The Flaming Signal (1933)
** (out of 4)
Lt. Robbins (John Horsley) and his dog (Flash) crash land on a mysterious island that has a strange set of characters on it. Robbins begins seeing the beautiful Molly James (Marceline Day) but this doesn't sit well with one of the locals who uses voodoo to put a trance on some people.
THE FLAMING SIGNAL has pretty much been forgotten over the years but at the time of its release it was a showcase for the dog Flash. As you'd expect in a dog feature, Mr. Flash gets quite a bit of action scenes but the highlight happens right towards the start of the picture when he has to jump out of a plane with a parachute. Of course, this was all a stunt with rear projection but I do wish that they should have educated us on how he pulled the plug. With that said, the film itself really isn't any good but there are a couple interesting things throughout the 60 minute running time.
For starters, this has several pre-code elements including a rape sequence. Obviously it's not overly graphic or even shown but the hint is obvious as we see the bare legs of a woman kicking and screaming as she gets carried off. The introduction of Day has her swimming topless and we watch her walk out of the water in just her panties. Again, no actual nudity but this was still 1933. Finally, the most interesting thing is the voodoo that is used to put people into the trance. This film isn't known as a zombie movie but I guess it should be since the same type of trance was used in films from the era like WHITE ZOMBIE and KING OF THE ZOMBIES.
Horsley is pretty boring in the lead role and Flash actually gives the best of the two performances. I thought Day was extremely charming in her role, which was another reason to check this film out. THE FLAMING SIGNAL is far from a good movie but it contains enough interesting things to make it worth sitting through.
