Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

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.

kidboots In 1930 Conrad Nagel was the most wanted man in Hollywood - wanted for his romantic good looks but especially for his clear speaking voice - 9 films in 1929, 10 in 1930, 8 in 1931. Even Nagel joked he couldn't find a film to go to in which he wasn't featured but it didn't last and 1932 found him playing a villain in a William Haines feature - not a good sign and by the time he got a solid role in "Bank Alarm" his film days were numbered. He was paired with Eleanor Hunt, a chorus girl in the original Ziegfeld production of "Whoopee" who was catapulted to the female lead when Ruth Etting proved unavailable for the movie. Unfortunately her career was a series of shorts and uncredited bits, in fact "Bank Alarm" is apparently the movie she is known for.At Grand National they proved a popular team but the little studio didn't last very long. Initially it scored a bullseye by being the company that was able to release James Cagney's two independent releases and even though they weren't up to the standard of his Warner films they were still a feather in Grand National's cap. The problem was the rest of the releases were just standard stuff. Conrad Nagel hardly had the dynamics of Cagney.This is a nifty little crime yarn with Nagel and Hunt reprising characters they had played in a previous movie. Dept. of Justice's Alan O'Connor is already involved in trying to get to the bottom of the murder of crime king pin O'Hearn when his sister calls in for a visit. "That sister of mine is a sweet kid" he says to Bobbie (Hunt) in a nightclub - just to let you know there is going to be trouble. She has met Jerry Turner on the plane who is passing himself off as a movie producer, in reality he has been bought to Hollywood by racketeer Karlotti (Wheeler Oakman being his usual slimy self) to do a "job". He is to go to Nevada, posing as a vagrant where he will be picked up and taken to jail where the city's safe is located - a piece of cake!! Suddenly a rash of bank robberies break out and O'Conner and Bobbie trace the crook's stolen car to a desolate farm where the unwilling owner gives conflicting descriptions of the robbers.Meanwhile Bobbie (who has more to do than Alan) ingratiates herself into a job as Karlotti's publicity agent - but Vince Barnett as the "comic" relief is around just often enough to see she needs a last minute rescue from Alan. Grand National ceased as a studio in 1939 but it did give Conrad Nagel a chance to direct his first film "Love Takes Flight" - although in later years he was dismissive of it.

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.

Alonzo Church Conrad Nagel is trying to get a line on a gang of gangsters. Can he figure out the connection between Carelli's night club and all the BANK ALARMs going off in Southwest, or will he be stymied by his really stupid photographer sidekick? This snooze of a B-movie has all the stuff you expect in a B. A really dumb sidekick. A police force worthy of Mack Sennett. A smooth talking super genius as lead detective, who suavely insults the buffoons leading the local police force. And a gangster named Corelli. The one thing it does not have is a compelling plot, since the scriptwriters decided to go for a rather bland police procedural plot, where the villains and the plot developments are easy to guess. The result is one of those under 60 minute movies that feels like a three hour epic. The only thing noteworthy is how genuinely awful the comic relief is, and how much of the running time is wasted on it. Nagel, at least, does not humiliate himself with a lousy performance, but that is the only good thing here.Nobody should waste their time on this movie.