{{short description|1938 film by Robert Florey}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Dangerous to Know | image = Dangeroustoknow.jpg | caption = | director = [[Robert Florey]] | producer = | screenplay = William R. Lipman<br />[[Horace McCoy]] | based_on = {{based on|''[[On the Spot (play)|On the Spot]]'' |[[Edgar Wallace]]}} | starring = [[Anna May Wong]]<br />[[Akim Tamiroff]]<br>[[Gail Patrick]] | cinematography = [[Theodor Sparkuhl]] | editing = [[Arthur P. Schmidt]] | color_process = [[Black and white]] | studio = Paramount Pictures | distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]] | released = {{Film date|1938|3|9|Los Angeles|1938|3|10|New York|ref2=<ref name="nytreview"/>}} | runtime = 70 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = }} '''''Dangerous to Know''''' is a 1938 American [[crime film]] directed by [[Robert Florey]] and starring [[Anna May Wong]], [[Akim Tamiroff]] and [[Gail Patrick]]. The screenplay is based on British crime writer [[Edgar Wallace]]'s hit 1930 play ''[[On the Spot (play)|On the Spot]],'' which had been inspired by the career of [[Al Capone]]. Wong reprised her stage role from the New York production in the film.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dangerous to Know |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/870-DANGEROUS-TOKNOW |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The First 100 Years 1893–1993 |publisher=American Film Institute}}</ref> The supporting cast features [[Lloyd Nolan]] and [[Anthony Quinn]].
==Plot== Former bootlegger Stephen Recka is a powerful figure in city politics and business circles, with the mayor and bank in his pocket, and he aspires to climb socially. Recka discovers that a city councilor who wants to become mayor has planted spy John Rance in his office.
Recka's birthday party is organized by his hostess Madame Lan Ying, with attendees who want a share in his citywide power. Margaret van Case, a member of a prominent family, arrives and Recka charms her, displeasing Lan Ying.
Recka visits Rance's apartment, forces him to write a suicide note and causes him to falls to his death from the window. Police inspector Brandon pursues Recka for eight murders, but with no evidence to convict him.
Recka orders the mayor to change the city's development plans to avoid the district around Margaret's house as part of his plan to ingratiate himself with her. After Recka learns that Margaret's boyfriend Phil Easton is a bond salesman, and he buys $20,000 of bonds from him and gradually sends him business to win his trust. Recka pursues Margaret, but Lan Ying warns him that she is out of his league.
Recka's hoods steal $218,000 in bonds from Phil at gunpoint and kidnap him so that it appears that he has stolen them. The police Phil drunk and with the bonds missing. Margaret realizes that Phil has been framed, and Recka tells her that he will clear Phil only if she marries him, opening the doors of respectable society for him. She agrees but vows eternal contempt for Recka, and Phil is freed on bail.
Recka's hoods double-cross him and take the bonds, but they are arrested by the police for speeding. Recka realizes that Phil could identify them and therefore must be silenced. He buys plane tickets for Margaret to fly away with him, but when he finds that the bonds have been switched for newspaper, he knows that Inspector Brandon must have them.
Lan Ying understands Recka's plans and that he intends to kill Phil, but his henchman is arrested before he can complete the hit. She also knows about the plane tickets and warns Recka that she will not be waiting if he returns. She bids an emotional farewell to Recka, playing a record of "[[Thanks for the Memory]]". Confused and lonely, he admits that she is a real friend and the only person whom he can trust.
As Recka plays the organ, Lan Ying approaches him from behind with a knife but then plunges the knife into herself. Brandon catches Recka holding the bloody knife over Lan Ying's body and arrests Recka, knowing that he did not kill Lan Ying but intending that Recka will be convicted for the murder nonetheless and pay the price for all of the crimes for which he was never tried.
Margaret and Phil fly to their honeymoon using the plane tickets.
==Cast== * [[Anna May Wong]] as Madame Lan Ying * [[Akim Tamiroff]] as Stephen Recka * [[Gail Patrick]] as Margaret van Case * [[Lloyd Nolan]] as Inspector Brandon * [[Harvey Stephens]] as Phillip Easton * [[Anthony Quinn]] as Nicky Kusnoff * [[Roscoe Karns]] as Duncan * [[Porter Hall]] as Mayor Bradley * Barlowe Borland as Butler * [[Hedda Hopper]] as Mrs. Carson * Hugh Sothern as Harvey Gregson * [[Edward Pawley]] as John Rance * Eddie Marr as Crouch * [[Harry Worth (actor, born 1903)|Harry Worth]] as Hanley * Robert Brister as Councilman Murkil * [[Pierre Watkin]] as Senator Carson
==Reception== In a contemporary review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', critic [[Bosley Crowther]] called the film a "second-rate melodrama, hardly worthy of the talents of its generally capable cast."<ref name="nytreview">{{cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=1938-03-11 |title=The Screen in Review |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=15}}</ref>
Reviewer Mae Tinée of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' wrote: "The story? A melodramatic one. Better than some of its class, not so good as others. But engrossing screen fare because of the acting. ... If you like stories about racketeers 'Dangerous to Know' is a film to jot down on that movie shopping list."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tinée |first=Mae |date=1938-05-26 |title='Dangerous to Know' Notable for Its Acting |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |page=17}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0030039|title=Dangerous to Know}} * {{AFI film|870|title=Dangerous to Know}} * {{TCMDb title|72236|title=Dangerous to Know}}
{{Robert Florey}} {{Edgar Wallace}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dangerous To Know}} [[Category:1938 films]] [[Category:1938 English-language films]] [[Category:1938 crime films]] [[Category:American mystery films]] [[Category:Paramount Pictures films]] [[Category:Films based on works by Edgar Wallace]] [[Category:Films directed by Robert Florey]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:American crime films]] [[Category:1938 mystery films]] [[Category:1930s melodrama films]] [[Category:1938 American films]] [[Category:English-language crime films]] [[Category:English-language mystery films]]