Danger Signal

An interesting commentary of the times is made when Mary Servoss remarks to her daughter Faye Emerson that with the housing shortage as it post World War 2 it was a patriotic duty to house folks if someone had a spare room. Faye poopoos the idea until the charming Zachary Scott comes along with limp and suitcase and tells Emerson that the limp was a 'souvenir of the South Pacific'. After that Scott is invited in. If Danger Signal were remade today a different reason would have to be found for Scott to gain access to home and hearth.

But that's Scott's business. He's one charming seducer of the female sex and would have a career playing such. When he gets their money he murders them.

He concentrates first on Emerson, but she's seen a bit too much of the world and then he focuses on younger sister Mona Freeman. But the police authorities are closing in so he has to work fast.

If this seems to borrow a bit from Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow Of A Doubt, Danger Signal is a reasonaably good facsimile. It's a well cast bit of drama which could have used a more dramatic ending.

Still you'll find little to complain about.

This is a must for film noir fans, and it deserves to be better known. If it had more of an A-list cast, it would probably be considered a classic.

At the very beginning it resembles Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt." Zachary Scott plays a secretive writer on the run from the law, though for a while it's not clear whether he's really a criminal. Under an assumed name, he charms his way into a household of women.

From then on, the plot is original -- consistently clever but never confusing. Male treachery and female jealousy play their parts, and just when one character's motives become clear, you have to start wondering what another character is up to. If you guess how it all turns out, you're a psychic.

There is one little detail that's handled sloppily, but it comes early and is excusable. All in all, this is what a mystery should be.

Killer Zachary Scott (Ronnie) romances women, kills them and takes their money. So watch out Faye Emerson (Hilda) and sister Mona Freeman (Anne) because he's just moved in to the spare room of your house. And you are both in his sights.

Scott is excellent as the psychopath who has no empathy or feelings towards his victims. He is charming and totally evil. All the cast do well but Mona Freeman's personality changes are a bit unbelievable and the shy, indecisiveness of doctor Bruce Bennett (Andrew) is pretty annoying.

The film keeps going without any lulls up until its sudden ending which could have better. Up to that point, though, it's good and Scott seems to be in complete control of his scheme……until Emerson fights back with some psychological torture of her own.

A good suspense tale with the talented Zachary Scott as a charmingly oily character. Faye Emerson is quite good, too. A shame she didn't get more great movie roles. Rosemary DeCamp does a splendid accent. I had to check her bio to confirm she wasn't really foreign. My only complaint is the lame ending. It didn't address the dramatic climax, robbing the characters of their understandable need to process it. For a script which expends some energy on psychological analysis, I found this disappointing.

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.