The Red Shadow

This two reel short from Warner Brothers is a real find if you can get it. Alexander Gray and Bernice Clare did a number of early sound musical adaptations for the screen of some of the great operettas back in the day. Their brief moment of popularity was passing when this abbreviated version of The Desert Song was done. But the fact that Alexander Gray appeared in the original stage production, replacing the original Pierre/Red Shadow is a chance to see a Broadway star recreate his stage performance.

The Desert Song was topical back in the day with news of the Riff revolt in colonial French Morocco under Abdel Krim. It took the combined forces of two European governments, France and Spain, to put the Riff revolt down. American coverage had Krim as a most romantic figure and I'm sure the coverage of Krim may have also been responsible for Rudolph Valentino's emergence as a screen star in The Sheik. Krim was not a terrorist by any means, he was a real warrior in the tradition of Saladin.

The acting is stagy to say the least, but we're only in it for the songs folks.

A 19:32 minute version of their full length film adaptation (1929) of the popular Romberg/Hammerstein operetta from Warners. This features four of the songs, not the three listed here in the soundtrack section: The Desert Song; The Riff Song; One Alone; One Flower. Footage from the earlier film is used to augment the four stage settings used here.

Claire and Gray sing wonderfully. He only appeared in ten films before retiring to the concert stage and two of his films are lost (only the Vitaphone discs to the Coming Attractions of NO NO NANETTE and just over half of the discs to THE SONG OF THE FLAME have survived, but no visuals of these two). He has one song at the end of MOONLIGHT AND PRETZELS and is seen only briefly introducing the finale to THE SHOW OF SHOWS.

His remaining leading roles are but three: SALLY, SPRING IS HERE and his best role, VIENNESE NIGHTS.

THE FLAME SONG, his last film is another short subject version of an operetta, this time of his very own THE SONG OF THE FLAME. I have not been able to locate this to view it. The title of his tenth film escapes me. He and Claire paired in a number of his films. He is as good as Nelson Eddy was later and even handsomer with a similar gorgeous singing voice.

Seek this oddity out for him alone.

A VITAPHONE Short Subject.

The daughter of a French general falls in love with THE RED SHADOW, the mysterious masked man who leads his Muslim tribesmen against colonial injustice in Morocco.

This two-reeler showcases the musical highlights from Hammerstein & Romberg's 1926 operetta, The Desert Song, which had already been given the full screen treatment by Warner Bros. in 1929. The plot is tremendously truncated, but the singing by Alexander Gray & Bernice Claire--especially of the famous tune, ‘One Alone'--is nicely done.

Operettas were ideal subject matter for early talky two-reelers. They were swiftly paced, colorful (even in black & white) and rather cheap to produce, utilizing as they did the sets & costumes of the feature films. Their brief length negated any need for character exposition and the stories were easy to follow, even when sung by heavily accented voices. Best of all, they were full of Sound, and that was still enough of a novelty to keep most audiences from becoming overly critical or expectant of anything smacking of real art.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

Warner Bros. got the rights to the hit Broadway operetta "The Desert Song" (1926-1928) and released the first of several big productions in 1929. "The Red Shadow" is an odd version of the classic as it was made in the "short musical" format and featured Alexander Gray and Bernice Claire. The two performers had been starring in several full-length, big budget musicals for the studio and this was unmistakably a change in fortunes for Mr. Gray and Ms. Claire. On a more positive note, publicists could say it kept the duo in the public eye during a time when audiences were bored with movie musicals. If that was the intention, it didn't work...

Although they were superior vocalists, young and physically attractive, Gray and Claire were old hat when their genre was re-popularized only a couple years later, by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy...

In the shortened plot, mild-mannered Gray (as Pierre Bierbeau) is sent to Morocco to fight Arabs. His father hopes Gary will become manlier. Our hero pulls a "Robin Hood" and joins the other side. He turns out to be very manly, adopting "The Red Shadow" as a secret identity and literally sweeping Claire (as Margot Fontaine) off her feet. Yes, it's reminiscent of "Zorro" and pre-dates comic book heroes "Superman" and "Batman". The long, sandy shots look like they are from "The Desert Song" (1929) and the sets are probably not original, either. While a letdown for Gray and Claire, director Roy Mack's work is good for a mini-musical.

***** The Red Shadow (12/3/32) Roy Mack ~ Alexander Gray, Bernice Claire, Reginald Carrington, Gracie Worth

Red Shadow, The (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Abbreviated version of "The Desert Song" from Warner and their Vitaphone productions. The film has Pierre being sent to the French Morocco so that he can toughen up. He's there to fight the Arab insurgents but he soon takes on the identity of "The Red Shadow". The opera by Hammerstein and Romberg had been filmed by Warner as a full length movie in 1929 so I'm not sure why they needed to rush another version out there but this here isn't too bad. I haven't seen the original to compare this to but the music here is quite nice and the production values appear to be rather high for a two-reeler. Alexander Gray plays The Red Shadow and has a pretty good voice, although it's certainly not the strongest I've heard. Bernice Clare is his love interests and I found her voice and acting abilities rather weak here.