Code of the Secret Service

{{Infobox film

| name = Code of the Secret Service

| image = Code of the Secret Service film.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Poster of Code of the Secret Service

| director = Noel M. Smith

| producer = Bryan Foy
Hal B. Wallis
Jack L. Warner

| screenplay = William H. Moran
Lee Katz
Dean Riesner

| starring = Ronald Reagan
Rosella Towne
Eddie Foy, Jr.
Moroni Olsen
Edgar Edwards
Jack Mower

| music = Bernhard Kaun
Max Steiner

| cinematography = Ted D. McCord

| editing = Frederick Richards

| studio = Warner Bros.

| released = {{Film date|1939|5|27}}

| runtime = 58 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

{{external media

| float = right

| width = 253px

| video1 = [https://web.archive.org/web/20121023052906/http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/58591/Code-Of-The-Secret-Service-Original-Trailer-.html Original Trailer for Code of the Secret Service]

}}

Code of the Secret Service is a 1939 film directed by Noel M. Smith and starring Ronald Reagan. It is the second of four films in the U.S. Secret Service Agent Brass Bancroft series, having been preceded by Secret Service of the Air (1939) and followed by Smashing the Money Ring (1939) and Murder in the Air (1940).

The series was part of a late 1930s effort by Warner Bros. to produce films depicting law enforcement in a positive light under pressure from Homer Stille Cummings (Franklin D. Roosevelt's Attorney General) and Will H. Hays (creator of the Motion Picture Production Code, the film industry's censorship guidelines), due to the studio's part in producing early 1930s films glamorizing gangsters.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2100/code-of-the-secret-service#articles-reviews|title=Code of the Secret Service|publisher=TCM Movie Database|author=Stephanie Thames|access-date=April 23, 2011}}

The series also enabled Warner Bros. to create Reagan's screen persona, with Reagan even showing up to the set of Code of the Secret Service and asking director Noel M. Smith, "When do I fight and whom?"

Plot

United States Secret Service Lieutenant Brass Bancroft (Ronald Reagan) and his partner, Gabby Watters (Eddie Foy, Jr., producer Bryan Foy's brother), seek engraving plates stolen from the U.S. Treasury Department by a counterfeiting ring in Mexico.{{TCMDb title|id=2100|title=Code of the Secret Service}}{{cite web|url=http://movies.amctv.com/movie/87535/Code-of-the-Secret-Service/overview|title=Synopsis of Code of the Secret Service|publisher=AMC|accessdate=April 23, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.fandango.com/codeofthesecretservice_v87535/summary|title=Code of the Secret Service Synopsis - Plot Summary|publisher=Fandango/Rovi Corporation|author=Hal Erickson|accessdate=April 23, 2011}} 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. Brass kidnaps a woman named Elaine and forces her to take him to a telegraph station 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-mn-3221_1_secret-service-agent-jerry-parr-story.html|title=Fan Who Saved Life of President to Get His Reward Today|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 15, 1985|author=Zach Nauth}} Brass wins Elaine's heart and returns to Washington, D.C., with the plates.{{Cite web|title=Code of the Secret Service|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/6391-CODE-OFTHESECRETSERVICE?sid=0ed25bf2-1cba-43a4-b616-7eece6abcd14&sr=7.706969&cp=1&pos=6|url-status=live|access-date=2021-12-08|website=catalog.afi.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208053316/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/6391-CODE-OFTHESECRETSERVICE?sid=0ed25bf2-1cba-43a4-b616-7eece6abcd14&sr=7.706969&cp=1&pos=6 |archive-date=2021-12-08 }}

Cast

The cast included:{{IMDb title|id=0031166|title=Code of the Secret Service}}{{cite web|url=http://movies.amctv.com/movie/87535/Code-of-the-Secret-Service/credits|title=Code of the Secret Service Movie Credits, Cast, and Actor Biographies|publisher=AMC|accessdate=April 23, 2011|archive-date=March 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309152501/http://movies.amctv.com/movie/87535/Code-of-the-Secret-Service/credits|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.fandango.com/codeofthesecretservice_v87535/castandcrew|title=Code of the Secret Service Cast and Crew|publisher=Fandango|accessdate=April 23, 2011}}

Ronald Reagan as Lieutenant Brass Bancroft
Rosella Towne as Elaine
Eddie Foy, Jr. as Gabby Watters
Moroni Olsen as Parker
Edgar Edwards as Ross
Jack Mower as Decker
John Gallaudet as Dan Crockett
Joseph King as Tom "Jim" Saxby
Steve Darrell as Butch, a henchman
Sol Gorss as Dutch, a henchman
George 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"{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wCVdNzaJY0C&q=%22Code+of+the+Secret+Service%22&pg=PT181|title=Souls of Steel: How to Build Character in Ourselves and Our Kids|author=Pat Williams|author2=Jim Denney|publisher=FaithWords/Hachette Book Group USA|location=New York City|date=February 2008|isbn=978-0-446-51129-2}} and commented on it, "never has an egg of such dimensions been laid." Producer Bryan Foy attempted to shelve the film. Warner Bros. refused to do so, but did agree to not release it in Los Angeles. Commenting on the film, a ticket taker at a movie theater in another city reportedly told Reagan, "You should be ashamed."

In a 1939 review, the Calgary Herald called the movie "quite far-fetched in places and not very interesting as a whole."{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Rh9kAAAAIBAJ&dq=code-of-the-secret-service&pg=988%2C3222406|title='The Man In The Iron Mask' Is Elaborately Produced, Packs Lots of Excitement|work=Calgary Herald|date=October 2, 1939|page=5}}

Ronald Reagan assassination attempt

After seeing the movie repeatedly as a child, Jerry Parr was inspired to join the Secret Service. Parr would go on to save the life of the President of the United States in a 1981 assassination attempt. The President was none other than Ronald Reagan, the star of Code of the Secret Service.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/rawhidedownneara00wilb_0|url-access=registration|quote=code of the secret service.|title=Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan|author=Del Quentin Wilber|author-link=Del Quentin Wilber|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|location=New York City|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8050-9346-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rawhidedownneara00wilb_0/page/18 18]–20, 224}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ysi2TV3DNYC&q=%22code+of+the+secret+service%22&pg=PA173|title=The Hardball Handbook: How to Win at Life|author=Chris Matthews|author-link=Chris Matthews|publisher=Random House|location=New York City|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8129-7597-0|pages=173–174}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AEal3OUTTkYC&q=%22code+of+the+secret+service%22+jerry+parr&pg=PT174|title=Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism|author=Peter Schweizer|author-link=Peter Schweizer|publisher=Anchor Books/Random House|location=New York City|year=2002|isbn=978-1-4000-7556-0}}{{cite book|title=When Character was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan|author=Peggy Noonan|author-link=Peggy Noonan|publisher=Viking Penguin|location=New York City|year=2001|isbn=0-670-88235-6|page=195}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGgIP1yJiT4C&q=%22Code+of+the+Secret+Service%22&pg=PA192|title=The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy|publisher=The History Channel/HarperCollins|location=New York City|author=Rick Beyer|year=2007|isbn=978-0-06-076018-2|page=192}}{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595099848/Secret-Service-secrets-revealed.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023022803/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595099848/Secret-Service-secrets-revealed.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 23, 2012|title=Secret Service secrets revealed|work=Deseret News|date=October 22, 2004|author=Scott D. Pierce}}