The Shadow (serial)
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''The Shadow'' (1940) was the ninth serial released by
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
. It was based upon the classic radio series and pulp magazine superhero character of the same name.


Plot

The Shadow battles a villain known as The Black Tiger, who has the power to make himself
invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...
and is attempting domination of major financial and business concerns. Victor Jory's Shadow is faithful to the radio character, especially the radio show's signature: the sinister chuckle of the invisible Shadow as he confronts the villain or his henchmen. Columbia, however, relied on fistfights, chases, and headlong action in its serials, and disliked the prospect of a 15-chapter adventure where the audience would not see much of the heroics, because the leading character was supposed to be invisible. By basing the serial more on the pulp fiction version and turning the mysterious Shadow into a flesh-and-blood figure, plainly visible wearing a black hat and black cloak, Columbia patterned the serial after its wildly successful serial, '' The Spider's Web'' (1938), itself based on a masked hero of pulp fiction.
The Spider The Spider is an American pulp-magazine hero of the 1930s and 1940s. The character was created by editor Harry Steeger and written by a variety of authors for 118 monthly issues of ''The Spider'' from 1933 to 1943. A 119th Spider novel manuscrip ...
was the respectable Richard Wentworth, who terrorized the underworld as the mysterious Spider and infiltrated gangland under a third identity, small-time crook Blinky McQuade. Columbia copied the triple-role format for ''The Shadow'', with the stalwart Lamont Cranston baffling criminals as The Shadow wearing a similar disguise and moving among them as their Asian confederate Lin Chang. ;Chapter titles The serial is split into fifteen episodes.Source: # The Doomed City # The Shadow Attacks # The Shadow's Peril # In the Tiger's Lair # Danger Above # The Shadow's Trap # Where Horror Waits # The Shadow Rides the Rails # The Devil in White # The Underground Trap # Chinatown Night # Murder by Remote Control # Wheels of Death # The Sealed Room # The Shadow's Net Closes


Cast

*
Victor Jory Victor Jory (November 23, 1902 – February 12, 1982) was a Canadian-American actor of stage, film, and television. He initially played romantic leads, but later was mostly cast in villainous or sinister roles, such as Oberon in ''A Midsummer N ...
as Lamont Cranston - aka 'The Shadow' *
Veda Ann Borg Veda Ann Borg (January 11, 1915 – August 16, 1973) was an American film and television actress. Early years Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Gottfried Borg, a Swedish immigrant, and Minna Noble, Borg became a model in 1936 before winni ...
as Margo Lane * Roger Moore as Harry Vincent * Robert Fiske as Stanford Marshall - aka 'The Black Tiger' * J. Paul Jones as Mr. Turner *
Jack Ingram Jack Owen Ingram (born November 15, 1970) is an American country music artist formerly signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, six live albums, and 19 singles. Although ...
as Flint * Chuck Hamilton as Roberts - Henchman * Edward Peil Sr. as Inspector Joe Cardona * Frank LaRue as Commissioner Ralph Weston *
Harry Tenbrook Harry Tenbrook (born Henry Olaf Hansen, October 9, 1887 – September 4, 1960) was an American film actor. Henry Olaf Hansen was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. His family migrated to the United States in 1892. Under the stage nam ...
(''uncredited'') as Adams


Release


Theatrical

''The Shadow'' was released on 1 June 1940, Veda Ann Borg's 25th birthday.


Home media

In 1997,
Columbia TriStar Home Video Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...
released the serial on VHS. In 2015, Mill Creek Entertainment released the serial on DVD under license from
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...
.


Critical reception

Opinion on the serial, especially as an adaptation on the pulp magazine source material, is mixed. Harmon and Glut are critical of the serial. Filming ''The Shadow'' in brightly lit environments undermines the mystery and menace of the character. The quality of the plotting is also brought into question for its lack of imagination and the fact that the hero appears to survive cliffhanger endings and other threats for no reason other than that he is the serial's masked hero. On the other hand, Cline praises the serial. The mystery of the pulp magazine was preserved by both the hero and villain being masked. This lent an ambiguity from the point of view of the other characters that also pervaded the source material, so "for the audience the result was perfectly compatible and a pure delight".


See also

* List of film serials by year *
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

* *
Cinefania.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadow, The The Shadow 1940 films 1940s superhero films American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures film serials 1940s English-language films Films directed by James W. Horne 1940 adventure films The Shadow films American adventure films Films with screenplays by Joseph F. Poland 1940s American films