Sadly Over-hyped

Let's be realistic.

Best movie ever!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

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.

There's something always odd about these B features from the 30s. Even if the tales themselves are kind of entertaining, as this one is, nothing in it seems entirely real. Conrad Nagel here doesn't humiliate himself. He's handsome and expressive, but he's obviously acting, and so are the other cast members, except for the bit players who can't act at all. The direction, the performances, the art direction, the musical score -- they all suggest that the movie we're watching is a B feature made in America.This is passable in comedies, where naturalism isn't expected. The Marx Brothers were unimpeachable, though they had bigger budgets too. But in movies intended to be suspenseful or dramatic, the only successes seem to come when the elements of the film transcend realism and reach for the surreal. Is Humphrey Bogart convincing in "The Petrified Forest"? No, but he's magnetic and the story is taut. And no gangsters ever behaved or spoke as outrageously as Edward G. Robinson or Jimmy Cagney."Bank Alarm" is neither naturalistic nor surreal and so the scale is balanced at neutral and mundane. Aside from a few holes in the plot, it's all done with apparently effortless aplomb. They knew what they were doing. If someone walks towards a door, preparatory to leaving, the director and editor cut before he reaches the door. Why? Well, suppose the actor fumbled, or the door was stuck, or the wall wobbled like the cardboard it was made of. It would require a retake. So let's skip the actor reaching the door, opening it, walking through it, and closing it behind him. Too many danger points. No risks are taken with lighting a cigarette either. The dame might drop the match or something. So the scene begins with the cigarette already lighted.This doesn't interfere much with the story's flow, though. And, in fact, all that concision peps up the pace and moves the story a little faster. There is one element that's positively painful. A number of reviewers have noted that Chester Conklin's dim "Bulb" of a photographer isn't funny. They're right. It's more than that. Every time Conklin steps on a rake and the handle whips up and bounces off the back of his head, the viewer is likely to wince more markedly than Conklin himself.But the production IS after all professional, except for those bit parts. And if you're prepared to relax and shift your mind into neutral and let it idle, you might find this interesting enough to stick with to the predictable end.

This is a B-movie from Grand National—a relatively small-time studio by Hollywood standards. The film stars Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt as a G-man and his girlfriend. Nagel has been frustrated with his attempts to get information about a clever gang that has been involved with some daring robberies and forgeries. The local police have been no help so Hunt and an idiot photographer offer to help (they see much like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson—dumb and always in the way). One thing that no one knows is that Nagel's sister is dating a member of the gang! This is a reasonably well acted and entertaining B-movie. When I say B-movie, this is a term used to describe the second and lesser film from a double-feature. Unlike the A-picture, the B is very quickly and cheaply made---often by tiny independent studios like Grand National. While Bs often have a poor reputation, they are often fun to watch and sometimes are more entertaining than the A-film.Strengths of the film are good acting by Nagel and a plot that offers a few nice twists. The biggest negative is the limp comic relief—it didn't improve the film at all and the viewer was left wondering if anyone in real life is as big a cretin as the numb-skull photographer, Bulb. The answer is no.

Conrad Nagel is trying to get a line on a gang of gangsters. Can he figure out the connection between Carelli's night club and all the BANK ALARMs going off in Southwest, or will he be stymied by his really stupid photographer sidekick? This snooze of a B-movie has all the stuff you expect in a B. A really dumb sidekick. A police force worthy of Mack Sennett. A smooth talking super genius as lead detective, who suavely insults the buffoons leading the local police force. And a gangster named Corelli. The one thing it does not have is a compelling plot, since the scriptwriters decided to go for a rather bland police procedural plot, where the villains and the plot developments are easy to guess. The result is one of those under 60 minute movies that feels like a three hour epic. The only thing noteworthy is how genuinely awful the comic relief is, and how much of the running time is wasted on it. Nagel, at least, does not humiliate himself with a lousy performance, but that is the only good thing here.Nobody should waste their time on this movie.