Sat 9 Aug 2025
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: BANK ALARM (1937).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[2] Comments
BANK ALARM. Grand National Pictures, 1937. Conrad Nagel, Eleanor Hunt, Vince Barnett, Wheeler Oakman, Nat Carr. Directed by Louis J. Gasnier.
Bank Alarm is a perfectly average crime film. Although considerably dated, it nevertheless tells a somewhat compelling story about a federal agent’s quest to uproot a bank robbing outfit in 1930s Los Angeles. G-Man Alan O’Connor (Conrad Nagel), with his girlfriend/assistant Bobbie Reynolds (Eleanor Hunt), begins his investigation when a lower ranking member of the criminal outfit is killed in prison.
Little does O’Connor know that his sleuthing will eventually lead to his sister’s new boyfriend, screenwriter Jerry Turner (Frank Milan). Turner has been working in cahoots with local crime boss, nightclub owner Joe Karlotti (Wheeler Oakman).
There’s nothing particularly special about this film. With a running time of around an hour, it doesn’t waste the viewer’s time with extraneous material. That said, there’s not much here to overly recommend. If you watch it, you probably won’t love it and you probably won’t hate it. It is what it is. Just a largely forgotten B-movie that most people, I suspect, have never heard of, let along seen.

August 10th, 2025 at 12:18 am
All true, Jon, but Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt still manage to have something more than the answer to a trivia question. Yes?
August 10th, 2025 at 10:31 am
I found the film quite watchable but now maybe six months later, I also find I cannot recall a single scene from it, in spite of having Jon’s review right here in front of me. The performances were fine, but a memorable film? No. I’ve got nothing.
Was it good enough to watch again? Strangely enough — and I’ve been thinking about this — the answer’s Yes.