Strange and J. Carroll Naish imposing enough but the best performance comes from Ricardo Cortez on absolutely chilling form. 'Special Agent' is always confidently directed, while the story is generally fun and atmospheric without being overwrought and it is never dull.

It is a very well made film, with the visual standout being the lighting which is genuinely eerie. It has been said that the lighting makes Cortez scarier than he already is and personally cannot disagree. The dialogue is taut and sophisticated with the odd amusing part too, never feeling over-melodramatic or talky. Nicely scored too.

Overall, good fun. 7/10

Newspaper reporter Bill Bradford (George Brent) is recruited to bring down gangster Alexander Carston. Julie Gardner (Bette Davis) is Carston's bookkeeper who holds the codes to his books. Bill intends on turning her and convicting him of tax evasion.

This is a pretty good gangster movie which is lightly referring to Al Capone. It's great to have Bette Davis and she has a pretty good role. It would be nice to have someone just as iconic to be her partner in crime.

Bette Davis was already an established actress when she did this film with 27 movies under her belt, and an Oscar nomination for Of Human Bondage. She would win an Oscar for Dangerous the same year this film was released. This is a different Bette Davis than most of us are used to seeing. She was a cute blonde in this film and here acting ability was very evident even in this average gangster flick.

This flick had a good story about trying to bring down a mobster (Ricardo Cortez) with a T-Man (George Brent) posing as a newspaper reporter. You have to suspend belief at some of the story, but it's not 2007! Brent and Davis would join forces later with Bogey and Ronald Reagan in the Oscar-nominated Dark Victory.

The only thing about Special Agent worth remembering is that for Bette Davis it was the film that she did immediately prior to her first Oscar winner Dangerous. Other than that it was the kind of potboiler programmer that Warner Brothers kept casting her in despite acclaim she got for a few films like Of Human Bondage.

At least she got her favorite leading man in Special Agent and in the title role. George Brent has the perfect cover for being a Special Agent for the Treasury Department. He's a reporter which means he can go places see things and ask questions and no one suspects. Least of all gambler/racketeer Ricardo Cortez who Brent has been working on for years to take down.

Of course this film was done with the successful prosecution of Al Capone in the mind of the movie-going public. Davis keeps Cortez's books and Brent is keeping company with her. Here the story is rather vague. Did he like her before or after he learned she was keeper of the records in her own code so even Cortez can't decipher it. His convincing Bette to turn on Cortez wasn't really convincing to me.

Coming off best in this film is Ricardo Cortez. He is one shrewd article who has his fingers everywhere, it's why no one's caught him till now and Brent nearly doesn't get him this time.

Special Agent did Bette Davis and George Brent no harm and great things were in the offing for Bette Davis.

George Brent is a reporter and pretty chummy with racketeer Ricardo Cortez. Bette Davis is Cortez' personal secretary and keeps his books for him in code. Everyone knows what Cortez is, and Miss Davis fears him -- he's ruthless with 'associates' whom he doesn't find useful and she might be at risk. The local DA can't jail him, but the Feds look to get him on income tax evasion, like they got Capone.

Miss Davis wears hideous-looking costumes, with lots of lace, that make her look even skinnier than usual. Brent is competent, and it's Cortez who owns this movie. His veiled threats are terrifying. Still, despite the occasional flares of machine-gun fire, it's a well-financed programmer.

This was Bette Davis' reward for fighting the Warner Brothers for better roles and losing. Her next movie would win her an Academy Award.