Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

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.

***SPOILERS**** Hot shot pilot for the China Clipper co. Lt. "Bras-Balls" Bancroft played by future US President and leader of the free world Ronald Wilson Reagan is recruited by his good friend Tom Saxby, John Litel, as an undercover agent for the US Secret Service. Brsss' job is to stop a ruthless gang smuggling aliens of all types and from all nations illegally into the United States.Using the cover of a convicted counterfeiter Brass is sent to federal prison and made Earl "Ace" Hemrich's played by Bernard Nedall,who was convicted of flying illegal aliens into the country, cell-mate. With "Ace" letting Brass in on a prison break the next day Brass goes along with him only to later, after crashing out of jail, getting re-captured and sent to do hard time on the notorious "Rock" Alcatraz. But instead of being sent to the "Rock" Brass is released and given clearance by his boss Saxby to get a job as a pilot for the L.A Taxi co. that Ace used to fly in illegal aliens for.****SPOILERS**** Things get very "bally" for Brass-Balls when Ace escapes from prison and gets back to see his boss of the air freight company Jim Cameron, James Stephenson, that Brass is working for. At first talking his way out of trouble in him convincing Cameron that he made a deal with the government to get out of prison and later slugging it out with a number of his goons-including Ace- to show that he's all right Brass ends up getting Cameron together with a number of illegal aliens on his plane to fly back, from Mexico, to the states. Where unknown to Cameron the Feds as well as FBI Agents are waiting to arrest him when the plane lands.

Warner Bros. used their B-films as a training ground for their new contract players and this time it's RONALD REAGAN's turn to take his place as leading man in an action-filled melodrama about the Secret Service and a plan to trap criminals who are responsible for bringing illegal aliens into the U.S. from Mexico via plane.JOHN RIDGELY is an airline pilot at the controls when he has to dispose of the illegals when the feds are closing in on them. The shocking moment has him flipping a switch so the passenger compartment opens up, ridding him of all the illegals in flight.But the rest of the story is routine stuff, with JAMES STEPHENSON as the man heading the ring who at first trusts that Reagan (who has joined the illegals under pretext of being a criminal) is okay to be one of his pilots. It's swiftly paced and the only drawback is the comedy relief supplied by EDDIE FOY, JR. in the kind of role Frank McHugh usually played in Warner flicks.Reagan acquits himself well as the 20-year-old newcomer and has a couple of fight scenes that look as though the stunt men got quite a workout.Summing up: Not bad for a B-film that played the lower half of double bills.

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.