The Shadow of Silk Lennox

While I have a weak spot for any film Lon Chaney is in, this has to rate as one of the worst. Chaney plays Silk Lennox a night club owner and gangster who manipulates people and situations in order to have perfect alibi's for the crimes he commits.

I will survive bad movies if they at least move, but here is a film thats barely an hour long, that is so awfully slow that it feels like its nine or ten times long than its running time. The problem is not in the cast, which is game up and down the line, but rather in the direction which requires nothing from the camera other than to have it shoot what its pointed at, the sequences are staged in seeming long takes akin to something from the stage, and the action is unimaginative. The script is worse with some awful contrivances used to move the plot along.

I unfortunately subjected myself to this movie twice when a copy I had was damaged and I had to return it after watching only 20 minutes. When I watched the replacement I quickly realized that it was better not to know the end than have to struggle through this movie.

Don't let Silk steal your time.

"A nightclub owner is secretly the leader of a criminal gang and he uses his nightclub operation as a cover for his illegal activities. His latest caper threatens to expose his entire operation when one of his criminal associates ends up being killed. Now our gang leader/nightclub owner must try to keep his unwitting accomplices from exposing his true activities, even if it means killing them in the process," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Lon Chaney Jr. (before "Of Mice and Men") literally try to grin and bear it. "Song and dance man" Dean Benton (before "Cocaine Fiends") contributes a few self-composed songs, done quite well for a 1930s style. Marie Burton does a Garbo ("Mata Hari") type dance. Ray Turner plays racially offensive character. There are some cool Los Angeles area locations, with telephone poles, old cars, and a landmark (the "Red Lion" gas station) visible in the distance.

** The Shadow of Silk Lennox (12/35) Ray Kirkwood ~ Lon Chaney Jr., Dean Benton, Marie Burton

Lon Chaney Jr. Is John Arthur 'Silk' Lennox. He's a night club owner, and the head of a vicious gang of criminals who enjoy armed robbery, and rubbing out people who get in their way more. Dean Benton is the singer in his night club. Marie Burton is the chick singer and dancer. They know Chaney is a vicious criminal and his organization is worse, but they're just a couple of kids in love.

Chaney is pretty smart, working up great alibis for his jobs, but the police know he's done them, even though eye witnesses are too scare to identify him. But the G-Men are in town, and they're clamping down. Chaney needs a safecracker, and fortunately he's met Jack Mulhall while waiting to be sprung, and Mulhall is so good that he escaped from jail, and offers to kill Benton.

Unfortunately for the audience, there isn't much more in this movie, and we know that with the newly enforced Production Code and a Poverty Row producer the 60-minute run time isn't going to offer much in the way of excellence. With Eddie Gribbon, Theodore Lorch, and Hal Taliaferro.

This early crime film starring Lon Chaney Jr. isn't too good. It's about a gangster who owns a nightclub and uses this as an alibi for the crimes he commits. It's a thoroughly uninspired movie, with little to recommend it. It's an early Chaney performance, so for his fans it at least provides an early glimpse of the man in action. Along with another early Chaney film from the same time, Scream in the Night, it doesn't offer too much though. He wasn't a star name at the time so he had to star in these old Poverty Row movies to help get his career moving I guess. The most distinctive thing about this production was probably the songs and the dance routines, which while not exactly special they did offer something different at least.

Early in his film career, Creighton Chaney wasn't especially successful or notable. However, against his wishes, he was re-christened 'Lon Chaney Jr.' by the studios and they began to place him in the leads-- hoping to capitalize on his father's notoriety in the 1920s and early 30s. Well, eventually he improved and was a decent actor--with such notable films as "Of Mice and Men" as well as "The Wolf-Man". "The Shadow of Silk Lennox" is from the period before he became a more accomplished actor--when the rough acting and super-low budgets were the norm for young Creighton.

The budget for this film from Commodore Pictures/Ray Kirkwood Productions was probably about $427.99 judging by the talent assembled for the movie. The biggest problem was the singing--which seemed pretty bad as well as used a lot as filler. As for the acting, it ranged from decent to poor--with no real stand outs. And when it comes to story, the film seems an awful lot like previous films like "Little Caesar", "The Public Enemy" and "Scarface"--just cheaper and less interesting.

The film find 'Silk' Lennox (Chaney) as a mob boss who claims, of course, to be a respectable businessman. Whenever he or his gang is involved in killings or robberies, he uses his lawyers as well as witness intimidation to insure that he'll keep getting away with his life of crime. In desperation, the G-men get involved and they are determined to capture Silk in the act. Will this happen? And, will we care?

My biggest problem about the movie, apart from the awful singing and lack of anyone I cared about in the least, was the whole Silk angle. Chaney kept saying 'smooth as silk' throughout the film and it just made him sound like an idiot. Not a great film by any stretch but he had done worse in some of his earlier movies--not that this is a glowing endorsement!

By the way, for you trivia nuts out there. James Cagney apparently NEVER said 'you dirty rat' in a film. However, Silk Lennox DID in this film!