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| image = Danger Signal Poster.jpg
| image = Danger Signal Poster.jpg
| alt =
| alt =
| image_size = 170px
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Robert Florey]]
| director = [[Robert Florey]]
| producer = William Jacobs
| producer = William Jacobs
| screenplay = [[Charles Graham Baker|C. Graham Baker]]<br>[[Adele Comandini]]
| screenplay = {{plainlist|
* [[Charles Graham Baker|C. Graham Baker]]
* [[Adele Comandini]]
}}
| based on = {{based on|the novel|[[Phyllis Bottome]]}}
| based on = {{based on|the novel|[[Phyllis Bottome]]}}
| story = [[Phyllis Bottome]]
| story = Phyllis Bottome
| narrator =
| starring = {{plainlist|
| starring = [[Faye Emerson]]<br>[[Zachary Scott]]
* [[Faye Emerson]]
* [[Zachary Scott]]
}}
| music = Adolph Deutsch
| music = Adolph Deutsch
| cinematography = James Wong Howe
| cinematography = James Wong Howe
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| gross =
| gross =
}}
}}
'''''Danger Signal''''' is a 1945 [[film noir]] starring [[Faye Emerson]] and [[Zachary Scott]]. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by [[Phyllis Bottome]].<ref>{{IMDb title|id=0037632|title=Danger Signal}}.</ref>
'''''Danger Signal''''' is a 1945 [[film noir]] starring [[Faye Emerson]] and [[Zachary Scott]]. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by [[Phyllis Bottome]].


==Plot==
==Plot==
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==Reception==
==Reception==
[[Bosley Crowther]], the film critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'', panned the film and called it a "diluted little melodrama" in which the filmmakers resort to a car chase in order to relieve boredom.<ref>[http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9D07E1DB163FE533A25751C2A9679D946493D6CF Crowther, Bosley]. ''The New York Times,'' film review, November 22, 1945. Last accessed: February 8, 2010.</ref>

===Critical response===
[[Bosley Crowther]], the film critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'', panned the film and wrote, "A woman scorned and a handsome cad whose romantic impulses fluctuate according to the size of a lovely lady's bank account are apt to do the strangest things, especially in diluted little melodramas such as ''Danger Signal,'' ...Sometimes, too, scenarists let such plots get out of hand and wander perilously close to boredom, so close, in fact, that the director resorts to one of those screeching-tire automobile races against time—and death—in what is obviously a last desperate attempt to overcome narrative anemia."<ref>[http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9D07E1DB163FE533A25751C2A9679D946493D6CF Crowther, Bosley]. ''The New York Times,'' film review, November 22, 1945. Last accessed: February 8, 2010.</ref>

Film critic Dennis Schwartz also was not complimentary, "This routine noir feature just doesn't cut it -- its story is too implausible and it lacks proper tension...The story simply didn't add up, but its quick pace helped move things along. Zachary Scott can always be counted on to give a competent performance. But nothing can save this film from mediocrity. It's a febrile attempt to study a psychopath."<ref>[http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/dangersignal.htm Schwartz, dennis]. ''"Ozus' World Movie Reviews"'', film review, May 20, 2000. Last accessed: February 8, 2010.</ref>


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:1945 films]]
[[Category:1945 films]]
[[Category:1940s crime films]]
[[Category:1940s crime films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:American crime films]]
[[Category:American crime films]]
[[Category:Black-and-white films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Film noir]]
[[Category:Film noir]]
[[Category:Films based on novels]]
[[Category:Films based on novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Florey]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Florey]]

Revision as of 16:33, 20 February 2015

Danger Signal
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Florey
Screenplay by
Story byPhyllis Bottome
Produced byWilliam Jacobs
Starring
CinematographyJames Wong Howe
Edited byFrank Magee
Music byAdolph Deutsch
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • November 14, 1945 (1945-11-14) (United States)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

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

Plot

A mysterious artist - and psychopath - named Ronnie Mason, steals a dead woman's wedding ring and money and leaves a fake suicide note. Her 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, list it as a suicide and drop the case.

Mason leaves town, changes his name to Marsh and, using a 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 soldier and rents a room in the house of public stenographer Hilda Fenchurch and her younger sister Anne. To the consternation of professor Andrew Lang, who secretly loves Hilda, she falls for Marsh, the new tenant.

The scheming Marsh learns that it is Anne who might inherit a great deal of money, so he suddenly switches his affections toward her. Hilda is jealous and suspicious. She plots to lure Marsh to a beach house and poison him. She isn't able to go through with it, but when Marsh runs off, he is surprised by Thomas Turner and plunges off a steep cliff to his death.

Cast

Reception

Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times, panned the film and called it a "diluted little melodrama" in which the filmmakers resort to a car chase in order to relieve boredom.[1]

References

  1. ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, November 22, 1945. Last accessed: February 8, 2010.