Code of the Secret Service
| Code of the Secret Service | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Noel M. Smith |
| Produced by | Bryan Foy Hal B. Wallis Jack L. Warner |
| Screenplay by | William H. Moran Lee Katz Dean Riesner |
| Starring | Ronald Reagan Rosella Towne Eddie Foy, Jr. Moroni Olsen Edgar Edwards Jack Mower |
| Music by | Bernhard Kaun Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Ted D. McCord |
| Edited by | Frederick Richards |
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Release dates
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Running time
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58 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| External video | |
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 Original Trailer for Code of the Secret Service |
Code of the Secret Service is a 1939 film directed by Noel M. Smith and starring Ronald Reagan. It is the second of four films in the U.S. Secret Service Agent Brass Bancroft series, having been preceded by Secret Service of the Air (1939) and followed by Smashing the Money Ring (1939) and Murder in the Air (1940).
The series was part of a late 1930s effort by Warner Bros. to produce films depicting law enforcement in a positive light under pressure from Homer Stille Cummings (Franklin D. Roosevelt's Attorney General) and Will H. Hays (creator of the Motion Picture Production Code, the movie industry's censorship guidelines), due to the studio's part in producing early 1930s films glamorizing gangsters.[1]
The series also enabled Warner Bros. to create Reagan's screen persona, with Reagan even showing up to the set of Code of the Secret Service and asking director Noel M. Smith, "When do I fight and whom?"[1]
Contents
Plot
United States Secret Service Lieutenant Brass Bancroft (Ronald Reagan) and his partner, Gabby Watters (Eddie Foy, Jr., producer Bryan Foy's brother), seek engraving plates stolen from the U.S. Treasury Department, and the investigation leads Bancroft and Watters to pursue a counterfeiting ring in Mexico.[2][3][4] Along the way, Bancroft is falsely blamed for the death of a fellow Secret Service agent, escapes from jail, captures the leader of the counterfeiting ring, and wins the heart of his love interest, Elaine (Rosella Towne).[5]
Cast
The cast included:[2][6][7][8]
- Ronald Reagan as Lieutenant Brass Bancroft
- Rosella Towne as Elaine
- Eddie Foy, Jr. as Gabby Watters
- Moroni Olsen as Parker
- Edgar Edwards as Ross
- Jack Mower as Decker
- John Gallaudet as Dan Crockett
- Joseph King as Tom "Jim" Saxby
- Steve Darrell as Butch, a henchman
- Sol Gorss as Dutch, a henchman
- George Regas as Mexican police officer
Reception
Reagan called Code of the Secret Service "the worst picture I ever made"[9] and commented on it, "never has an egg of such dimensions been laid." Producer Bryan Foy attempted to shelve the film. Warner Bros. refused to do so, but did agree to not release it in Los Angeles. Commenting on the film, a ticket taker at a movie theater in another city reportedly told Reagan, "You should be ashamed."[1]
In a 1939 review, the Calgary Herald called the movie "quite far-fetched in places and not very interesting as a whole."[10]
Ronald Reagan assassination attempt
After seeing the movie repeatedly as a child, Jerry Parr was inspired to join the Secret Service. Parr would go on to save the life of the President of the United States in a 1981 assassination attempt. The President was Ronald Reagan, the star of Code of the Secret Service.[9][11][12][13][14][15][16]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Code of the Secret Service at the TCM Movie Database
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- ↑ Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Code of the Secret Service at IMDb
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