The Shadow Serial!

Well 2010 got off to an odd start for me. The last day of 2009 my dvd player broke down, and it's going to require a little effort (and cash) to replace it. Fortunately I've got a dvd/vhs combo and the tape player is working fine. So all those vhs tapes I've got around here suddenly are hidden treasures waiting for me to uncover them.

Yesterday I dug out The Shadow serial from 1940 starring Victor Jory. It's been perhaps a decade since I last watched this movie. My memories are not all that positive, as the cliffhangers in this one are pretty humdrum. Basically stuff falls on the The Shadow, and in the next chapter he gets up pretty much none the worse for wear. It's not strong in that category. But there are other charms to this one that I really could dig this time out. For one thing, I've read a lot more Shadow novels since I last watched this movie, and that background helps to appreciate some of the smaller touches.

This serial offers a lot of story, with effectively two cliffhangers per episode with one just being resolved before the actual end of the episode. The Shadow is running around at breakneck speed most of the time and he has plenty to do. Some serials drag a bit waiting for the inevitable, but this one sure doesn't.

The villains in this thing are really good. The head baddie is called "The Black Tiger" and he's the usual mysery villain who could be any one of five guys, and though the mystery was a bit lame when solve, I find that's often true of the novels as well. The real treats are the henchmen. This is a fine and varied array of henchmen as I've ever come across in a serial. They seem to break into three squads (there's a lot of them) with two playing fairly straight, but one trio actually does some comedy shtick and there's bits of characterization with them. One isn't too bright and they actually show one of his pals reciting Red Riding Hood to him, and another is a jovial if murderous cuss who seems really to be pals with one of the Shadow's alias identities.

And it's that identity that I'm sure gives folks a pain on this flick. Lin Chen is a creation of Lamont Cranston who is the Shadow in this story, and sadly it's played as one of the more painful Oriental stereotypes I've come across. Jory struggles witht the buck teeth off and on throughout the serial.

Veda Van Borg is gorgeous and makes an adequate Margo Lane, though she does squeal a lot. The guy playing Harry Vincent gets lots of action in this one, as he does the work of all the Shadow's agents. He drives him around all through the story and even gets captured a time or two himself. Good solid job by all.

Overall this was very entertaining. I've not seen it on dvd yet, but who needs that.

Rip Off