''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 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