Mr. Sombra

I own a few of the old radio shows this is supposedly based on, and I find them delightful. The Shadow is that dark hero who gives up a personal life to lurk in the darkness. He understands the minds of criminals and is able to make his way into their lairs and root them out. His voice is one of threat and he strikes fear into criminals. This is just a police drama with a rather lame plot about a will and who will inherit a bunch of money. We know he is the Shadow, but instead of a wide network and reputation, he seems just like a guy in a coat. He has a sidekick who does a lot of his bidding, there are hidden microphones and unannounced entrances into rooms, but, overall, it's pretty dull. I would imagine the fans, who grew up with the radio character, must have been pretty disappointed.

This SHADOW is not the Shadow of the radio or the comics or even the Alex Baldwin movie of recent vintage. Rather, it is about a bon vivant who likes to play detective and gets mixed up in a murder mystery during which he impersonates a prominent lawyer. This would be all well and fine if Lamont Cranston donned some sort of disguise as the lawyer -- the Shadow is a master of disguises -- but he does nothing to alter his appearance and depends way too much on being able to conveniently appear, disappear and then reappear as the lawyer, who happens to be on vacation. So it's not really the Shadow, but at the very least star Rod La Roque (now there's a moniker!) plays Cranston as a real smoothie. The Shadow as such (and again I must point out this is not the Shadow most of us know, just a guy wearing a hat and hiding his face) puts in all of a 10-second appearance at the beginning and end of this dated little melodrama. Watch it for La Roque, a silent-era heart throb who survived the transition to talkies.

With veteran heavy Cy Kendall and versatile movie cop Kenneth Harlan in support, and the extremely experienced and suave Rod LaRocque in a popular product "The Shadow", this film is somewhat of a disappointment in comparison to what it could have been. LaRocque gives us a supremely confident Cranston in a poised performance. LaRocque, a large, very tall man, wisely had perfected the art of downplaying since his entrance into talking pictures and he is fine here. But he should be surrounded with a vigorous director and some more active styled performers. This film falls into the unfortunate detective- filmmaker's pitfall namely: lack of energy.

Whatever Colony Pictures was or wasn't, it certainly was a cheap outfit. While competent and watchable, this film lacks any spark in cinematography, editing or overall direction, apparently due to lack of funds. The plot is a basically solid detective mystery, but the execution of it was sort of loosely thrown together for filming in as few days as possible.

Considering LaRocque's strong screen presence and the generally adequate efforts of the mostly discount cast, a fan of the black and white mystery/detective genre will find this film OK and representative of the genre in the bargain-basement sense.

Rod LaRoque is Lamont Granston in this B mystery that confounds more than it satisfies. We are introduced to Granston in an opening scene that establishes a few murky facts: his father was killed by a gang of crooks; his butler is his loyal assistant; he apparently fights crime in disguise as the Shadow. Who and what is the Shadow? Well, we viewers know him by reputation, perhaps, but whatever powers he may possess are never really on display in this film.

Granston, in costume as the Shadow, does indeed foil a burglary at a lawyer's office, thereby setting the plot in motion. When the police arrive, Granston quickly assumes said lawyer's identity and becomes embroiled in a family controversy that involves a will, a murder, several suspects in and near the family, and a gang of gamblers somehow also involved. It's a fair if standard B movie plot; our hero stays, for the most part, a step ahead of both cops and crooks as he zeroes in on the killer's identity.

LaRoque himself is fine—he plays Granston as cool and smooth and slightly amused. He's capable of a sharp glance and quick action as needed. (He's also capable of carelessness, such as allowing the police to walk in on him as he's sifting through the contents of a safe.) Wilson Benge tries his best to add a little lilt and humor as Granston's assistant, Wellington, apparently an English butler or possibly a distant relative to one.

Other cast members, though, don't fare well at all—much of the film's dialog is not only clichéd but delivered without obvious enthusiasm. Whether the cast were beaten by too slow pacing or lack of rehearsal or just unimaginative dialog itself, entire scenes come and go without so much as a spark between characters or a snap to a speech. An exception is Cy Kendall as a boss gambler—he at least radiates smugness, to the extent that his small part allows.

Part of the problem with this movie is that we don't know what we are supposed to take as understood about the Shadow—Is this the radio crime fighter? If so, why don't we hear any of his signature lines? If not, why bother putting "the Shadow" in the title at all? The Shadow Strikes is okay as an average B movie, but that title leads viewers to expect something much more Shadow-y. Honestly, it's mystifying what might have led to this half-baked mess....did the producers unexpectedly acquire the character name and rush to shove it into a picture that was already half-written?

Note on the name: The character in this picture is indeed Lamont Granston. Why not Cranston? Possibly you-know-who knows....

I was drawn to this movie by it's attractive pulp 'Scourge of the Underworld' poster. The action surrounds the will of the eccentric Caleb Delthern who is seen at the beginning before he is shot dead through a window. Delthern's two nephews and a niece are the main suspects of his murder along with gang boss Brossett. One of the nephews is under the control of Brossett through gambling debts. There are plenty of added characters who flit on and off screen so the viewer is constantly whirled through this cast of suspects at speed. This was my double introduction to the actor Rod La Rocque and the shadow character of Lamont Cranston. Cranton (Rod La Rocque) is a will-o'-the-wisp character who has the ability to swiftly disappear when the police or other trouble arrive on the scene. He also has the mercurial ability to easily take on other peoples' identities and gain the confidence that he is who he says he is. I enjoyed the wily interactions between Cranston and his servant Hendricks. Hendricks (Norman Ainsley) is an apologetic slightly-built man in a bowler hat who is ever-alert to his master's thoughts and tricks. I enjoyed this gun-happy 1930s B-mystery and watched it for a second time to clear up some character loose-ends and I look forward to seeing it again.