Special Agent is a 1935 American drama film directed by William Keighley and starring Bette Davis and George Brent. The screenplay by Laird Doyle and Abem Finkel is based on a story by Martin Mooney. The film was produced by Cosmopolitan Productions and released by Warner Bros. Plot The federal government seeks to imprison gangsters due to their financial crimes, tax evasion and violations of Internal Revenue Service regulations. Newspaper reporter Bill Bradford is deputized as a treasury agent by the Internal Revenue Bureau and assigned to find enough evidence to charge gangster Alexander Carston (who has the same initials as Al Capone) with tax evasion. He learns that Carston's ledgers are kept in a code known only to his secretary, Julie Gardner. When she witnesses the murder of a man who double-crossed her boss, Bill begs her to quit her job, but Julie realizes she knows too much for Carston to let her go. District Attorney Roger Quinn pressures the murdered man's partner into testifying, but Carston learns of the plan and the witness is murdered and Carston is acquitted. Julie is arrested as a material witness and decodes the books, but is kidnapped by Carston's henchmen before she can testify. Bill tricks Carston into taking him where Julie is being held, and the police trail them. A shootout follows and Julie is rescued. Her testimony sends Carston to Alcatraz, and she accepts Bill's marriage proposal. Cast Bette Davis as Julie Gardner George Brent as Bill Bradford Ricardo Cortez as Alexander Carston Jack La Rue as Jake Andrews (as Jack LaRue) Henry O'Neill as District Attorney Roger Quinn Robert Strange as Waxey Armitage Joseph Crehan as Commissioner of Police J. Carrol Naish as Joe Durell (as J. Carroll Naish) Joe Sawyer as Rich (as Joseph Sauers) William B. Davidson as Charlie Young (as William Davidson) Robert Barrat as Chief of Internal Revenue Service Paul Guilfoyle as Williams Joe King as Agent Wilson (as Joseph King) Irving Pichel as U.S. District Attorney Charles Middleton as State Police Commander Production notes Special Agent was one of three 1935 films co-starring Bette Davis and George Brent, who appeared on-screen together a total of thirteen times. Neither was happy with the finished product. Brent told Ruth Waterbury of Photoplay that the picture was "a poor, paltry thing, unbelievable and unconvincing." At the behest of the Warner Bros. publicity department, his comments remained unpublished.