''Code of the Secret Service'' is a 1939 film directed by

Noel M. Smith Noel Mason Smith (May 22, 1895 – September 20, 1955) was an American film director and writer. He directed more than 120 films between 1917 and 1952. He was born in Rockland, California, and died in Los Angeles, California. Selected fil ...

and starring

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. It is the second of four films in the

U.S. Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

Agent Brass Bancroft series, having been preceded by ''

Secret Service of the Air ''Secret Service of the Air'' (also known as ''Murder Plane'') is a 1939 American adventure film directed by Noel M. Smith and starring Ronald Reagan. This film was the first in Warner Bros.' Secret Service series. The series consisted of fou ...

'' (1939) and followed by ''

Smashing the Money Ring ''Smashing the Money Ring'' is a 1939 American adventure film directed by Terry O. Morse, written by Anthony Coldeway and Raymond L. Schrock, and starring Ronald Reagan, Margot Stevenson, Eddie Foy, Jr., Joe Downing, Charles D. Brown and Jo ...

'' (1939) and ''Murder in the Air'' (1940). The series was part of a late 1930s effort by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

to produce films depicting

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...

in a positive light under pressure from

Homer Stille Cummings Homer Stille Cummings (April 30, 1870 – September 10, 1956) was an American lawyer and politician who was the United States Attorney General from 1933 to 1939. He also was elected mayor of Stamford, Connecticut, three times before founding the ...

(

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

) and

Will H. Hays William Harrison Hays Sr. (; November 5, 1879 – March 7, 1954) was an American Republican politician. As chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1918–1921, Hays managed the successful 1920 presidential campaign of Warren G. Ha ...

(creator of the

Motion Picture Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

, the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...

's censorship guidelines), due to the studio's part in producing early 1930s films glamorizing

gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

s. The series also enabled Warner Bros. to create Reagan's screen

persona A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally ref ...

, with Reagan even showing up to the set of ''Code of the Secret Service'' and asking director

, "When do I fight and whom?"

Plot

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

Lieutenant Brass Bancroft (

) and his partner, Gabby Watters ( Eddie Foy, Jr., producer

Bryan Foy Bryan Foy (December 8, 1896 – April 20, 1977) was an American film producer and director. He produced more than 200 films between 1924 and 1963. He also directed 41 films between 1923 and 1934. He headed the B picture unit at Warner Bros. ...

's brother), seek engraving plates stolen from the

U.S. Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

by a

counterfeiting To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

ring in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Fellow Secret Service agent Dan Crockett informs Bancroft that the leader of the gang is a peg-legged man named Parker, but he is killed and Bancroft is falsely blamed for the death. He boards a train to Santa Margarita with two members of the counterfeiting gang, who tip off authorities and bring the police to the train. After Bancroft escapes the train, Parker arrives in disguise as a friar and captures him at an abandoned mission church. After Bancroft flees, the police capture him. Gabby helps him break out of prison by distracting the guards with a game of

strip poker file:strip solitaire.jpg, alt= A man sits on a pillow facing away from the viewer, wearing only a belt and a bandanna. He holds a fanned hand of playing cards. An electric guitar and other objects frame the edges of the image., A man plays a strip ...

. Brass kidnaps a woman named Elaine and forces her to take him to a

telegraph station Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

to contact the U.S. State Department. They are captured by the counterfeiters but escape and destroy the engraving plates. The mission explodes and Parker flees with the remaining plates but dies in an automobile crash after a car chase. Brass wins Elaine's heart and returns to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

with the plates.

Cast

The cast included: *

as Lieutenant Brass Bancroft *

Rosella Towne Rosella Towne (January 20, 1918 – August 29, 2014) was an American film actress. She was born in Youngstown, Ohio. Her film career began in 1937, after making a screen test for Warner Bros. and signing a contract for the studio. At first she ma ...

as Elaine * Eddie Foy, Jr. as Gabby Watters *

Moroni Olsen Moroni Olsen (June 27, 1889November 22, 1954) was an American actor. Life and career Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Latter-day Saint parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Martha ( Hoverholst) Olsen, who named him after the Moroni found in the ...

as Parker * Edgar Edwards as Ross *

Jack Mower Jack Mower (September 5, 1890 – January 6, 1965) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 520 films between 1914 and 1965. He was born in Honolulu and died in Hollywood. After studying at Punahou College, in Honolulu, Mower move ...

as Decker *

John Gallaudet John Beury Gallaudet (August 23, 1903 – November 5, 1983) was an American film and television actor. Career Gallaudet was born in Philadelphia and attended Williams College. His Broadway credits included ''Good Men and True'' (1935), ''Lost ...

as Dan Crockett *

Joseph King Joseph King may refer to: * Joseph King (politician) (1860–1943), British politician, Member of Parliament for North Somerset 1910–1918 * J. C. King (Joseph Caldwell King, 1900–1977), CIA officer * Joseph E. King (born 1945), American politici ...

as Tom "Jim" Saxby *

Steve Darrell Steve Darrell (born Darryl Eugene Horsfall, November 19, 1904 – August 14, 1970) was an American actor. Darrell was born in Osage in Mitchell County in northern Iowa. Darrell's career began in 1931 when he acted with the Trousdale Players in ...

as Butch, a henchman *

Sol Gorss Sol Gorss, born Saul Gorss (March 22, 1908 – September 10, 1966) was a prominent American movie and television actor and stunt man. He was active from the 1930s to the mid-1960s, when he died. Before Gorss became an actor, he worked as ...

as Dutch, a henchman *

George Regas George Thomas Regas (Greek: Γεώργιος Θωμάς Ρεγάκος; November 9, 1890 – December 13, 1940) was a Greek American actor. Biography Regis was born in the village of Goranoi near Sparta, Greece, the brother of actor Pedro Regas ...

as Mexican police officer

Production

The film was shot on location in Mexico using extras and sets from the film ''Juarez''. Ronald Reagan insisted on doing all of his own stunts.

Reception

Reagan called ''Code of the Secret Service'' "the worst picture I ever made" and commented on it, "never has an

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

of such dimensions been laid." Producer

attempted to shelve the film.

refused to do so, but did agree to not release it in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Commenting on the film, a ticket taker at a

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

in another city reportedly told Reagan, "You should be ashamed." In a 1939 review, the ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

'' called the movie "quite far-fetched in places and not very interesting as a whole."

Ronald Reagan assassination attempt

After seeing the movie repeatedly as a child,

Jerry Parr Jerry S. Parr (September 16, 1930 – October 9, 2015) was a United States Secret Service special agent who is best known for defending President Ronald Reagan during the Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, attempt on the president's life o ...

was inspired to join the Secret Service. Parr would go on to save the life of the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

in a 1981 assassination attempt. The President was

, the star of ''Code of the Secret Service''.

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control 1939 films 1939 crime drama films American crime drama films Films directed by Noel M. Smith Warner Bros. films American black-and-white films American sequel films Films set in Mexico Ronald Reagan Films about the United States Secret Service Films shot in Mexico Films set in Washington, D.C. 1930s English-language films 1930s American films Films scored by Bernhard Kaun