User reviews

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.

Universal's Crime Club series lasted 7 films from 1937 to 1939, of which "Danger on the Air" was number 4, the last to co-star Donald Woods and Nan Grey, previously seen in the second, "The Black Doll" (also 1938). Lecherous sponsor Caesar Kluck (Berton Churchill) dies during a live radio broadcast, with hard working engineer Benjamin Franklin Butts (Woods) deducing murder from poison gas, and Kluck's physician, Leonard Sylvester (Edward Van Sloan), insisting it was a heart attack. The ventilating system has clearly been tampered with, and a persistent gangster (Joseph Downing) was also hanging around, plus the station janitor (Lee J. Cobb), who was angered by Kluck's advances toward his young daughter (Louise Stanley). The adorable and capable Nan Grey gets top billing over Donald Woods this time, but he again solves the case. Also on hand are William Lundigan, George Meeker, Tom Kennedy, and a young Peter Lind Hayes, future songwriter and TV personality, doing a variety of impressions like Bing Crosby (he also name drops Rudy Vallee). All of the Crime Clubs are quite entertaining, and the final three were included in the popular SHOCK! package of classic Universal horror films issued to television in the late 50's ("The Last Warning," "Mystery of the White Room," and "The Witness Vanishes"). Only "The Black Doll" and "Mystery of the White Room" were shown on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, so it was many years before I discovered the other five in the brief series, lesser known than the Inner Sanctums but in some ways superior. The next Crime Club would be "The Last Warning."

This Crime Club entry is an almost perfect B mystery with its solid cast, interesting setting, plenty of murder suspects and intriguing (but not really plausible) murder method. The setting is a large metropolitan radio station. Caesar Kluck is an obnoxious soda manufacturer who sponsors the show Kluck's Popola Hour. He's also a corrupt man who uses gangsters to ruin competing soda manufacturers. Understandably, no one at the station can stand him including the sound engineer Benjamin Franklin Butts ( played by the ever affable Donald Woods) and "Skeets" MacCorkle (Nan Grey), one of the advertising sales staff (Nan Grey). Not surprisingly, Kluck is murdered and the station manager insists it was a heart attack and has either a phony or incompetent doctor to back him up. Butts is convinced that he was murdered by a poison gas and tells reporters this. The result of this is that most of the staff refuse to enter the building. This leads to the highlight of the movie when the wannabe performer Harry Lake takes on roles in several shows in order to keep the station on the air. Peter Lind Hayes as Lake steals the show. His various impersonations, including that of Bing Crosby, are wonderful. The movies old time radio setting is fascinating. This is a highly entertaining and slick murder mystery worth watching more than once.

Nan Grey and Donald Woods banter appealingly, and the unique personalities of an excellent range of suspects contribute strongly to this really fun mystery. Wit, characters, a clever murder—all tucked into a tidy hour.

Berton Churchill, as radio sponsor and cola magnate Caesar Kluck, spends the first fifteen minutes of the picture insulting virtually everyone in this large metropolitan radio studio; it is no surprise when he is found dead. But who is responsible? Motives, opportunities and suspects abound.

Churchill is wonderfully bad and blustery in his brief role. A young Lee J. Cobb is a lot of fun playing an aged maintenance man in a mustache and a thick immigrant's accent.

However, Grey and Woods are the two who really make this show, with their confident performances and quick exchanges of snappy back-and-forth dialog. "Did you really find her fingerprints on it?" she asks at one point. "No," he replies, "but I could see she was lying and I wanted to trip her up." "Boy, are you some tripper-upper!"

Seventy minutes and not a dull moment.

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.

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.

This little gem is one of the most well-scripted programmers that I have ever had the pleasure to watch. The acting is great too, and you also manage to work in one of those rare mysteries that makes it hard but fun to guess who the killer is. It's all set at a radio station, where a crotchety old sponsor ends up getting murdered. Donald Woods plays a very intelligent and clever radio engineer and Nan Woods is the ad agency worker who helps him solve the mystery. I know the storyline sounds all old-hat, but I was pleasantly surprised at how refreshing this movie was...a very enjoyable hour!

I'll second the criticism posted in another review: improbable plot, convoluted and farfetched murder scheme. Donald Woods and Nan Gray are personable leads, with the latter still learning her craft. I'll add that Peter Lind Hayes plays a supporting role as a gopher at the radio station. He's a wannabe actor, and trying for his "break" he buttonholes execs and subjects them - and us - to a series of obnoxious voice impersonations. I'm a fan of the Universal '30s films, but sitting through this one was painful at times.

In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made a ton of B-mystery movies. Some (such as most of the Charlie Chan flicks) were very good--many were, at best average. Among all these movies were also a series of so-called 'Crime Club Films' and "Danger on the Air" is the 4th of 11 in the series. While I haven't seen the others in the series, I'd place "Danger on the Air" in the category of below average--mostly because the premise is 100% illogical.

The film is set at a radio station. One of the sponsors, Mr. Cluck (Berton Churchill), is a real jerk. Because of this, you know he'll be the one to be killed--and he soon was. Normally, when a murder is committed you'd contact the police or possibly the District Attorney's office. However, inexplicably, one of the network's radio engineers (Donald Woods) decides to investigate--and no one bothers to contact the police. Even odder, the newspapers hear about it and publish information about the death--yet still no cops appear!! Odder yet, someone tries to shoot a lady (Nan Grey)--yet it is never reported either!! Even more illogical is the very, very, very fanciful and silly means by which the murders were committed--so fanciful that it defied all logic.

While the interplay between Woods and Nan Grey is nice, there really isn't a lot to recommend this Universal film. Logical errors abound and the film just made me annoyed that the writing was so sloppy.

DANGER ON THE AIR (1938) is a delight for fans of B movie mysteries. The setting is a radio station and the pace is quick and full of fun characters. The leads, Nan Grey and Donald Woods, are a well-matched set of amateur sleuths. Their objective is to solve the murder of a lecherous, tight-fisted sponsor. They certainly have enough suspects among the staff and rivals in the media industry. It is great fun seeing a young Lee J. Cobb portray the elderly janitor. An entertaining bonus is a baby-faced Peter Lind Hayes doing bang on impersonations of famous radio stars of the time. Get that popcorn ready and turn the lights down low.

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.