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The Shadow of the Eagle (1932) is a movie/series that I watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a group of carnival employees who keep seeing messages in the skyline left in smoke by an airplane warning of misdeeds by the Eagle. When the owner of the carnival goes missing the carnival employees believe it is a much bigger act against them and their show. They will work together to discover who kidnapped their boss and who is behind the messages.

This movie/series is directed by Ford Beebe (The Invisible Man's Revenge) and stars John Wayne (True Grit), Dorothy Gulliver (The Galloping Ghost), Walter Miller (The Last of the Mohicans) and Kenneth Harlan (Danger Island).

This movie is recorded in a classic television series with many who done it elements. I adored the carnival setting and the characters were unique and a lot of fun, especially the midget. The dialogue was very good, and the little person's voice and one liners had me cracking up. The flight scenes are also creative and well done. The sped-up scenes are fun too as are the fight sequences and the car fight ending.

Overall, this is very dated but fun movie to watch unfold with unique characters, settings and circumstances. I would score this a 7/10 and strongly recommend watching it once.

An American adventure mystery; A story about a pilot who defends a carnival owner accused of being the killer who 'writes' the names of the victims in the sky with an aircraft's trail. This is a feature film made from an original 12 part film serial. A carnival setting and an airplane factory provide picturesque backdrops, and there are some quirky, colourful supporting characters. Mistaken identity, red herrings and mystery provide distraction along the way, oiled with some broad humour. But, it becomes an endurance test in its long running time, mainly due to sequences that offer little variation, despite the lightning-fast pace.

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.

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!

A 12-part serial in which a fresh-faced 25-year-old John Wayne runs around and engages in fist fights for what seems like forever. Grows repetitive when watched in one or two sittings, but then that's not how it was intended to be watched. Wayne is very green in this one, showing little of the star presence that was to come. Billy West, who has a small part as a treacherous clown, was the premier Chaplin impersonator back in the teens.