AllMovie

On the threshold of international fame as mature cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy, William Boyd made three low-budget action-melodramas for independent company Winchester Pictures, the last of which, Federal Agent, featured the prematurely graying star as Bob Woods, a G-Man looking into the death of a colleague. As Bob learns, Recard Kantos (Don Alvarado), a vicious foreign spy, and his wife, Vilma (Lenita Lane), intend to buy a newly invented explosive capable of destroying the entire world. Turning to one of Kantos' disgruntled associates, Helen Gray (Irene Ware), Bob gets the inside scoop on the spy ring but ends up its prisoner. Helen, who proves to be the daughter of the murdered agent, manages to pass a knife to Bob and there is a final confrontation between the G-Man and his dangerous prey. Federal Agent, which was filmed in 1935 and released the following year by Republic Pictures, proved William Boyd's final non-Hopalong Cassidy starring vehicle.