Danger Signal

Last updated
Danger Signal
Danger Signal Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robert Florey
Screenplay by
Based on Danger Signal
1939 novel
by Phyllis Bottome
Produced by William Jacobs
Starring
Cinematography James Wong Howe
Edited by Frank Magee
Music by Adolph Deutsch
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • November 14, 1945 (1945-11-14)(United States)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$471,000 [1]
Box office$1,110,000 [1]

Danger Signal is a 1945 American film noir starring Faye Emerson and Zachary Scott. The screenplay was adapted from the 1939 novel of the same name by Phyllis Bottome.

Contents

Plot

A mysterious pulp writer—and psychopath—named Ronnie Mason, steals a dead woman's wedding ring and money and leaves a fake suicide note. The woman's husband, Thomas Turner, when questioned by the local police, believes his dead wife might have been seeing Mason behind his back. He also believes his wife was murdered, but in the absence of other evidence, the police list it as a suicide and drop the case.

Mason leaves town, changes his name to Marsh and, displaying a noticeable limp he acquired jumping from the dead woman's bedroom window and a veteran's pin he steals from a fellow passenger on the L.A. bus, passes himself off as a wounded veteran and rents a room in a house Mrs. Fenchurch shares with her elder daughter Hilda, a public stenographer, and the teenaged Anne. All three women are extremely impressionable, and to the consternation of professor Andrew Lang, who secretly loves Hilda, the girls fall for Marsh's charms.

Hilda and Marsh get involved, even spend a weekend retreat together - financed by the earnest, thrifty Hilda. Marsh claims to be broke, awaiting his first sale, but conceals it when the MacLellen Publishing Company sends him $200 for his short story "Dark Island," to be published in the next issue of Adventure Tales magazine.

Hilda sees visions of marriage straight ahead. When Marsh learns that Anne might inherit a great deal of money, he drops Hilda cold and secretly takes up with Anne. Eventually the truth comes out about them. Hilda is both jealous and suspicious, enough so that she plots to lure Marsh to a beach house and poison him. She is unable to go through with it, but when Marsh runs off, he is surprised by Turner, who has tracked him down, and plunges off a steep cliff to his death.

Cast

Reception

Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times , panned the film, describing it a "diluted little melodrama" in which the filmmakers resort to a car chase in order to relieve boredom. [2] In the Bottome novel, Hilda does indeed poison Marsh. Warner Bros., however, thought it improper for Faye Emerson, the daughter-in-law of President Franklin D. Roosevelt by her marriage to Elliott Roosevelt, to portray a murderess.

Box office

According to financial records at Warner Bros., the film was a box-office success, earning $689,000 domestically and $421,000 internationally. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>All This, and Heaven Too</i> 1940 film by Anatole Litvak

All This, and Heaven Too is a 1940 American drama film released by Warner Bros.-First National Pictures, produced and directed by Anatole Litvak with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer. The screenplay was adapted by Casey Robinson from the 1938 novel by Rachel Field. The music was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by Ernie Haller. The film stars Bette Davis and Charles Boyer with Jeffrey Lynn, Barbara O'Neil, Virginia Weidler, Helen Westley, Walter Hampden, Henry Daniell, Harry Davenport, George Coulouris and Montagu Love.

<i>The Mask of Dimitrios</i> 1944 film by Jean Negulesco

The Mask of Dimitrios is a 1944 American film noir starring Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Peter Lorre, and Victor Francen. Directed by Jean Negulesco, it was written by Frank Gruber, based on the 1939 novel of the same title written by Eric Ambler. Scott played the title role, of Dimitrios Makropoulos, in his film debut.

<i>The Mortal Storm</i> 1940 film by Frank Borzage

The Mortal Storm is a 1940 American drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Frank Borzage and stars Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. The film shows the impact on Germans after Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany and gains unlimited power. The supporting cast features Robert Young, Robert Stack, Frank Morgan, Dan Dailey, Ward Bond and Maria Ouspenskaya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faye Emerson</span> American actress (1917–1983)

Faye Margaret Emerson was an American film and stage actress and television interviewer who gained fame as a film actress in the 1940s before transitioning to television in the 1950s and hosting her own talk show.

<i>Nobody Lives Forever</i> (film) 1946 film by Jean Negulesco

Nobody Lives Forever is a 1946 American crime film noir directed by Jean Negulesco and based on the novel I Wasn't Born Yesterday by W. R. Burnett. It stars John Garfield and Geraldine Fitzgerald and features Walter Brennan, Faye Emerson, George Coulouris and George Tobias.

<i>They Drive by Night</i> 1940 film by Raoul Walsh

They Drive by Night is a 1940 American film noir directed by Raoul Walsh and starring George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, and Humphrey Bogart, and featuring Gale Page, Alan Hale, Roscoe Karns, John Litel and George Tobias. The picture involves a pair of embattled truck drivers and was released in the UK under the title The Road to Frisco. The film was based on A. I. Bezzerides' 1938 novel Long Haul, which was later reprinted under the title They Drive by Night to capitalize on the success of the film.

