Pretty typical 30s Warner Brothers crime drama

An OK but improbable early Bette Davis crime melodrama with the stars sustaining interest in the action.

Darling, there is nothing more important than food.

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

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Bette Davis and George Brent in Special Agent (1935)

Gentlemen, as you know, the inability of local governments to cope with crime has necessitated the Federal Government stepping in to protect the American people. Our part of that job is to rid the country of the gambler, the business racketeer, and the illicit profiteer who have been operating within and above the law. The Treasury Department, being limited in their function, has sent you men out to gather information, that will enable us to use the one weapon we have. The Income Tax Law. Millions of dollars in illicit profits from illegal enterprises have been hidden away by these racketeers inside and outside the law. No income tax has been paid on these millions. But that hidden and untaxed money will send these men to prison. We'll rid the country of these men who have so far laughed at every law. Now you men have been called in here today to be told one thing, go after them. Get their books and statements and don't stop until you have the evidence. These are my orders. The dictum of the Secretary of the Treasury and the command of the American People. Now some of you men have been undercover and observing for over a year. You're through observing. You're going into action. If necessary, you'll raid to get this evidence. There's one man, however, we prefer to take alive, Alexander Carston. It's easy enough to kill him, but to put him behind the bars is to prove that the cleverest racketeer isn't smart enough to outsmart the Federal Government.

Bette Davis, George Brent, and Pat O'Malley in Special Agent (1935)

Bette Davis and Pat O'Malley in Special Agent (1935)

Bette Davis

George Brent

Ricardo Cortez

Laird Doyle

Abem Finkel

Martin Mooney

A reporter turned tax agent infiltrates a crime ring to catch a racketeer, working with the mobster&apos;s bookkeeper. When she agrees to testify, an informant exposes them and she&apos;s kidnapped.

William Keighley

Special Agent

Warner Brothers doing what it did best

George Brent is a &quot;Special Agent&quot; in this 1935 crime drama also starring Bette Davis and Ricardo Cortez. The original story was written by a newspaperman and is most likely based on the Al Capone case. Brent plays a reporter, Bill Bradford, but his job is a cover -he&apos;s an undercover Federal agent after a crook, Alexander Carston (Cortez) for tax evasion. His entrée into the books of Carston&apos;s organization is the bookkeeper, Julie Gardner, with whom he&apos;s also in love. After the case is built, Carston is arrested and Julie is taken into protective custody. But can she really be protected against Carston? 

This is a fairly routine drama with good acting and some solid action. Davis is very young and blonde here, and not as glamorized as she is in other early films - &quot;The Man Who Played God,&quot; &quot;Fashions of 1934&quot; or &quot;Ex-Lady&quot; but nevertheless quite pretty. She&apos;s a little too classy to be a mob bookkeeper; as the character, however, she exhibits intelligence, which certainly Julie would have. Brent is his usual pleasant self as Bill, and Cortez is a sinister gangster.

The only part of the film that gave me a giggle was the riddling of men with machine guns as they continued to stand until their bodies must have had more holes than Swiss cheese before dramatically falling. Certainly they would have been dead long before the 100th bullet.

Interesting for early Davis and the always good Cortez.

Newspaperman Bill Bradford becomes a special agent for the tax service trying to end the career of racketeer Alexander Carston.

Trailer

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWE0MGZkMjUtNDIxZi00Yzc0LWEzNjAtMWYxMmQ0YzcyODhmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXRyYW5zY29kZS13b3JrZmxvdw@@._V1_.jpg

George Brent is a "Special Agent" in this 1935 crime drama also starring Bette Davis and Ricardo Cortez. The original story was written by a newspaperman and is most likely based on the Al Capone case. Brent plays a reporter, Bill Bradford, but his job is a cover -he's an undercover Federal agent after a crook, Alexander Carston (Cortez) for tax evasion. His entrée into the books of Carston's organization is the bookkeeper, Julie Gardner, with whom he's also in love. After the case is built, Carston is arrested and Julie is taken into protective custody. But can she really be protected against Carston? 

This is a fairly routine drama with good acting and some solid action. Davis is very young and blonde here, and not as glamorized as she is in other early films - "The Man Who Played God," "Fashions of 1934" or "Ex-Lady" but nevertheless quite pretty. She's a little too classy to be a mob bookkeeper; as the character, however, she exhibits intelligence, which certainly Julie would have. Brent is his usual pleasant self as Bill, and Cortez is a sinister gangster.

The only part of the film that gave me a giggle was the riddling of men with machine guns as they continued to stand until their bodies must have had more holes than Swiss cheese before dramatically falling. Certainly they would have been dead long before the 100th bullet.

Interesting for early Davis and the always good Cortez.

A reporter turned tax agent infiltrates a crime ring to catch a racketeer, working with the mobster's bookkeeper. When she agrees to testify, an informant exposes them and she's kidnapped.

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