Danger On The Air

1978. DANGER ON THE AIR (1938-usa). WITH Nan Grey, Donald Woods, Jed PROUTY, WILLIAM LUNDIGAN, LEE J. COBB, (PETER) Lind HAYES. Caesar Kluck is a pompous, short-tempered windbag: a man who only knows how to complain and criticize, in between making passes at pretty girls young enough to be his granddaughter. Because Kluck is rich and powerful, he can get away with his crude behavior. He is the man behind a popular soft drink, Kluck’s Popola, sponsor of a radio show, and is sarcastically known around the station from which the program is broadcast as The Great Caesar. One evening, just as a broadcast concludes, Kluck is murdered. Among the suspects in the case: a soprano, whom Kluck says “squawks like a guinea pig,” a talented but undiscovered mime; a yes-man, whom Kluck calls an “idiot,” a slick, mysterious “production man,Ó who is new to the station; an overworked announcer; a pompous radio station owner; a janitor, who looks on angrily as Kluck flirts with his receptionist daughter; a pretty blonde executive, to whom Kluck has been making passes; and her brother, who is first on the murder scene. The man who unravels the mystery is neither cop nor detective, but a fast-thinking radio engineer. He is a combination criminologist-pathologist-Sherlock Holmes; he discerns the elaborate manner in which the killing was concocted, and sets out to trap the culprit. This amusing mystery features a trio of soon-to-be-famous performers at the outset of their careers. Young, slick-haired William Lundigan plays the announcer; Peter Lind Hayes (billed as Lind Hayes) is the aspiring comic; and Lee J. Cobb is the janitor. The latter, whose character sports a moustache and thick Italian accent, was born in 1911, which makes him 27-years-old when he acted in this film. Yet incredibly, the character he plays is old enough to have a grown daughter! 66 minutes. Crime-Mystery-Suspense