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Unless you consider Gene Autry a major mainstream film star, I can't think of another major star besides John Wayne who did movie serials. The Duke did three of them and back then I'm sure he was grateful for the work. The first of them was The Shadow of the Eagle.

Wayne is a stunt flier for a carnival owned by former World War I ace Edward Hearn and daughter Dorothy Gulliver. Back in the war he was shot down and presumed killed. His fellow squadron members where Hearn was known as the Eagle, took the plans for something called an Aero Stabilizer and are building a factory, wouldn't you know it across the street.

But one of these dudes is looking to cut the others out and starts sending threatening messages to the others with sky writing of all things in the name of the Eagle. Talk about telegraphing your punches.

In the manner of serials, Wayne, the daughter, the Eagle, all get in trouble and rescued over and over until the real culprit and the gimmick with the sky writing is unmasked.

I'm told by the way the technology the bad guy uses for his sky writing is certainly available now, but wasn't quite perfected in 1932. What was it, that you have to sit through the serial to find out.

Serials were so frighteningly dumb back in the day. John Wayne must have shuddered if you ever mentioned this one at least.

Well what d'ya know? Just stumbled across this little caper which brings back happy memories of a childhood long long departed. The year was 1950 and I recall SHADOW OF THE EAGLE, the first time I ever clapped eyes on a very young up and coming John Wayne. (He had fully upped and comed by 1950!) Interestingly, this action-fest was considered somewhat of a "relic" even then!

Shown as a weekly 20 minute serial at our local Saturday Morning Flicks...itself, the major regular event in our home town, I recall Wayne as square-jawed pilot Craig McCoy out to discover the truth behind the disappearance of a fairground owner whose livelihood had been threatened by the nefarious "Eagle." Each episode left a young boy barely able to wait for the following Saturday to catch Craig's latest revelations and discoveries in the dastardly plot. Actually, I can't ever recall the concluding episode.....maybe I had a sleepover the previous night? Maybe I'd finally cracked a date in her pedal-car with the five year old blonde tease next door, in which case poor old Duke was never a chance!

The good guys never seem to catch a break. It added to the plot and my frustration. What a roller coaster of a movie. It was a good movie and keeps you on the edge of your seat rooting for the good guys to get one thing to go their way. Common John Wayne where, as the hero, he never gives up hope.

Didn't realize that it was almost 3 hours till it got close to the end and I looked up at the clock.

If you like b/w old movies, it's a good show to watch. I like John Wayne but have watched most of his older movies. It's a lot of fun to see a young John Wayne running around to save the day. If you don't like the older John Wayne movies, give some of is younger stuff a chance.

While this is not John Wayne's finest movie, or even his finest serial, for fans of the cliffhanger it delivers plenty of action and pretty good acting.

The main point of this review is to caution you about differences in the two DVD releases, both essentially from the same starting print. Decisions taken by the two different DVD production companies make all the difference in whether you enjoy this film or feel cheated. The two companies are Marengo Films and Platinum Disc.

I first purchased the Marengo print and was so wholly unsatisfied with the editing and production that I went looking for another. I finally found it from a company named Platinum Discs.

The Marengo release chops 5 seconds off the end of the film, leaving out completely John Wayne's closing scene. Also, the text that Marengo substituted for the studio's "The End" text is huge, blocky and computer generated. In short, Marengo has butchered the film for the sake of reducing the total number of VOBs needed to hold the DVD film image.

The Platinum Disc release is the entire original film, not a single frame, more or less. My only disappointment with this version is they appear to have made no effort to clean up dust and scratches.

The irony is that the Marengo print does have slightly more detail and better scratch and dust cleanup, however not enough, IMHO, to compensate for altering the original edit.

Review written May 22, 2011 based on latest available releases from Marengo and Platinum.

This serial film is fun to watch, if you can put yourself in the mind of a kid in 1932 chomping popcorn & watching this on the big screen in his local theater.

The real value of the film to me is the scene in which an airplane attacks Wayne & his girlfriend as they stand on a deserted road. Compare it to the crop dusting scene in Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" and there is little doubt in my mind that Hitch stole the scene from Beebe.