The inventor of a new top-of-the-line burglar alarm system is kidnapped by a gang in order to get him to help them commit robberies.
Acting
Karloff plays sweet inventor, not monster—radical casting against type.
Production
Gloriously impractical 'futuristic' 1937 burglar alarm contraptions.
Director
Lloyd Corrigan
Boris Karloff
David Mallory
Warren Hull
Jim Travers
Jean Rogers
Joan Mallory
Alan Baxter
John Baron aka The Kid
Hobart Cavanaugh
Petty Louie
Samuel S. Hinds
Steven Ranger
David Oliver
Mike Callahan
Ward Bond
Fingers
Frank Reicher
Carl - gang engineer
Edwin Maxwell
Lawyer Kruger
George Cleveland
Sam Adams - Company Engineer (uncredited)
George Humbert
Mr. Spinelli (uncredited)
Charles C. Wilson
Police Capt. Wallace (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Karloff's attempt to break free from horror typecasting after Frankenstein made him famous. Universal basically said 'okay, ONE non-monster movie.'
The 'scientific inventor' trope peaked in 1930s Depression cinema—audiences craved escapist fantasies where brains, not brawn, defeated criminals.
US
