Special Agent K-7 (1936) On DVD On DVD

The Feds have several shady characters in their sights and Landers goes undercover to infiltrate the private NYC nightclub where they congregate. One killing leads to another, and an innocent young man is charged with murder. Landers proves that an important piece of evidence is forged and now the real killer marks HIM for death.

This whodunit was heralded as the first in a Special Agent K-7 series but only one entry resulted. Walter McGrail plays the moneyed playboy turned law enforcer with good support from veteran villain Irving Pichel as an underhanded lawyer and Duncan "The Cisco Kid" Renaldo as a murder victim. There's even a song courtesy of future Broadway star Joy Hodges, who in real life changed human history: The very year that Special Agent K-7 was made, she famously helped Ronald Reagan get his foot in the Hollywood door, his first step on the road that led to the White House, the collapse of the Soviet empire and a new world order!

The poverty-row origins of SPECIAL AGENT K-7 are made doubly obvious by its all-bit-player cast. Walter McGrail essays perhaps the largest role in his talkie career as police detective Lanny, who resents the ongoing interference of the local FBI branch. Hoping to show up the feds, Lanny tackles a baffling espionage case all by his lonesome. Things heat up when his gal-reporter sweetheart Ollie (Queenie Smith) is framed for murder by the villains. The actual killer is so obvious to the audience that one contemporary suggested that he shone like a beacon on the screen. Leading lady Queenie Smith, best known for her performance of the soubrette Elly in SHOW BOAT (1936), went on to a long career in character roles, and for a while played the landlady in the "Bowery Boys" series of the 1950s.