''The Whispering Shadow'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery serial film directed by Colbert Clark and Albert Herman and starring Béla Lugosi 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.

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 Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. (January 16, 1890 – May 3, 1969) was an Austrian cinematography, cinematographer and film director best known for photographing ''Metropolis (1927 film), Metropolis'' (1927), ''Dracula (1931 English-language film), Dracul ...

in Universal's ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

'' - 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 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 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:

References

External links