Complete credited cast: | |||
Richard Arlen | ... | Lewis J. 'Lee' Deerhold | |
Wendy Barrie | ... | Ann Patterson | |
Nils Asther | ... | Dr. Arthur Huneker | |
Roger Pryor | ... | G.B. Fleming | |
Abner Biberman | ... | Cmdr. Toyo | |
Marc Lawrence | ... | Vincent Bela | |
John Miljan | ... | Mr. Bambridge / Capt. Haigas | |
Patsy Nash | ... | Tina Deerhold | |
Ralph Sanford | ... | Agent Freddie Grayson |
Nazi spies use a stolen shortwave transmitter prototype to broadcast top secret shipping info to an offshore Japanese sub. To nab the spy ring, the Government has the West Coast's top radio engineers fired and shadowed to see if the Nazis recruit them to complete work on the prototype radio. Radio engineer Lew Deerhold, a resident alien without a job to pay for his adorable little ward Gina's life-saving operation, falls prey to the spy ring, and is swept up in a maelstrom of deceit and danger. Written by Sister Grimm <srgrimm@teleport.com>
Richard Arlen generally took on films which had some thought involved over action. Here, the thought is missing.
It is a McCarthy era style film about espionage, with Arlen as a "brainy" sort who gets into a lot more fisticuffs than one would imagine. We're given the FBI characters who really don't fit into any mold-they're not McCarthy, they're not sharpshooters, they're not any of the usual cinema stereotypes, and that may be the only thing going for this very generic spy piece, since the plot never even begins to make any sense.
We have a "cute kid" of course, since a Hollywood male hero has to be a family man or former family man. The kid does an excellent job, too, but is really just a gimmick in this formula film.