The Shadow of Silk Lennox

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.

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!

"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

Veteran screenwriter Oliver Drake tells us, in his autobiography, that he was asked by producer Ray Kirkwood to take a break from writing screenplays for Kirkwood's series of Bill Cody westerns, and to generate some stories for a series starring Creighton Chaney, to be henceforth billed as Lon Chaney, Jr. Mr. Drake acquiesced, but was interrupted by a case of influenza. Upon his recovery, he found that others were busily writing the Chaney stories, but only two films were produced before Kirkwood's career as a producer concluded, "The Shadow of Silk Lennox" being one of them.

It is a leisurely-paced feature, with Kirkwood himself credited as director - but Jack Nelson, veteran director and actor, is usually credited as co-director, though neither gentleman succeeded in injecting much movement into the proceedings. Lon Chaney, Jr. Performs well in a decidedly unsympathetic role, while veteran Jack Mulhall provides good support. Others in the cast have little to work with in this tale of a villainous night club proprietor who has succeeded in avoiding prosecution for his activities as a gangster. Dean Benton provides some pleasant songs. Specialty dancer/actress Marie Burton - niece of actor/director Lowell Sherman - is seen here as a night club entertainer.

As part of a proposed series starring Chaney, the script for this one does not provide the lead character with either an appealing role or an uplifting denouement.

1935's "The Shadow of Silk Lennox" offered the 29 year old Creighton Chaney top billing for the very first time, having just changed his name to match that of his famous father Lon Chaney, first credited with the Jr. In "Accent on Youth." Ray Kirkwood's Commodore Pictures was the first company to bank on the Chaney name, signing the youngster to a 24 picture contract that only resulted in two long out of circulation titles, this film rejected for its glorification of the underworld, the next ("Scream in the Night") sitting on a shelf for 8 years until Astor Pictures acquired it following his Universal stardom in "The Wolf Man." The part of John Arthur Lennox, nicknamed 'Silk' for his trademark phrase 'fine as silk' (not to mention a fancy dresser), was that of a ruthless crime boss yet quite affable in mixed company, using his own nightclub to provide a perfect alibi for authorities while his gang commits a daring bank robbery. The inability to recover the stolen money leads to complications that prove his undoing, particularly the murder of a cheating confederate. Chaney acquits himself well in what would be an atypical role, soon to be typecast as wicked henchmen rather than the big boss, and overall it proves superior to "Scream in the Night."