blumdeluxe "Bank Alarm" is an early crime movie, evolving around a series of robbed banks and the agent who is supposed to solve the case. While he gets closer and closer to the solution, events begin to become more personal, as his sister is kidnapped by the gang.What you see is what you get with this one, and that is a pretty basic and solid crime movie. There are no major surprising plot twists and most of the story is already predictable from the very beginning, but nonetheless the production is of some value and avoids bigger mistakes concerning images or plot. As in most of the films of the era, the audience of course has to bear a lot of pathos, including a lead character that is both without failure and bad boy enough to impress the ladies. This and the forced attempts to be funny by adding a character whose only purpose is to produce slapstick, are the only aspects that really drew the movie a bit down for me.All in all you shouldn't expect too much of this film but on the other hand it would be unfair to call it a bad movie. If you're looking for a bit of old school crime action, this could be maybe worth a try.

Cumquat-Barry I am a life-long lover of 'B' movies, especially those from the 30's but this one is so inept I'm amazed it wasn't shelved into oblivion.Being a low-budget job is no excuse for the dreadful writing, non-existent direction, the camera shots that simply don't match, the poor editing, the always-smiling or laughing performances... and the pathetically acted 'funny-man' who provides the foil for the Thin Man-like leads in place of the latter's dog...Believe me, the dog did better.Bank Alarm... by the way, despite being mentioned in the opening scene, has absolutely nothing to do with alarms, and actually very little to do with banks...!There is only ONE scene in the film worth mentioning, set in a jail... which I won't spoil for you... and that's it...!There are hundreds of films of this genre and period, and 10 minutes from any one of them will provide more satisfaction than this entire film. Trying to defend this rubbish by saying it's 'low-budget' and a 'B-movie' is grossly insulting to all the good (even excellent) films in this category.Even if you just like slapstick, and are under 9-years-old you can do better than this.Such a disappointment._____________________________

calvinnme Conrad Nagel is the only "big" name in this film, but I'd say it's a pretty satisfying B. You have to remember this is a poverty row product, yet it is well directed and acted and has a couple of interesting twists and turns as far as the script goes. Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt play a G-man and G-woman who seem to have something romantic going - I was actually a bit confused at first as to whether or not they were playing a married couple - and are actually allowed to work together in the field in the days of J. Edgar, but then I guess that's another story. I think this film was going for the "Thin Man" married sleuth recipe that was such a hit in the 30's without being redundant, thus the federal agent angle. Nagel and Hunt display quite a bit of chemistry as well as good sleuthing teamwork. What I found distracting were some of Eleanor Hunt's headdresses! I know the well-dressed lady usually wore one up until the 1960's but gosh, I'm surprised she wasn't receiving radio signals on some of them! What brings the Feds to town is a group of bank robbers who have begun to knock off members of their own gang when they get to be too big of a risk - including one brazen murder inside a big city jail. You'd think this would have to lower morale inside the gang, but you'd be wrong. They seem to stay loyal to Mr. Big regardless of the fact that they have to know they could be next. And that's what our Fed agents are after - the Mr. Big behind it all, since the local authorities have been concentrating on picking up all of the low men on the totem pole with no lessening in the activity of the gang of robbers.There are really no surprises in this one, it's just an adequately executed bit of film history that is a good time passer. I could have done without Vince Barnett's somewhat forced pieces of slap-stick, and the local police are made to look so stupid it makes the cops in the Boston Blackie series look like Columbo, but that was probably done to make the Feds stand out as brilliant and saving the day.

Robert J. Maxwell There's something always odd about these B features from the 30s. Even if the tales themselves are kind of entertaining, as this one is, nothing in it seems entirely real. Conrad Nagel here doesn't humiliate himself. He's handsome and expressive, but he's obviously acting, and so are the other cast members, except for the bit players who can't act at all. The direction, the performances, the art direction, the musical score -- they all suggest that the movie we're watching is a B feature made in America.This is passable in comedies, where naturalism isn't expected. The Marx Brothers were unimpeachable, though they had bigger budgets too. But in movies intended to be suspenseful or dramatic, the only successes seem to come when the elements of the film transcend realism and reach for the surreal. Is Humphrey Bogart convincing in "The Petrified Forest"? No, but he's magnetic and the story is taut. And no gangsters ever behaved or spoke as outrageously as Edward G. Robinson or Jimmy Cagney."Bank Alarm" is neither naturalistic nor surreal and so the scale is balanced at neutral and mundane. Aside from a few holes in the plot, it's all done with apparently effortless aplomb. They knew what they were doing. If someone walks towards a door, preparatory to leaving, the director and editor cut before he reaches the door. Why? Well, suppose the actor fumbled, or the door was stuck, or the wall wobbled like the cardboard it was made of. It would require a retake. So let's skip the actor reaching the door, opening it, walking through it, and closing it behind him. Too many danger points. No risks are taken with lighting a cigarette either. The dame might drop the match or something. So the scene begins with the cigarette already lighted.This doesn't interfere much with the story's flow, though. And, in fact, all that concision peps up the pace and moves the story a little faster. There is one element that's positively painful. A number of reviewers have noted that Chester Conklin's dim "Bulb" of a photographer isn't funny. They're right. It's more than that. Every time Conklin steps on a rake and the handle whips up and bounces off the back of his head, the viewer is likely to wince more markedly than Conklin himself.But the production IS after all professional, except for those bit parts. And if you're prepared to relax and shift your mind into neutral and let it idle, you might find this interesting enough to stick with to the predictable end.