Danger on the Air

Another in Universal's Crime Club series. This one is about a murder at a radio station, a fairly popular plot for murder mysteries back then. Donald Woods stars as a radio engineer turned amateur detective who sets out to nab the killer with help from pretty Nan Grey. Woods spouts off scientific lingo and is distracted by engineering issues with the radio broadcasts. That's different enough to make this a little more interesting than the average B mystery film. Nice cast backing up Woods and Grey includes Berton Churchill, Edward Van Sloan, and William Lundigan. Lee J. Cobb appears in one of his Mario Bros. exaggerated accent roles he did early in his career. Peter Lind Hayes is annoying as a guy wanting to break into radio by doing impressions. His impressions suck. Worth a look if you enjoy B mysteries from this period, which can kind of bleed together after you've seen enough of them.

When despicable and despised radio sponsor Berton Churchill dies while his show is broadcasting, Doctor Edward van Sloan says it's a heart attack. When studio technician and polymath Donald Woods tells a reporter it was actually poison, panic ensues. It's up to Woods and advertising agency gal Nan Grey to figure out what actually happened.

This is one of the 'Crime Club' mysteries that Universal made in the late 1930s. While I haven't read the novel it is based on, it certainly has a better title, given it was published as DEATH COMES FOR MR. CLUCK, with the author named as 'Xanthippe.' It's not a great mystery -- we don't get the motivation until after the unmasking of the murderer -- but it is slickly written and directed, with a good cast that includes Peter Lind Hayes, William Lundigan, George Meeker, Lee J.Cobb and Johnny Arthur.

A clever radio engineer (Donald Woods as Benjamin Butts) and his beautiful co-worker and a prime suspect (Nan Grey as Steenie MacCorkle) search for the killer of a broadcasting executive and unscrupulous millionaire (Berton Churchill as Caesar Kluck), who had an eye for the ladies, stepped on far too many toes, was very difficult, and garnered a legion of possible suspects. He keels over dead- Benjamin claims he was murdered - gassed by cyanogen gas.

However, the head of the radio company wants to cover it up and claim that Kluck died of natural causes, like heart failure. He's helped in this deceit by a dodgy doctor (Edward Van Sloan).

But Benjamin, with the help of Steenie, insist on sleuthing ...

Danger on the Air is set entirely within a radio station where the murder occurs and ingenious one too and there's no police called at the scene of the crime and it's up to Donald Wood and Nan Grey to find out who killed the victim, who is -no surprise - a horrid man. Which means there's many suspects. It's fast-paced, breezy , funny and the two leads are quite charming.

With a cast full of familiar faces who have experience in playing sinister and villainous roles it will be hard to pick who did the murder here. In fact during the course Danger On The Air another homicide is committed.

Berton Churchill is our victim and the setting is a radio studio. Churchill is once again an unctuous bloviating personality who thinks the world revolves around him and his product. He was killed during a broadcast of his program in a most unique manner which I won't reveal except to say a variation on the method was used in one of the Boris Karloff Mr. Wong movies.

The only member of the radio staff who actually stands up to Churchill is sound engineer Donald Woods and its Woods together Nan Grey who solve the mystery. Churchill was not the kind of guy anyone was going to mourn, but the other death is that of the station janitor Lee J. Cobb in an early role for him and it was simply a byproduct of the Churchill homicide.

Special attention should be paid to Peter Lind Hayes who plays a young usher at the station who treats us all to a series of imitations of various radio personalities of the day including Bing Crosby, Ben Bernie, and Rudy Vallee and many more.

The only hint I'll give you is the eventual killer is not one you would think capable.

A good B picture cast gave Universal a good programmer.

Universal put out a number of nifty mystery films in the 1930s and 1940s and this is one of the better ones. When a lecherous sponsor of a radio program gets bumped off there are no end to the suspects. Was it the lovely head of the ad agency? The young receptionist who had accepted the older mans expensive gifts? The inquisitive sound technician who is about ready to quit his job? The elevator operator with stars in his eyes? Or maybe the janitor who is worried about his daughters virtue? A great cast lead by beautiful Nan Grey who gives a surprisingly lively performance.