Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #225600 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-05-14
• Format: NTSC

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In a devious plot, the FBI unexpectedly fires a loyal radio engineer played by Richard Arlen. Embittered and vengeful at his ill-treatment, he is the ideal bait for a team of Nazi saboteurs who are up to no good. Realizing that he has been set up as part of an FBI plan to capture the Spy ring, the radio engineer works to help catch the Nazis as well as help a fellow engineer who's also been recruited by the saboteurs.

Customer Reviews

Rainy Day Fun
Richard Arlen was a Paramount contract star dating back to the silent era, where he gave an emotional performance in Wings, one of the most famous of silent films. During the 1940's he became the rugged and stoic action hero of "B" movies, designed to entertain on a slim budget. Some were subpar, but this one is a nifty little wartime "B" with a good story from Maxwell Shane. Because it is a "B" from a major studio rather than a Poverty Row entry, it's a little tighter and leaner than most, streamlined direction from Frank McDonald and pleasant leads keeping you interested on a Saturday morning or late at night.

A secret transmitter is being used by German spies to pinpoint oil tankers for Japanese subs to sink, slowing the war effort. The F.BI. decides to have several topflight radio engineers laid off and see if any are approached. The firing comes at an inopportune time for our stoic hero Arlen, as his daughter Tina needs a costly operaton. Anne Patterson (Wendy Barrie) just happens along so he can save her from a scripted purse snatching, and she can keep an eye on him. When he's offered work which unbeknownst to him is helping the enemy with their transmitter, her feelings for he and his small daughter make her give him the benefit of the doubt.

When an F.B.I. man is knocked off at his place, and the transmitter he'd been working on stolen, he takes off after the bad guys to see what's going on. He's already pegged Anne for a Fed and blows her off because she's been lying to him. Nice touches, such as a waterwheel being used during an exciting little chase, help elevate this nifty "B" above most of Arlen's other slew of low budget action films from the 1940's. Once Anne arrives it gets better, albeit a bit cornball, as they're both trapped in a room full of steam and must rely on a young ham radio operator who knows Morse code to get help and save those oil tankers.

It is swiftly paced and played out so sincerely you don't get those eye rolling moments you do in many programmers from the era. It won't grab you, but will keep you interested on a rainy night, rewarding the viewer with a dash of excitement near the end. Nils Asther is among the cast, and fans of Gunsmoke can catch a young Milburn Stone in a small part. A nice little "B" film with a fine cast and a couple of stylish touches which lift this one to the higher echelon of "B films.