The Vanishing Shadow

I don't have to much to add that the others haven't already added only to say that it's got pretty good gizmos and special fx for a cheap serial of the era. It's fun and kinda funny at times.

An electrical engineer, Stanley Stanfield (Onslow Stevens), brings his newest invention to the famous electrical wizard, Carl Van Dorn (James Durkins)--- a vest-like apparatus that enables the wearer to vanish, leaving only a shadow. Hey, back off...it's a good start.

Anyway, Van Dorn is vastly impressed and, with the aid of the machine, the pair set out to bring about the downfall of power-crazed Wade Barnett (Walter Miller) and his crony Dorgan (Dick Cramer), whose political-group activities, through a vicious smear campaign, had hounded Stanfield's father to death. Stanfield's efforts are complicated by the fact that his girlfriend, known to him as Gloria Grant (Ada Ince), is really Barnett's daughter, who has rejected her father and goes by an alias.

Wizard Van Dorn also stays busy inventing new gadgets to fight the gang with but, someway or another, he or Stanfield or Gloria always end up as the victim rather then Barnett, Dorgan or their henchies. Going back to the drawing board in chapter 10 (The Iron Death), Van Dorn comes up with a short-wave radio controlled robot and, in chapter 11 (The Juggernaut), he remotes it into a room to kill Barnett, but by mistake, the robot attacks Stanfield, who is tied helpless in a chair. Barnett was long gone.

They would have been better served by spending all their time and energy in trying to get rid of the shadow caused by the invisibility vest.

Toss in Ada Ince in the highest-budgeted film she ever made, and Edmund Cobb as a derby-hat wearing henchie (looking a lot like "Doiby" Dickles, the Green Lantern's cab-driving pal) and add Kenneth Strickfaden's art-deco lab and amazing electrical gadgets...and this becomes a Keeper.

To avenge his father, Stanley Stanfield (Onslow Stevens) allies himself with Prof. Carl Van Dorn, a 'genius with electricity' who brings an invisibility belt, a death-ray, and a giant remote-control robot to the struggle. Together with spunky girl-reporter Gloria Grant (Ada Ince), the daughter of Wade Barnett (Walter Miller), the merciless businessman who drove Stanfield's father to death, they take on Barnett's crew of heavies, led by tough-guy Dorgon (Richard Cramer) for 12 chapters packed with brawls, explosions, booby-traps, car-wrecks, plane crashes and burning ships (without any of the men displacing their fedoras). The serial is quite well made and the plot, while admittedly far-fetched, holds together well and the cliff-hanger endings (and their subsequent resolutions), although 'typical' of the genre, are satisfying (ie no 'cheats'). Unusual for the genre, the plethora of fantastic gadgets are not in the hands of a criminal mastermind, but rather in those of an ally of the hero, and the blood-thirsty professor, who is just itching to turn his death ray on something other than plants, is easily the most entertaining character in the serial. The special effects are quite good (for era and genre). The 'turning invisible' effects are very well done and, unlike cheaper chapterplays (such as 'The Purple Monster Strikes'), there is not a constant recycling of optical effects as numerous characters use the 'ray' to turn invisible in a variety of places and poses. There is efficient use of stop-motion to demonstrate the effects of the death ray on living tissue and the robot is great: a giant flailing tin-man with orangutan-like arms and a huge nose that terrifies even the coolest of the heavies. Not unusual for a 12-parter, the episodes become a bit repetitive (Stanley gets tied up a lot and there is always someone eavesdropping when an important plot-point is discussed) but the story moves along briskly to an agreeable conclusion. Cinematographically, the 90-year-old serial has aged well except for some Hal Roach-like undercranking in the fight scenes that results in unintentionally humorous sped-up effects. Note: Roy Kinnard's 2008 book 'Science Fiction Serials: A Critical Filmography of the 31 Hard SF Cliffhangers' states that this serial has been lost but recently high-quality copies of all 12 chapters have appeared on You-tube.

Historically hard to see, now VCI has released this rare title on DVD and Blu Ray. While fantasy and comic book films are now the most expensive films to produce, in the golden age of Hollywood they were on the lowest rungs of film making. And serials such as this were among the lowest! Yet, serials are where fantasy, sci-fi and super heroes all had there start. Vanishing Shadow is a fun serial with invisible rays, destroying rays, electronic keys and other sci fi devices including a killer robot. Far fetched but cut it some slack. Made by Universal, who reached their apex in serials in a couple more years with Flash Gordon. It's also the first film of future Academy Award winner Lee J. Cobb who pops in on episodes 3&4. So hooray and thanks to VCI for making the chapterplay available to a broader audience.

In the middle 1970's, the Dade County (Miami, FL) school system, in an attempt to get kids to read, gave 7th grade students (which I was one), the script to the Vanishing Shadow. One of the TV stations broadcast all 12 episodes, which we were required to watch and read along with the script.

The show was a real blast for a 12 year old kid. I still remember the vanishing belt and the cornball dialog (which we had to act out in class the following day). I remember Ada Ince, who played Stanley's love interest, was a real babe and I remember the Stanley was my hero.

I would recommend this serial to anybody who enjoys the low-tech attempts to create high-tech effects in the 1930's. A must!