Another little forgotten gem from the 1930’s tonight. Not just a pretty good murder mystery but also one that shows just how far technology has progressed since this film was made.

Danger on the Air tells the story of a boorish radio programme sponsor who is killed in a VIP room with Hydrogen Cyanide gas. A female advertising executive is falsely suspected of murdering the sponsor and she and a friend set out to find out how and why the sponsor died and who could have motive for killing him.

It’s a pretty typical murder mystery for its time and of its type but what will interest some who have an enthusiasm for the history of technology is that it shows just how difficult it was to put out broadcast programmes without the facility of easily recording and editing audio. We take it for granted today that we can take a sound or a piece of music and stitch it together with some free software but things were not always as simple. Back then when recording technology was limited to analogue discs,and other similar type of technology, putting in things such as adverts needed to be done live, whilst the programme was on the air. This film shows this although I doubt that the makers realised that they were inadvertantly helping to document part of the history of technology.

But back to the plot of the movie. It’s got a fair bit to keep the viewer interested, it’s got dodgy business dealings, Mob involvement and and runs at a reasonable pace. I’ll not give too much away but there’s a very effective scene towards the end where all gets revealed.

I enjoyed Danger on the Air and I hope you do too.