Released in the summer of 1946, "Danger Woman" was the last title included in Universal's popular SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50's. Clearly a non horror item, despite a fine veteran cast familiar to Universal buffs, starring Don Porter ("Mystery of the White Room," "Night Monster," "She-Wolf of London") as Professor Claude Ruppert, an atomic researcher who decides to shelve his findings because they would prove devastating in the wrong hands. Lovely Patricia Morison ("Hitler's Madman," "Calling Dr. Death," "Dressed to Kill," "Song of the Thin Man," "Tarzan and the Huntress") is billed third in the title role, as Ruppert's estranged wife Eve, who suddenly turns up after a three year absence, interrupting the idyllic existence between her husband and his loving secretary June Spencer (Brenda Joyce, "Strange Confession," "Pillow of Death"). The real trouble begins with the arrival of enemy spy Gerald King (Milburn Stone, "Captive Wild Woman," "The Mad Ghoul," "The Frozen Ghost"), who fakes a car crash in front of Ruppert's home, becoming an unwelcome visitor out to steal the professor's unpublished papers. Ruppert's professional life is smeared by sensation seeking reporters, while his personal relationship with June is frowned upon by the local populace. The villains show their hand by murdering the professor's friend Albert Sears (Samuel S. Hinds, "The Raven," "The Strange Case of Doctor Rx," "Son of Dracula"), plus the doctor (Griff Barnett) bribed to insinuate King into the Ruppert household (all ends happily of course). The cast provides enough intrigue for Universal devotees, especially when the script fails to work up much excitement. Despite its inclusion as a SHOCK! title, its obscurity understandably continues, never broadcast on Pittsburgh's CHILLER THEATER like others such as "Secret of the Château," "The Man Who Cried Wolf," and "Mystery of the White Room." Brenda Joyce would end her brief screen career by 1949, as would long admired Patricia Morison, who displays her lengthy brunette tresses in one lingerie clad sequence, as she hopes to seduce her husband to sell out financially (she made just two final features after 1948).
Review of Danger Woman
