Customer Reviews

Bank Alarm (1937) [Remastered Edition]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a high end classic cops and robbers movie. The heros are FBI men who are chasing after a string of bank robberies. There is a little bit of comic relief, but for the most part its a straight ahead cops and robbers film that has the ending you would expect. There are some very good looking guys in the movie and I thought all the actors did a good job with their roles. Once again, I was impressed by the quality of the film stock.

This is a classic police procedural with a twist - the two FBI agents are a married couple. This allows the film to introduce an aura of romance that similar films don't have.

The plot is straightforward - there is a group of counterfiters who may or may not also be robbing banks. The couple investigates, follows clues and eventually foils their plot.

There are a number of 1930s films that follow a similar plot outline and I like most of them.

This is no exception.

To me, it is surprising that anyone would bother to re-master this movie. Although the result is a print that looks quite first rate, the movie itself is thoroughly forgettable. It is a routine, low-key crime story with bland actors. Even the villains are non-descript. And it is marred with far too much "comedy relief", especially because the theory of comedy here is "idiots are funny". It does not even convey much sense of the time in which it was made. Except for the cars being driven, it might well be a 1950's TV production.

It does have one claim to fame though: it re-unites the team of Louis J. Gasnier, George A. Hirliman, Lawrence Meade, and Sam Diege, who had pooled their mighty talents to create the immortal "Reefer Madness" in 1936! Unfortunately, no trace of the insanity that permeates that production is present in this one.