Roubando o Banco

This film begins with an agent for the Department of Justice by the name of "Alan O'Connor" (Conrad Nagel) along with his assistant "Bobbie Reynolds" (Eleanor Hunt) being sent to investigate a series of bank robberies in and around Los Angeles. However, upon starting their investigation they discover that their lead suspect has been killed while in jail awaiting questioning. That being said, they have no recourse other than to wait and see whether the bank heists continue and then follow up accordingly. It's during this time that Alan's sister "Kay O'Connor" (Wilma Francis) arrives and eager to show her around they invite her and a male friend she met on the airplane named "Jerry Turner" (Frank Milan) out to dinner. What they don't know is that Jerry has just flown in to join up with the bank robbers in a particular heist planned later in the week and is planning on using his relationship with Kay should anything go wrong. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a basic crime-drama from the 30's which clearly shows its age. To that end, although it flows smoothly enough, I didn't especially care for the inclusion of the bumbling photographer named "Clarence 'Bulb' Callahan" (Vince Barnett) who was brought in for comedic effect as it cheapened the overall effect. Be that as it may, while this wasn't a bad film necessarily, it could have been better and for that reason I have rated it as just slightly below average.

Clean-cut Conrad Nagel has a quick smile and ready wit as a federal agent on the trail of a pair of bank robbers whose brief stay in a small-town jail provides them with the perfect alibi when the local bank is robbed. A routine low-budget programmer that will fade quickly from the memory. The obligatory comic relief character - a clumsy photographer named Bulb - is particularly irritating.

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.

I don't known what it was about Hollywood in the 1930s, but there's a certain class of movie of which we got a glut in those first years after the talkie became the predominant form. No few titles of the decade are competently made, with a duly engaging narrative of some variety, but carry themselves with such an unbothered, even-keeled tone that it's all too easy to tune in and check out, and one has to be careful that they don't blink and miss five or ten minutes. Is it that studios were relying on the conglomeration of light AND sound to entrance viewers, so they could get by with material and execution that was less robust? Is it that filmmakers were broadly still acclimating to shooting with sound, and in one capacity or another the end product suffered? Were writers pressured to churn out one screenplay after another, whether to make a quick buck during the Great Depression and/or to take advantage of the new advances, and quality suffered in turn? I don't know what the answer is, but 'Bank alarm' fits the bill neatly.

It's not bad. There's some light humor, though some is overly silly, as if two different screenplays were written for this crime story - one a drama, the other comedy - and they were smashed together into one with a resulting uneven tenor. The story is fine, though with the way it's assembled here there's no possibility for major excitement, as half the puzzle pieces are largely laid out for the audience before the characters find them, and the other half are revealed with that same unbothered, even-keeled tone. The cast give suitable performances; the stunts and effects are capably executed. All the fundamentals are fine: direction, cinematography, editing (if sometimes too curt), sets, costume design, hair and makeup (if less than remarkable). And so on, and so on. We sit, we watch, the plot turns in this or that direction, an hour passes, and then we move on with our day and remember nothing about the viewing experience. 'Bank alarm' is hardly the only picture to share these characteristics, but that doesn't make it better.

If you're looking for something light, a feature that doesn't require substantial commitment as a viewer even at the climax, and don't mind some ham-handedness, you could do a lot worse. If you're looking for something that will keep you firmly enraptured and heavily invested, a masterpiece of cinema that you will think about for a long time to come, keep on looking. There's even some minor cleverness here, if you don't blink and miss it, but one way or another this is far from a must-see. If you happen across it and are so inclined, there are worse ways to pass the time than 'Bank alarm.'

Bank Alarm is a pretty straightforward, pull no punches actioner that pits a married (nice!) couple of a G-Man and (yes) G-Woman, against a counterfeit money ring. The bad guys you see, popped the counterfeiter of the money they are planning to distribute. (thanks to the descriptions of 5! Count em! 5! Newspaper headlines we get to see), The G-People, as I like to call them, methodically step by step, follow the pieces of the puzzle until the end until it's somewhat predictably conclusion. Actually, this is so straightforward, there's hardly any suspense happening, But still, it does have it's moments, but I could have done away with the lame comedy bits provided by Vince Barnett.