Danger Signal (1945)

Sadly Over-hyped

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I won't summarize the plot,as several others have done this already. Just two things: Yes,the ending seemed tacked on,like the writer couldn't think of a way to end the picture and just threw this together at the last minute. The other thing is that several posters are under the impression that Zachary Scott did Mildred Pierce first. No,this film came first,two years before Mildred Pierce,in fact. The Monty Berrigon character Scott played in that film is almost a carbon copy of the guy in this film,not the other way around. In fact,I wonder why Scott would agree to play the MP character since it was so close to this one. Maybe he wanted to work with Joan Crawford or maybe ,under the terms of his contract, he had to play anything they told him to. At any rate,he played these sleazy scoundrels well

This isn't a particularly good movie but it's worth watching as a measure of what RKO achieved the same year with "Born to Kill." In both pictures, poorer, older sister falls for a homicidal heel, brings him into the family home only to be dumped in favor of her richer, younger sister. Now her challenge becomes how to protect little sis from the big lug. In this rather sappy G-rated version of the story, most of the noirish elements that made "Born to Kill" great are missing; what makes it watchable is the transformation of Faye Emerson, who, like Tilda Swindon in "The Deep End," gets sexier and sexier the more she's in danger, completing the beauty arc from bespectacled stenographer to leggy siren in under 90 minutes.

Tepid noir too slack for its own good, despite smooth work from both an amoral Scott and a de-glamorized Emerson. Of course, movie buffs will spot a plot line from Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt and actors from Mildred Pierce. In fact, the film as a whole appears cobbled together from each of these betters. However, the main trouble is that director Florey and/or the screenplay fail to generate the kind of suspense the movie depends upon. Thus we get a slack series of developments instead of a driven series once Emerson knows Scott's planning to kill her. As a result, the movie's dark psychological core is dissipated instead of concentrated. Also, the climax is dissipated by having Scott stand around talking instead of more plausibly (and suspensefully) menacing Emerson for poisoning him. Even the final chase scene is drained by an unexpected abruptness, as other reviewers have noted.Too bad, because Scott's Ronnie Mason is one of the most cold-blooded schemers in noir annals. His duel of wits with psychologist DeCamp is, I think, the movie's best scene—both unusually well written and expertly performed. But whose idea was it to cast the handsome ex-Tarzan Bruce Bennett as a timid-soul chemist. Not only are those shrinking traits beyond his range as an actor, but his sheer athletic presence shouts miscasting even louder. My guess is producers wanted someone impressive for leading lady Emerson to fall back on. Still the movie does have Scott, an interesting actor whose early movie career was fascinating, before apparently being diverted into TV by a rafting accident. He certainly had a different look for the time. With sharp features and dagger-like moustache, he's perfect as a certified scoundrel. On the other hand, his sympathetic sharecropper in Renoir's The Southerner (1945) and hapless whipping boy in Flamingo Road (1949) demonstrate a surprising versatility. Anyway, it's too bad that this movie fails to live up to its many promising elements, despite the generous comments from other reviewers.

Zachary Scott does what he does best, i.e., plays a worm, in "Danger Signal," a 1945 B movie also starring Faye Emerson, Mona Freeman, and Rosemary DeCamp. Scott plays a writer who kills women after he gets their money. On the lam from his last murder, he rents a room in the home owned by the Fenchurch family, Hilda (Emerson) and her mother (Mary Servoss). Scott throws himself at Emerson, and she's dazzled. Mid-romance, her younger sister Anne (Freeman) comes home from a medical treatment. When she mentions that she was Uncle Wade's favorite and he left her $25,000 (big bucks by 1945 standards), Scott loses interest in poor Hilda and makes a play for Anne. Anne looks like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm until she starts sneaking around with Scott - overnight, she ages 10 years and becomes downright nasty to her sister. Finally getting the message that her tenant is no good, Hilda calls in a psychiatrist (Rosemary DeCamp) to psyche him out and advise her.Psychological dramas were all the rage during and after World War II, and Scott does an excellent job as a smooth sociopath. This was his forte - as a weak-willed sheriff in "Flamingo Road," he exhibited no real presence. As for two-timing, we saw him do that in "Mildred Pierce," where he proved himself particularly good at it. Emerson is a bookish stenographer with her hair pushed off her face and her big glasses, but after hours, she's lovely, and gives a strong performance. DeCamp was always an underrated actress - here, she sports a soft German accent and is delightful.This is a highly entertaining film though a very routine story. The acting truly elevates it.