Those wild and crazy guys over at the Warner Archive Collection have come up with a playfully respectful way to celebrate this weekend's 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth. From 12:00 am PST Sunday through 11:59 pm PST Monday, WAC will offer a complimentary streaming of 1939's Secret Service of the Air, the first of four action-adventure flicks in which Reagan -- a prolific if not always prodigious actor long before his stint as the 40th US President -- played two-fisted Secret Service agent Brass Bancroft.
But wait, there's more: Whether by design or chance, the WAC folks have selected a movie that deals with a still-topical issue -- the transportation of undocumented workers across the Tex-Mex border. No kidding. From the WAC website:
Lieutenant "Brass" Bancroft leaves his job as a commercial pilot to work for the Secret Service. His first assignment: Stop a smuggling ring that brings illegal aliens into the U.S. from Mexico -- by air. When the operation is threatened by the Feds, the villains callously drop their human cargo through a trap door in the plane and it's up to Brass to bring them to justice.
You can see a vintage trailer, courtesy of Turner Classic Movies, here:
And if you're hankering to see more of "The Gipper" during his heyday as a Hollywood star, check out these other titles available for purchase and/or download, and my own appraisal of his acting career.
