Danger Signal *** (1945, Faye Emerson, Zachary Scott, Richard Erdman, Mona Freeman) – Classic Movie Review 8938

The 1945 film noir crime melodrama Danger Signal stars the splendidly shifty-looking Zachary Scott as a smooth-talking psychopathic career killer. 

Director Robert Florey’s 1945 Warner Bros black and white film noir crime melodrama Danger Signal stars the splendidly shifty and untrustworthy-looking Zachary Scott as rotten, seedy, gold-digging Ronnie Mason, who takes a room at the home of Mrs Fenchurch (Mary Servoss) and connives his way into the affections of nice sisters Hilda Fenchurch (Faye Emerson) and Anne Fenchurch (Mona Freeman).

It turns out that he is a romantically inclined, smooth-talking psychopathic career killer who plans to seduce, marry and then murder the beautiful Hilda for her money, but soon finds her younger, even prettier and richer sister Anne a better target. Hilda smells a rat.

Based on a 1939 novel by Phyllis Bottome, Danger Signal is disappointingly mundanely scripted and predictably plotted in the screenplay by Adele Comandini and C Graham Baker, who do not come up with nearly enough surprises, scares or shocks, and mess up the climax. However, Scott’s stupendous performance makes the film and sets it out of the film noir psychopath killer rut. Florey’s imaginative direction and James Wong Howe’s stylish black and white cinematography are also big pluses.

If only the promising set-up and intriguing characters had been better developed, this could have been a classic.

Also in the cast are Richard Erdman [Dick Erdman] as Bunkie Taylor, Rosemary DeCamp as Dr Jane Silla, Bruce Bennett as Dr Andrew Lang, John Ridgley, Joyce Compton, Virginia Sale, Addison Richards, Clancy Cooper, Robert Arthur and Monte Blue.

It was a hit for Warner Bros, earning $689,000 in the US and $421,000 internationally for a global total of $1,110,000, on a cost of $471,000.

Changes had to be made to the story, as the Hays Office originally forbade Danger Signal from becoming a Hollywood film.

Danger Signal is directed by Robert Florey, runs 78 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Adele Comandini and C Graham Baker, based on a novel by Phyllis Bottome, is shot in black and white by James Wong Howe, is produced by William Jacobs, is scored by Adolph Deutsch and Leo F Forbstein, and is designed by Stanley Fleischer.

The cast are Faye Emerson as Hilda Fenchurch, Zachary Scott as Ronnie Mason / Marsh, Richard Erdman [Dick Erdman] a as Bunkie Taylor, Rosemary DeCamp as Dr Jane Silla, Bruce Bennett as Dr Andrew Lang, Mona Freeman as Anne Fenchurch, John Ridgely as Thomas Turner, Mary Servoss as Mrs Fenchurch, Joyce Compton as Kate, Virginia Sale as Mrs Crockett, Addison Richards, Clancy Cooper, Robert Arthur and Monte Blue.

British novelist and short story writer Phyllis Forbes Dennis was born Phyllis Bottome on 31 May 1884 and died on 22 August 1963. Four of her works – Private Worlds, The Mortal Storm, Danger Signal, and The Heart of a Child – were filmed.

In 1924 Phyllis and her British diplomat husband Alban Ernan Forbes Dennis started a school in Kitzbühel in Austria. One of their pupils was Ian Fleming, who in 1960 wrote to Bottome: ‘My life with you both is one of my most cherished memories, and heaven knows where I should be today without Ernan.’ Fleming may have taken the idea of James Bond from the character Mark Chalmers in Bottome’s spy novel The Lifeline.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8938

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