MartinHafer In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made a ton of B-mystery movies. Some (such as most of the Charlie Chan flicks) were very good--many were, at best average. Among all these movies were also a series of so-called 'Crime Club Films' and "Danger on the Air" is the 4th of 11 in the series. While I haven't seen the others in the series, I'd place "Danger on the Air" in the category of below average--mostly because the premise is 100% illogical.The film is set at a radio station. One of the sponsors, Mr. Cluck (Berton Churchill), is a real jerk. Because of this, you know he'll be the one to be killed--and he soon was. Normally, when a murder is committed you'd contact the police or possibly the District Attorney's office. However, inexplicably, one of the network's radio engineers (Donald Woods) decides to investigate--and no one bothers to contact the police. Even odder, the newspapers hear about it and publish information about the death--yet still no cops appear!! Odder yet, someone tries to shoot a lady (Nan Grey)--yet it is never reported either!! Even more illogical is the very, very, very fanciful and silly means by which the murders were committed--so fanciful that it defied all logic.While the interplay between Woods and Nan Grey is nice, there really isn't a lot to recommend this Universal film. Logical errors abound and the film just made me annoyed that the writing was so sloppy.

gridoon2018 This is a likable little murder mystery - and I mean that literally: even counting a trigger-happy gangster and a loudmouthed boss, the murder victim is still by far the most unlikable person in the film (and, needless to say, gets an early exit)! There are so many characters in this dense mystery that you may need to watch it twice to get it all straight in your head, but even that won't take up too much of your time, as the film is barely over an hour long and moves quickly enough. And there are at least three fairly unique elements in it: 1) The killing method (which I don't want to spoil here), 2) The fact that, when our amateur detective assembles all the suspects in one room at the end he does NOT know who the murderer is, he only knows how he did it, and how to expose him, and 3) Nan Grey deals with the unwanted advances of a much older man in a way that you very rarely see in such an early film: by a strong punch to his gut! (though the actual contact happens off-screen). **1/2 out of 4.

csteidler Nan Grey and Donald Woods banter appealingly, and the unique personalities of an excellent range of suspects contribute strongly to this really fun mystery. Wit, characters, a clever murder—all tucked into a tidy hour.Berton Churchill, as radio sponsor and cola magnate Caesar Kluck, spends the first fifteen minutes of the picture insulting virtually everyone in this large metropolitan radio studio; it is no surprise when he is found dead. But who is responsible? Motives, opportunities and suspects abound.Churchill is wonderfully bad and blustery in his brief role. A young Lee J. Cobb is a lot of fun playing an aged maintenance man in a mustache and a thick immigrant's accent.However, Grey and Woods are the two who really make this show, with their confident performances and quick exchanges of snappy back-and-forth dialog. "Did you really find her fingerprints on it?" she asks at one point. "No," he replies, "but I could see she was lying and I wanted to trip her up." "Boy, are you some tripper-upper!"Seventy minutes and not a dull moment.

kevin olzak Universal's Crime Club series lasted 7 films from 1937 to 1939, of which "Danger on the Air" was number 4, the last to co-star Donald Woods and Nan Grey, previously seen in the second, "The Black Doll" (also 1938). Lecherous sponsor Caesar Kluck (Berton Churchill) dies during a live radio broadcast, with hard working engineer Benjamin Franklin Butts (Woods) deducing murder from poison gas, and Kluck's physician, Leonard Sylvester (Edward Van Sloan), insisting it was a heart attack. The ventilating system has clearly been tampered with, and a persistent gangster (Joseph Downing) was also hanging around, plus the station janitor (Lee J. Cobb), who was angered by Kluck's advances toward his young daughter (Louise Stanley). The adorable and capable Nan Grey gets top billing over Donald Woods this time, but he again solves the case. Also on hand are William Lundigan, George Meeker, Tom Kennedy, and a young Peter Lind Hayes, future songwriter and TV personality, doing a variety of impressions like Bing Crosby (he also name drops Rudy Vallee). All of the Crime Clubs are quite entertaining, and the final three were included in the popular SHOCK! package of classic Universal horror films issued to television in the late 50's ("The Last Warning," "Mystery of the White Room," and "The Witness Vanishes"). Only "The Black Doll" and "Mystery of the White Room" were shown on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, so it was many years before I discovered the other five in the brief series, lesser known than the Inner Sanctums but in some ways superior. The next Crime Club would be "The Last Warning."