<i>Not as a Stranger</i> 1955 film by Stanley Kramer

Not as a Stranger is a 1955 American film noir drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra and Gloria Grahame. It is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Morton Thompson, which topped that year's list of bestselling novels in the United States. The film's supporting cast features Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford, Lon Chaney Jr., Lee Marvin, Harry Morgan and Mae Clarke.

<i>Guilty Bystander</i> 1950 film by Joseph Lerner

Guilty Bystander is a 1950 American crime drama film noir directed by Joseph Lerner, and starring Zachary Scott and Faye Emerson. The film was shot on location entirely in New York City. It also marked the last motion picture screen appearances for character actors Mary Boland and J. Edward Bromberg.

<i>Hotel Berlin</i> 1945 film

Hotel Berlin is an American drama film made by Warner Bros. in late 1944 to early 1945 starring Faye Emerson, Helmut Dantine, Raymond Massey and Andrea King. Directed by Peter Godfrey, it set in Berlin near the close of World War II, and is based on the novel Hotel Berlin by Vicki Baum.

<i>Old Acquaintance</i> 1943 film by Vincent Sherman

Old Acquaintance is a 1943 American drama film released by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The screenplay by John Van Druten, Lenore Coffee and Edmund Goulding was based on Van Druten's 1940 play of the same title.

<i>Action in the North Atlantic</i> 1943 film

Action in the North Atlantic, also known as Heroes Without Uniforms, is a 1943 American black-and-white war film from Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by Jerry Wald, directed by Lloyd Bacon, that stars Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey as officers in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II. Typical of other films in the era, Action in the North Atlantic was created as a morale-boosting film during this world war and a film that told the story of unsung heroes. As noted by film critic Bosley Crowther, "... it's a good thing to have a picture which waves the flag for the merchant marine. Those boys are going through hell-and-high-water, as 'Action in the North Atlantic' shows."

<i>Three Strangers</i> 1946 film by Jean Negulesco

Three Strangers is a 1946 American film noir crime drama directed by Jean Negulesco and starring Sydney Greenstreet, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Peter Lorre, and featuring Joan Lorring and Alan Napier. The screenplay was written by John Huston and Howard Koch. It was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers.

<i>Roughly Speaking</i> (film) 1945 film by Michael Curtiz

Roughly Speaking is a 1945 American comedy-drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Rosalind Russell and Jack Carson. The plot involves a strong-minded mother keeping her family afloat through World War I and the Great Depression. The film was based on the autobiography of the same name, published in 1943, by Louise Randall Pierson.

<i>Hollywood Canteen</i> (film) 1944 film by Delmer Daves

Hollywood Canteen is a 1944 American musical romantic comedy film starring Joan Leslie, Robert Hutton, Dane Clark and features many stars in cameo roles. and produced by Warner Bros. The film was written and directed by Delmer Daves and received three Oscar nominations.

<i>Shine On, Harvest Moon</i> (1944 film) 1944 film by David Butler

Shine On, Harvest Moon is a 1944 musical–biographical film about the vaudeville team of Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth, who wrote the popular song "Shine On, Harvest Moon." The film was directed by David Butler and stars Ann Sheridan and Dennis Morgan Sheridan's singing voice was dubbed by Lynn Martin.

<i>Government Girl</i> 1943 film by Dudley Nichols

Government Girl is a 1943 American romantic-comedy film, produced and directed by Dudley Nichols and starring Olivia de Havilland and Sonny Tufts. Based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns, and written by Dudley Nichols and Budd Schulberg, the film is about a secretary working in Washington for the war administration during World War II who helps her boss navigate the complex political machinations of government in an effort to build bomber aircraft for the war effort.

<i>Her Kind of Man</i> 1946 film by Frederick de Cordova

Her Kind of Man is a 1946 American crime film noir directed by Frederick De Cordova, and starring Dane Clark, Janis Paige and Zachary Scott. The film is not to be confused with His Kind of Woman (1951) starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell.

<i>Murder in the Air</i> (film) 1940 American film

Murder in the Air is a 1940 American drama film with science fiction elements directed by Lewis Seiler and written by Raymond L. Schrock. The film stars Ronald Reagan, John Litel, Lya Lys, James Stephenson, Eddie Foy, Jr., Robert Warwick and Victor Zimmerman. Murder in the Air was released by Warner Bros. on June 1, 1940.

<i>Secret Enemies</i> 1942 film directed by Benjamin Stoloff

Secret Enemies is a 1942 American drama film directed by Benjamin Stoloff and written by Raymond L. Schrock. The film stars Craig Stevens, Faye Emerson, John Ridgely, Charles Lang, Robert Warwick, and Frank Reicher. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 17, 1942.

<i>Danger Signal</i> (novel) 1939 novel

Danger Signal is a 1939 thriller novel by the British writer Phyllis Bottome. Typist Hilda Fenchurch broods over her failed love affair with medical student Ronnie Mason, and is disturbed when she discovers that he has now turning his attention towards her younger sister. Fearful of the exposure of her own affair, she resolves to murder him. It was originally published under the alternative title of Murder in the Bud.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Warner Bros. financial information in "The William Schaefer Ledger". See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 26 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
  2. Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, November 22, 1945. Last accessed: February 8, 2010.