''The Whispering Shadow'' is a 1933 American
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...
mystery serial film
A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...
directed by
Colbert Clark
Colbert Clark (August 31, 1898 – May 4, 1960) was an American screenwriter, film director and film producer. He particularly specialized in making western films.Tuska p.196
As a producer at Columbia Pictures, Clark was responsible for resum ...
and
Albert Herman
Albert Herman (1887–1958) was an American actor, screenwriter and film director. Herman was a prolific director, working mainly on low-budget movies for companies such as Producers Releasing Corporation. He is sometimes credited as Al Herman. ...
and starring
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
in his first of five serial roles. Lugosi received $10,000, the highest known salary of his career, for this film. The serial was filmed in 12 days and was the last role for actor
Karl Dane
Karl Dane (born Rasmus Karl Therkelsen Gottlieb, 12 October 1886 – 14 April 1934) was a Danish-American comedian and actor known for his work in American films, mainly of the silent film era. He became a star after portraying “Slim” ...
.
Plot
The Shadow in ''The Whispering Shadow'' is an underworld mastermind. He has invented a device that allows him to kill by radio control. He, along with several other persons, seeks the Czar's jewels. The series is notable for the constant false clues and decoy actions that make nearly everybody a suspect.
Cast
Production
The cinematography mimicked that of
Karl Freund in Universal's ''
Dracula'' - for example, using close ups of the actors' eyes - in order to take advantage of Bela Lugosi's fame as the star of that film.
The shadow of The Shadow is not real; It was drawn in later by animators.
Harmon and Glut comment on that "If Street & Smith, owners of the original
Shadow">heShadow of magazine and radio fame, had found out about the owner of the whisper, they might have sued."
The serial was later edited down to a feature-length edition (as was common in those days).
Chapter titles
![The Whispering Shadow poster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/The_Whispering_Shadow_poster.jpg)
# The Master Magician
# The Collapsing Room
# The All-seeing Eye
# The Shadow Strikes
# Wanted for Murder
# The Man Who Was Czar
# The Double Doom
# The Red Circle
# The Fatal Secret
# The Death Warrant
# The Trap
# King of the World
Source:
See also
*
Béla Lugosi filmography
Bela Lugosi (1882–1956), best known for the original screen portrayal of Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1931, was in many movies during the course of his 39-year film career. He appeared in films made in his native Hungary, Germany and New York befor ...
*
List of film serials
A list of film serials by year of release.
1910s
1920s
1930s
Films still exist from this point on unless noted otherwise:
1940s
1950s
See also
* Serial (film)
* List of film serials by studio
References
{{reflist
External linksSerial ...
*
List of film serials by studio
This is a list of film serials by studio, separated into those released by each of the five major studios, and the remaining minor studios.
The five major studios produced the greater number of serials. Of these the main studios are consider ...
References
External links
*
*
1933 films
1933 mystery films
American black-and-white films
1930s English-language films
Mascot Pictures film serials
American mystery films
1930s American films
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