Danger on the Air

1938 film by Otis Garrett

Betty Laidlaw
Robert Lively^[1]

Based onDeath Catches Up with Mr. Kluck
by XantippeProduced byIrving StarrStarring

Nan Grey
Donald Woods
Jed Prouty
Berton Churchill
William Lundigan

CinematographyStanley Cortez^[1]Edited byMaurice Wright^[1]

Production
companies

Crime Club Productions, Inc.^[1]

Distributed byUniversal Pictures Co.

Release date

July 1, 1938 (1938-07-01)

CountryUnited States^[1]

Danger on the Air is a 1938 American mystery film directed by Otis Garrett. The film was based on the novel Death Catches Up with Mr. Kluck by author Xanthippe.

Plot

Christina "Steenie" MacCorkle, a radio advertising executive, is suspected of murdering her client as Caesar Kluck, a soda magnate.

Loathed by all who met him, or forced to work, with his underhanded business machinations, the victims, and suspects, start piling up. Including gangster Joe Carney and Tony Lisotti, who is trying to protect his daughter, Maria Lisotti, from being another notch on Kluck's belt, and Harry Lake, who is desperate to get on the air, seemingly at any cost.

Cast

Nan Grey as Christina "Steenie" MacCorkle
Donald Woods as Benjamin Franklin Butts
Jed Prouty as Harry Jones, Radio Company Boss
Berton Churchill as Caesar Kluck
William Lundigan as Dave Chapman, Radio Announcer
Richard "Skeets" Gallagher as Finney Fish, Ad Company Man
Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Leonard Sylvester, Charlatan
George Meeker as Tuttle, Undercover FCC Man
Frank Milan as Alexander MacCorkle
Lee J. Cobb as Tony Lisotti
Johnny Arthur as Aiken
Peter Lind Hayes as Harry Lake, Call Boy and Aspiring Performer
Louise Stanley as Maria Lisotti
Eloise Rawitzer as Miss Mildred Bello
Joe Downing as Gangster Joe Carney

Production

Danger on the Air was based on The Crime Club novel Death Catches Up with Mr. Kluck by Xantippe.^[2] Production on the film began in mid May 1938.^[1]

Release

Danger on the Air was released on July 1, 1938 by Universal Studios.^[1]^[2]

Reception

From retrospective reviews, the authors of Universal Horrors declared the film to be "One of the better Crime Club entries" noting that "Nan Grey contributes a particularly ingratiating performance."^[2]