''Danger Signal'' is a 1939

thriller novel Thriller is a genre of fiction with numerous, often overlapping, subgenres, including crime, horror, and detective fiction. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving their audiences heightened feelings of suspe ...

by the British writer

Phyllis Bottome Phyllis Forbes Dennis ( ; 31 May 1884 – 22 August 1963) was a British novelist and short story writer. Life and career Bottome was born in 1884, in Rochester, Kent, the daughter of an American clergyman, Rev. William MacDonald Bottome, and a ...

. Typist Hilda Fenchurch broods over her failed love affair with

medical student A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

Ronnie Mason, and is disturbed when she discovers that he has now turning his attention towards her younger sister. Fearful of the exposure of her own affair, she resolves to murder him. It was originally published under the

alternative title An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the ...

of ''Murder in the Bud''.

Film adaptation

In 1945 it was adapted into the American film ''

Danger Signal ''Danger Signal'' is a 1945 American film noir starring Faye Emerson and Zachary Scott. The screenplay was adapted from the 1939 novel of the same name by Phyllis Bottome. Plot A mysterious pulp writer—and psychopath—named Ronnie Mason, s ...

'' directed by

Robert Florey Robert Florey (September 14, 1900 – May 16, 1979) was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor. Florey directed more than 50 films, the best known likely being the Marx Brothers first feature ''The Cocoanuts'' (1929 ...

and starring

Faye Emerson Faye Margaret Emerson (July 8, 1917 – March 9, 1983) was an American film and stage actress and television interviewer who gained fame as a film actress in the 1940s before transitioning to television in the 1950s and hosting her own talk show ...

and Zachary Scott.Goble p.49 The script had problems with the

Hays Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as th ...

, with objections to several elements in the original novel. The film version shifted the setting from England to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

References

Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Taves, Brian. ''Robert Florey, the French Expressionist''. 1987. 1939 British novels Novels by Phyllis Bottome Novels set in England Faber & Faber books British novels adapted into films {{1930s-thriller-novel-stub