International Crime is the 1938 sequel to The Shadow Strikes starring Rod La Rocque ignores all that went before it and sets up a different premise. Lamont Cranston (now he is called "Cranston") is openly a reporter and radio personality called "The Shadow" who in equal measure assists and afflicts the police while trying to smash up crime in the city. In this one the assistants so important to a Shadow story do show up in the form of "Phoebe Lane" (no Margo here) who is a dithering wannabe reporter, Moe Shrevnitz who is Cranston's reliable cabbie transport and another guy named Burke who aides in various ways.
Not once does our hero don the hat and cloak. This is a fast-paced story of extortion and international intrigue. While there are a few shots fired this one, trots along without the aid of blazing pistols for the most part. Unlike its predecessor this movie dabbles in comedy quite a bit and La Roque's character is extremely quick witted and a very fast talker. The enemies are quite menacing, agents of a foreign power who are trying by various means to upset a financial arrangement. The whys and wherefores are a bit vague, but it's enough to power the plot of this little endeavor.
This is a somewhat more entertaining movie than the first La Rocque effort, but less of a Shadow movie really. For that we'd have to wait for the movie serial. More on that tomorrow.
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