Secret Service Investigator (1948) User Reviews

Above-average noir programmer

[arode · 5/10 · 26 May 2006]

Lloyd Bridges plays a flying ace war hero who gets sucked into a counterfeiting scheme by opposing gangs of crooks. Bridges is used as a decoy by the Feds to play both gangs off against one another over a hunt for counterfeiting plates.

Fast paced programmer moves swiftly featuring pithy dialogue and about five different interior sets. "Secret Service Investigator" is at its best when flash-bulb eyed George Zucco is purring threats while Jack Overman and Jack Kellogg lay the muscle on Bridges. In fact, Bridges spends a majority of time getting pistol whipped, sapped or slapped until the crooks are wrapped up as they are in the midst of double-crossing one another and the real Feds tie them up

Weakest moment is an insipid sequence with Bridges trying to court Lynne Roberts by telling her son, Tommy Ivo, a thoroughly inane war story: the kid doesn't buy it and neither do we. Production values are equivalent to a luncheon car ride through the McDonald's drive-thru window, but who cares.

Surprisingly Good

[boblipton · 7/10 · 27 June 2021]

I did not expect much out of a Republic movie called SECRET SERVICE INVESTIGATOR. I was pleasantly surprised. Lloyd Bridges in his first starring feature is finally out of the Air Force and looking for a job. He's approached by a man from the Secret Service who wants him to pose as a double, a man who makes plates for counterfeit bank notes. The forger is being released from prison and they're trying to track down the man he's selling the plates to. If Bridges will pose as him.....

Then the forger turns up dead, the Secret Service man is a phoney, and Bridges has to find the real fellows behind the con. It's the extremity of the twists and turns of the plot, as well as the players, that make this a superior movie. R. G. Springsteen demonstrates he can direct something besides westerns, George Zucco plays one of his villains, and Lynne Roberts plays a wholesome young love interest.

An enjoyable B-movie with perhaps one twist too many.

[planktonrules · 3 April 2021]

It will be very hard for me to explain the plot to "Secret Service Investigator"...there are just so many twists and turn. So, I'll just say that the story is about an innocent guy being sucked into a plot involving counterfeiters, fake cops, fake secret service folks, murderers and a woman. Suffice to say, it's a bit confusing but also filled with action.

This film stars a young Lloyd Bridges and despite not having all the much experience acting, he does a fine job. The film also is watchable and enjoyable...I just wish they'd simplified the plot just a bit.