DANGER ON THE AIR
US, 1938, 66 minutes, Black and white.
Donald Woods, Nan Gray, Jed Prouty, Berton Churchill, William Lundigan, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Edward Van Sloan, George Meeker, Lee J.Cobb, Peter Lind Hayes.
Directed by Otis Garrett.
Danger on the Air is a brief murder mystery, quite complicated, set in a radio studio and offices.
The film recreates the atmosphere of radio programs in the late 30s, the orchestras, the commentators, the advertising, the celebrities and their singing, the sponsors coming in to be present for their programs, the range of executives and assistant staff.
The film introduces a range of characters as an evening goes on, the details of the programming. We are also introduced to a janitor and his daughter, the janitor played by Lee J. Cobb, with one of the announcers played by William Lundigan and another by Peter Lind Hayes, all of whom were to have substantial careers. The rest of the cast consists of veterans, character actors from the 1930s, Jed Prouty and his ability to imitate all kinds of voices, Edward Van Sloan is a seemingly sinister doctor, Berton Churchill as a sponsor with an eye for women – someone who would be called in later decades a sleazebag.
As it turns out, he is the victim so no tears for him.
The central investigator is an engineer played by Donald Woods, very serious, upright, but attracted to Steenie (that is short for Christina), Nan Gray, one of the executives with her brother. Everyone is suspect – including the executives, engineers and announcers (including William Lundigan). The complications include working out how the victim was killed – a collapse, certainly not shot, issues of poison or the failure of the ventilating system. The answer is actually poison – contained in balloons with the face of the victim smiling from them.
The other complication is whether the radio station should close down or not, should play records to fill in the time, suggestions being made that they use alternative means to broadcast one of Roosevelt’s fireside chats…
There are also a couple of criminals hanging around who also are suspicious and take shots at Steenie.
When all the suspects are assembled, as usual in these cases, the hero not knowing who actually is the murderer, but having discovered the reality of the balloons and the poison, decides that whoever is afraid of being near a balloon is the murderer. He is not wrong and, as often in these stories, it is something somebody wanting revenge on the victim who has targeted family. This time it is William Lundigan whose his father was destroyed by the victim and, ingeniously, has filled up the balloons with poison!
An interesting way to spend an hour with a complicated murder mystery and a visit to the past and to an old radio station and its life.
