Lancoor
A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action
Teddie Blake
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Portia Hilton
Blistering performances.
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.
bkoganbing
According to Secret Service Of The Air Ronald Reagan as Brass Bancroft was brought into the service because of his skills as a pilot flying the Trans-Pacific run. Later on in the four film series his pilot skills were not necessarily needed, but this was a B picture series and back then who cared.An Treasury man on a counterfeiting case got wind of an illegal immigrant smuggling racket and pays with his life in a particularly nasty way being thrown out of an airplane along with the other illegals on that flight. After that the Treasury Department takes the lead on the case and you can see why Reagan is recruited into the Secret Service.This film introduced Reagan in the role of Brass Bancroft and by the time he had finished his fourth film he was doing other and better things with films like Dark Victory and Santa Fe Trail under his belt and Knute Rockne and Kings Row to come. John Litel as his supervisor and Eddie Foy, Jr. as his sidekick were also introduced.James Stephenson is the villain here, a really smooth and deadly piece of work. He did a really good job here, almost like he'd come down from another classier film to appear here.Reagan is breezy, credible, and likable as a fast talking, fast thinking undercover hero. Some of the other Brass Bancroft films were infinitely worse, this one is all right.
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.
boblipton
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.