International Crime

A strange little offshoot of the Shadow mythos. Definitely the better of the two Shadow movies starring Rod La Rocque. This time, Lamont Cranston is a crusading crime journalist who writes a daily column entitled "The Shadow"! He does not wear the famous cloak and slouch hat, has no mind powers and everybody knows that he is the Shadow. His assistant is Phoebe Lane, who is cute and dizzy and not much relation to the superior Margo Lane at all. The film is based on the wise-cracking style of "The Thin Man" and occasionally delivers a genuinely funny moment. But for the most part this is a pretty dull murder mystery involving foreign agents. Completely lacking in the film noir, supernatural atmosphere of the radio series and the magazine. A curiosity but hardly The Shadow we know and love.

I enjoy this movie and have watched it several times (free on Amazon Prime). The colorful characters and some snappy dialog are what attracts me. The mystery aspects and especially Rod LaRocque's cheesy foreign accent (used in a few scenes) are not.

I like Astrid Allwyn as the young, eager girl-Friday-wannabe-- slightly ditsy, but not outlandishly so. She gets off some good lines, like this: Waiter: More caviar, madame? Astrid Allwyn: Oh, no! If I eat any more of that buckshot, I'll pass out!

Lew Hearn as Moe is a colorful character. He bails out Cranston, and standing outside the cell, Cranston asks how much he owes him. Moe says something like, "Is this a place to talk business? It'll be on your bill."

Thomas E. Jackson is enjoyable as always, as a gruff, put-upon police commissioner. I remember him as the gruff, put-upon editor in "Nancy Drew, Reporter."

And Peter Potter is memorable as Cranston's assistant, with that sleepy-sounding Oklahoma drawl of his.

The mystery, the safe-cracking Honest John, and all that, is not to be dismissed, though there are some corny aspects of the plot. But all in all I like this movie and will no doubt watch it again.

Director Charles Lamont and star Rod LaRocque had both been around for a LONG time in the silents. In this talkie, LaRocque is radio host Lamont Cranston, who thinks he gets a hot tip of a crime about to happen from "citizen" Phoebe Lane (Astrid Allwyn). When things don't turn out right, the cops are upset, so now its up to Cranston to solve the mystery himself. The sound and picture quality are remarkably good, as opposed to some of the other oldies showing on "Moonlight Movies" channel. It's just okay. Sub plot wherePhoebe interferes at first, but then is his ally, and it turns out she is related to the big boss publisher. Mildly entertaining, but very so-so. There are so many better things to watch...

This time the Shadow has a radio show. Everyone seems to know he is LaMont Cranston. He is at the behest of radio executives and newspaper men and always seems to have trouble getting to the studio on time. There is so much potential in the Shadow's character to come up with a first rate noir film. What do we get. A poor man's Nick Charles who is glib and silly. A plot that is, at best, confusing. There are characters coming at each other from all directions, but ultimately the Shadow knows. He is unflappable and self centered. The problem is that above all else he is dull and uninteresting. I would bet you that given a 1930's audience and a slight rewrite of the screenplay, no one would even know this movie is based on the wonderful old radio show.

As any movie buff knows, Charles Lamont was mostly known for his comedy flicks, starring Abbot and Costello, Francis the talking mule or some late forties colorful adventures films for Universal Studios. Forget the rest. But when I found this one, regarding to the title, I said to myself, that maybe among the Lamont's "muddy" career, there could be an hidden gem, such for instance a taut crime film. Who knows? In my long life as a moviegoer, I have seen so incredible things.... But unfortunately, it was not the case for this one. Not at all. Not a comedy, but too light hearted for my taste. What a deception.