Danger on the Air
Cast & Crew
Otis Garrett
Nan Grey
Donald Woods
Jed Prouty
Berton Churchill
William Lundigan
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Inside the offices of the Consolidated Broadcasting Company, radio star Caesar Kluck flirts with Marian, a receptionist. Marian's father Tony, the janitor, resents the elderly Kluck's attentions to his young daughter. At the same time, Alexander "Mac" MacCorkle, head of the firm of MacCorkle, MacCorkle, and Fish Radio Advertising, and announcer Dave Chapman, prepare for the show. The overbearing Kluck, who fancies himself a ladies' man, is universally disliked because of his egotism and love of gossip. Benjamin Franklin Butts, the sound man, expels Kluck from the sponsor's booth, where Kluck is accosted by Joe Carney, a gangster, who demands $100,000 from him. Inside the booth, writer Christine "Queenie" MacCorkle punches Kluck to prevent his advances and leaves the room. Mac finds the dead body of Kluck a few minutes later, and upon hearing the news, Queenie faints. After removing Queenie's broach from the room, Butts notices that the ventilation has been altered so that the room could become a vacuum, and poison gas could be pumped in which would cause a chemical reaction like the one that killed Kluck and altered the color of his blood. Mr. Jones, head of Consolidated, demands that his employees be silent about the murder to prevent scandal. However, when Dr. Leonard Sylvestre claims that his patient died of heart failure, Butts exposes the cover-up by demanding an autopsy. Fired from his job, Butts is followed by the sympathetic Queenie, who is shot from a passing car by Joe. When they are safe, Butts admits to Queenie that he has loved her secretly for over a year. Later, a letter about poison is found in Queenie's missing purse, but she explains its presence by claiming she was researching a murder story for a future program. After Butts is hired by MacCorkle, MacCorkle, and Fish to investigate the murder, he and Queenie enter Kluck's apartment to break open his safe, where evidence against Joe is found. Although Butts suspects Sylvestre of the crime, Dave believes Tony is a suspect until he is found poisoned by the same gas that killed Kluck. Butts deduces that the gas came from a toy balloon that had burst in Tony's closet. District Attorney Francis gathers the suspects, and after Tuttle and Harry are exonerated, Butts points a balloon similar to the one that killed Tony at Dave, who confesses. Dave reveals that he murdered Kluck because he had caused his father's suicide after a business failure. Tony's death, however, was accidental. After Butts learns that he will become the studio's head of engineering, he leaves with Queenie on their honeymoon.
Director
Otis Garrett
Cast
Nan Grey
Donald Woods
Jed Prouty
Berton Churchill
William Lundigan
Skeets Gallagher
Edward Van Sloan
George Meeker
Frank Milan
Lee J. Cobb
Johnny Arthur
Lind Hayes
Louise Stanley
Eloise Rawitzer
Joseph Downing
Crew
Ed Blake
Stanley Cortez
William H. Hedgcock
Ben Hersh
Phil Karlstein
Betty Laidlaw
Robert Lively
Jack Otterson
Charles Previn
Irving Starr
N. V. Timchenko
Vera West
Edwin Wetzel
Maurice Wright
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
For additional information on the series, consult the Series Index and for The Westland Case.
