Dawn Express

Originally titled Dawn Express, this PRC spy melodrama was hastily rechristened Nazi Spy Ring to keep abreast of current events. Michael Whalen stars as Robert Norton, a scientist who has developed a formula for synthetic gasoline. A group of Nazi spies try to intimidate Norton into parting with his formula, but he is not so easily frightened. The villains then contrive to have Norton suspected of being a Nazi himself so that he'll be more susceptible to their overtures. As one critic pointed out, the hero could have saved himself all this trouble if he'd reported the spies to the FBI in the first reel, but then the movie would have been over in 12 minutes. Nazi Spy Ring is so cheaply produced that the sets constantly threaten collapse -- and indeed, at one point a break-away door fails to break properly, provoking laughter in all the wrong places.