Invisible Avenger

The title of this garrulous and uninvolving retread set largely in New Orleans of the radio character popularized in the thirties by Orson Welles may be vaguely familiar to some from its presence as a rather mysterious footnote to the illustrious filmography of the Oscar-winning cameraman James Wong Howe. Howe directed one feature film, 'Go, Man, Go!' (1954), with the Harlem Globetrotters, and between his Oscars for 'The Rose Tattoo' (1955) and 'Hud' (1963) directed a few TV episodes, of which this may have been his first. Assembled from two unsold pilot episodes for a TV series (of which only one was directed by Howe, hence the joint credit) which were spliced together under the intriguing title 'Invisible Avenger' and released as a feature film, it thus finds itself by default among Howe's film credits.

The drab photography, however, belies Howe's contribution; and as an avowed stickler for realism I hope he wasn't responsible for the multiple set-ups employed on the public execution shown being screened on American television. Apart from the "Daddy O" jazz talk and the topical storyline about revolutionaries plotting against a Latin American dictatorship, it feels more like a Republic serial from the forties. Using his radio name of Lamont Cranston, the Shadow hangs out with a mystic sidekick named Jogendra who's taught him how to think himself invisible (hence the title), but rather than simply prowling about invisible he usually waits until he gets caught so he can then confound his captors by disappearing; sometimes for effect he casts a shadow only, and he only ever emits his trademark diabolical cackle when invisible.

Although billed third and cutting a striking figure as a hard-boiled nightclub hostess, Helen Westcott's role proves surprisingly irrelevant to the action.

Is that Orson Welles intoning at the beginning and end of this pilot for a THE SHADOW TV pilot, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" He had played the role on the radio for a few years, and it sounds like him.

The story, such as it is, consists of Lamont Cranston being called down to New Orleans to deal with the death of a jazz man, only to get wrapped up in a South American revolution. He's worried about turning permanently into a shadow if he clouds men's minds too much, making himself invisible or causing a ship's pilot to imagine an iceberg dead ahead. Richard Derr makes an okay Lamont Cranston, and James Wong Howe is credited as the director, for his third movie directorial credit. He had gotten a job in Paramount's camera shop, and one day Cecil B. Demille found that he seemed to beat everyone into the studio, including him, so he promoted him. In actuality, Howe had been sleeping in the camera room rather than taking the trolley back home, to save time and money. By 1925, he was a respected cinematographer, and by the time he retired in the 1970s, was considered a genius. Which he pretty much was.

The Shadow had been invented as a character to read stories from Street & Smith's DETECTIVE STORY magazine in 1930. He quickly grew popular, so S&S created a magazine around him. He was popular on the radio and in pulp magazines, but a dozen attempts to transfer him to the movies, TV and video games failed to take. the meandering sotry line and cheesy special effects here explain why.

Personally I am a radio drama fan who enjoys learning about the old time radio series's and I have come across a little information I would like to share about this movie.

1) The film was made in the attempt to make a series based upon the radio series. The movie was originally intended to be a pilot episode of a "Shadow" television series.

2) Someone made a comment about Margo Lane being needed. However, the creation of the Shadow as a character predates the creation of Margo Lane. The Shadow was originally a mysterious host of the "Street and Smith Dectective Story" program. Soon, however, the creators of the series realized that the mysterious host was more famous than the series. Thus, a series of novels came out identifying the Shadow as having the ability to steal identities of other people. He did not seem to have an identity of his own. Originally, Margo Lane first met him when he was pretending to be Lamont Cranston (originally, she meets the real Lamonte Cranston and mistakes the Shadow for him. Also, the identity of Lamonte Cranston was originally an identity that the Shadow stole).

I have not personally seen the movie "Invisable Avenger". I just wanted to clear some things about the Shadow up.

Proposed series looks cheap santa cruz ovrethrow of disctator films in NO despite thrilling movie, a low speed show sibling irvalry

"Invisible Avenger" was a pilot for a proposed series from Republic Studios that was never okayed by the networks as a weekly series. So, to recoup some of the production costs, the studio released it in theaters as a film. In some ways, the show looked pretty good, filming on location in New Orleans. But in most, it just seemed cheap and surprisingly dull. After all, the Shadow is a pretty cool character....just not in this incarnation.

The story is about the fictional country of Santa Cruz. It's ruled by a dictator and the opposition is hiding out in the States. Lamont Cranston (the Shadow) makes it his responsibility to protect the man and do what he can to help bring freedom to the people of Santa Cruz. However, a little bit of sibling rivalry is tossed into the mix...and you wonder how Cranston will manage to stay alive!

The biggest problem is the lack of energy in the film. For a TV show of the 50s, you might expect this....but not from a film released in theaters. I am pretty sure audiences left this one a bit bored and disappointed.

"The legendary mind-clouding man of mystery is back in this film noir tale set in New Orleans, where nothing is ever as it seems. Exiled Spanish leader Pablo Ramirez is hiding out on Bourbon Street as plans are laid to overthrow the oppressive dictatorship that currently exists in his country. A fascist generalissimo has planted assassins in the city to dispose of Ramirez and thwart his impending coup d'etat. Lamont Cranston (Richard Derr) - aka the Shadow - is summoned to protect Ramirez and thus ensure a successful revolution. The Shadow summons up his supernatural powers of hypnosis and invisibility to save Ramirez and stop his enemies' diabolical exploits," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

This TV try-out may be re-edited to include the execution footage, which seems a little heavy for 1950s television - or, maybe did they did show executions in westerns back then - anyway, the eerie "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men… the Shadow knows!" line interrupting the drama a couple of times perfectly illustrates why this series was successful on the radio - and, also, why this visual representation was unsuccessful; the picture simply does not live up to the mystery inherent in the series' famous catchphrase. Mr. Derr is a good lead, but not very mysterious; mystical sidekick Mark Daniels (as Jogendra), creepy Dan Mullin (as Pablo & Victor Ramirez), and shadowy James Wong Howe are interesting.

***** The Shadow: Invisible Avenger (12/2/58) James Wong Howe ~ Richard Derr, Mark Daniels, Dan Mullin