Danger Signal

“It’s a shame I didn’t meet you first,” says creepy homme fatale Ronnie Mason (Zachary Scott) to his girlfriend’s younger sister in Robert Florey’s Danger Signal. An (apparently) handsome drifter fleeing a murder rap, Ronnie fakes a war injury (he’s not a veteran) to rent a room from Mrs. Fenchurch (Mary Servoss) and proceeds to seduce her eldest daughter Hilda (Faye Emerson), which satisfies his narcissistic desires sufficiently until he discovers that younger daughter Anne (Mona Freeman) is set to inherit a large amount of money. So, Ronnie does what any sociopathic criminal would do: he shifts his appetite toward Anne, who falls way too easily. Scott is at his best playing cads, and he plays Ronnie with more subtlety than gusto, which increases the yuck factor. Emerson does fine as Hilda, especially once she decides to fight back, but learns she’s at a disadvantage to Ronnie: she has morals and she can’t discard them. Despite a few moments of sappiness (love and laughter on the beach, an unnecessarily joyful ending), Danger Signal is a taut domestic thriller featuring one of the most satisfying tumbles off a cliff you’ve ever seen.