SPECIAL AGENT (Warner Brothers, 1935), directed by William Keighley, teams Bette Davis and George Brent for the fifth time since their initially pairing in 1932. Following the success to the studio's own G-MEN (1935) starring James Cagney, leading other yesterdays gangsters as Edward G. Robertson working on the side of the law in similar themed BULLETS OR BALLOTS (1936), SPECIAL AGENT ranks another crime caper dealing with federal agents versus crime incorporated. While Bette Davis heads the cast with George Brent in the title role, the story really belongs to the third-billed Ricardo Cortez as the mean and feared crime boss who stops at nothing.
The story focuses on Bill Bradford (George Brent), a special agent of seven years for the Department of Internal Revenue, assigned to work undercover as an ace newspaper reporter to obtain confidence with Alexander Carston (Ricardo Cortez), a crime boss and manager of the 122 Club gambling casino, to acquire enough evidence from his secret books and statements for his arrest on income tax evasion. Julie Gardner (Bette Davis) is Carston's trusted personal bookkeeper who gets paid well, but fears that one day she will be killed off as other victims who have gone against Carston. During his investigation, Bill becomes involved with Julie while at the same gathers Carston's enough information regarding underworld or police tips so to gather his trust. Eventually, Julie agrees to risk herself by helping Bradford with enough evidence needed for Carston's arrest. Unknown to all, there is an informer at the bureau working secretly with Carston, allowing the racketeer to be one step ahead of Bradford's schemes. As Julie is to appear in court testifying against Carston, she mysteriously disappears.
Jack LaRue, J. Carroll Naish and Joseph Sawyer as Carston's hoods; with Irving Pichel, Henry O'Neill, Robert Strange, Robert Barrat and Paul Guilfoyle round up the cast. Plot was revamped by Warners as GAMBLING ON THE HIGH SEAS (1940) starring Jane Wyman, Wayne Morris and Roger Pryor in the Davis, Brent and Cortez roles. While the title SPECIAL AGENT was reused for a 1949 Paramount crime drama starring William Eythe, it is not a remake. Warners did remake SPECIAL AGENT as GAMBLING ON THE HIGH SEAS (1940), a 55 minute quickie featuring Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman and Gilbert Roland in the Brent, Davis and Cortez roles.
Being one of many crime capers of the 1930s, SPECIAL AGENT is another one of those films that holds interest throughout its fast-paced 76 minutes. Considering the fact that she is a secondary character to George Brent's leading performance, Bette Davis is of sole interest who makes this minor crime caper special for film buffs. Her role could have been played by any studio contract player as Ann Dvorak or Margaret Lindsay, and still be satisfactory, but is fine just the way it is. While Ricardo Cortez could play detectives (the 1931 edition of "The Maltese Falcon") or good-natured characters (1932's "Symphony of Six Million") with conviction, it is his recurring typecasting here as the czar of racketeers that gathers him more attention away from its leading players.
SPECIAL AGENT, which never had a home video distribution but available on DVD, can be seen on cable television's Turner Classic Movies. (***)
The story focuses on Bill Bradford (George Brent), a special agent of seven years for the Department of Internal Revenue, assigned to work undercover as an ace newspaper reporter to obtain confidence with Alexander Carston (Ricardo Cortez), a crime boss and manager of the 122 Club gambling casino, to acquire enough evidence from his secret books and statements for his arrest on income tax evasion. Julie Gardner (Bette Davis) is Carston's trusted personal bookkeeper who gets paid well, but fears that one day she will be killed off as other victims who have gone against Carston. During his investigation, Bill becomes involved with Julie while at the same gathers Carston's enough information regarding underworld or police tips so to gather his trust. Eventually, Julie agrees to risk herself by helping Bradford with enough evidence needed for Carston's arrest. Unknown to all, there is an informer at the bureau working secretly with Carston, allowing the racketeer to be one step ahead of Bradford's schemes. As Julie is to appear in court testifying against Carston, she mysteriously disappears.
Jack LaRue, J. Carroll Naish and Joseph Sawyer as Carston's hoods; with Irving Pichel, Henry O'Neill, Robert Strange, Robert Barrat and Paul Guilfoyle round up the cast. Plot was revamped by Warners as GAMBLING ON THE HIGH SEAS (1940) starring Jane Wyman, Wayne Morris and Roger Pryor in the Davis, Brent and Cortez roles. While the title SPECIAL AGENT was reused for a 1949 Paramount crime drama starring William Eythe, it is not a remake. Warners did remake SPECIAL AGENT as GAMBLING ON THE HIGH SEAS (1940), a 55 minute quickie featuring Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman and Gilbert Roland in the Brent, Davis and Cortez roles.
Being one of many crime capers of the 1930s, SPECIAL AGENT is another one of those films that holds interest throughout its fast-paced 76 minutes. Considering the fact that she is a secondary character to George Brent's leading performance, Bette Davis is of sole interest who makes this minor crime caper special for film buffs. Her role could have been played by any studio contract player as Ann Dvorak or Margaret Lindsay, and still be satisfactory, but is fine just the way it is. While Ricardo Cortez could play detectives (the 1931 edition of "The Maltese Falcon") or good-natured characters (1932's "Symphony of Six Million") with conviction, it is his recurring typecasting here as the czar of racketeers that gathers him more attention away from its leading players.
SPECIAL AGENT, which never had a home video distribution but available on DVD, can be seen on cable television's Turner Classic Movies. (***)