Serviço Secreto Aéreo

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.

Fast, engaging Warner Brothers B movie, spearheaded by the dependable John Litel and the young(?!) Ronald Reagan as they engage in various undercover stuff. The movie is paced like a strung-together serial, and the entire production is full of gimmicky holes -- Reagan, despite being recognized as an ex-con, is hired as a pilot in about eighteen seconds -- but it hangs together through sheer speed.

A bold gang is smuggling in aliens via airplane. The Secret Service needs a new agent to infiltrate the gang and find out how they operate. Veteran agent John Litel knows a young pilot who has just been waiting for a chance to join up:

Ronald Reagan is the energetic young flyer who jumps at the chance for some adventure. The G-men cook up a scheme where Reagan is arrested for counterfeiting and put in prison - where he can make some contacts and do some investigating.

The dialog isn't too good but a fairly decent plot moves along quickly. Reagan is fine as the brash undercover hero. James Stephenson is predictably suave and cunning as the head bad guy whom Reagan must outsmart. Eddie Foy Jr. Tries hard but gets few laughs in a comic relief role that's more annoying than funny.

Nothing too exciting but Reagan is undeniably fun to watch.

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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.