Product Details

• Actors: Jack Holt, Evelyn Brent
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Vci Video
• DVD Release Date: December 28, 2004
• Run Time: 280 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0006N2ES2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,528 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Holt of the Secret Service" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jack Holt -- Toughest "Tough Guy" in the Serials!, February 10, 2005

By 

Laughing Gravy (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holt of the Secret Service (DVD)

VCI continues to release top-notch serial fun and entertainment with HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE, a 15-episode Columbia chapterplay from 1941.

Jack Holt and Evelyn Brent comprise one of the most unusual tandems of heroes in serial history, long in the tooth but also plenty long on toughness. Masquerading as "Nick Farrel", escaped tough guy, and his wife, Holt and Brent infiltrate a gang of counterfeiters. The setting is surprisingly widespread for a chapterplay, as the action moves from the gang's hideout in a lost canyon to a gambling ship on the high seas to a small island country where the gang hopes to escape U.S. extradition. The main villain is a fellow named Arnold, but he hides behind the facade of one of his men, Quist, to shield himself from the Secret Service, and lets another one of his men, Valden (frequent serial henchman Tris Coffin), do most of his dirty work. The island nation has its own pocket dictator, who is also trying to rub out our boy Jack.

Jack Holt is, simply put, the toughest leading man in serial history, the type of guy who could swallow nails and crap thumbtacks. When he gets in a fistfight with four of Arnold's boys and beats the hell out of the entire quartet, you can believe it.

As this is a James Horne serial, some of you might wonder about the "comedy" content. There is little of the funny stuff that you'll find in such Horne classics as TERRY AND THE PIRATES or THE SPIDER RETURNS, unless you count the occasional "undercranking" that makes everybody look like they are rushing out of a burning house, or the fact that, unlike the Republic serials in which bands were used to keep the Fedoras on during fights, Columbia apparently just instructed their actors and stuntmen to crush their hats down tightly on their heads, making everybody resemble two-fisted Buster Keatons.

I give HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE a solid *** and recommend it highly. It's available on DVD from a cheap company, and you get what you pay for -- the VCI release is the one to get.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Holt on to your hat, August 28, 2007

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Holt of the Secret Service (DVD)

Hawk-faced Jack Holt may be the toughest screen good guy of all time. With nerves of steel and fists of iron, Holt takes on crowds of villains and always manages to come out the winner. HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE features 15 chapters of breathtaking action that starts immediately in episode #1 and never lets up for a second!

THE STORY:
Agent Jack Holt and his partner Evelyn Brent infiltrate a counterfeiting gang that's kidnapped a government engraver and are producing undetectable bogus money.

THE CAST;
Jack Holt - Jack Holt (aka Nick Farrel)
Evelyn Brent - Kay Drew, R49 (aka Mrs. Farrel)
C. Montague Shaw - Chief John W. Malloy
Tristram Coffin - Ed Valdin [Chs. 1-10]
John Ward - 'Lucky' Arnold
Ted Adams - Quist
Joe McGuinn - 'Crimp' Evans
Edward Hearn - Agent Jim Layton

TRIVIA:
Jack Holt's cinematic career began with a series of silent screen Zane Grey westerns. He was one of the few stars of that era to make a successful transition when "talkies" arrived in the late 1920s.

Leads Jack Holt and Evelyn Brent wear the same clothes for all 15 chapters! (Can you say: "major dry cleaning bill"?)

Director James Horne previously worked with Laurel & Hardy. He was notorious for injecting humorous moments into serials he supervised.

.
Once considered "lost," the newly restored SECRET AGENT X-9 (1937) is one of the finest movie serials of any era.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grampa Simpson of the Secret Service!, April 9, 2010

By 

John Feaster - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Holt of the Secret Service (DVD)

Grumpy, snarky and quick to anger, Jack Holt growls and mutters as he goes from one fightscene after another. Though he's clearly almost 50, he takes on 4 gangsters at a time...and LOOKS LIKE HA CAN DO IT! This guy's got that leathery Charles Bronson quality about him. You know...that "He's old, but could still kill you" charm that makes him outclass every opponant he encounters. The cliffhangers are good and the twists and turns almost always entertain. Evelyn Brent is a tough, spunky cop in her own right. Paired with Holt as his wife (not his moll), she plays her part with zest and energy. Tristram Coffin (what a great name) plays the badguys best henchman...and it's priceless when he enters a room and sees Holt trouncing half his minions with his bare hands. Poor Tris always seems to be on the verge of screaming "Oh, what the hell, Holt? Knock it off!"

Just for the record, Jack Holt HATED THIS PART and you can see it in his face some times. It's like he's thinking "Just keep plugging away, boy. Just keep saying the lines and punching the clock. It's just a roll...and it'll be over soon.", but every so often he looks like he was having fun with it.