Fans of The Shadow would have to wait until 1958 for the next attempt to bring the highly successful pulp hero to the big screen. The Invisible Avenger is sadly yet another failed effort though in a long line of less-than-ideal attempts to capture the glory of Walter Gibson's hero.
(Helmore)
But before we take a gander at that flick, there is the unsold pilot titled
The Shadow from 1954 starring Tom Helmore as a British Lamont Cranston, who teamed with Margo Lane is a criminologist brought into tough cases by Police Commissioner Weston. In this noiresque but low-budget effort The Shadow solves the murder of a young woman. Sadly, despite some good details, the plot of this one is so full of holes that it makes enjoying it tough. Helmore does a creditable job, though both he and the police have to be stupid to make the plot continue.
Our big item today though is Richard Derr in The Invisible Avenger, a "movie" made from compiled episodes of yet another failed Shadow tv show from four years later. In this one, Lamont Cranston is partnered with his mentor, a mystic named "Joegendra" played by Mark Daniels. The two of them use their powers of mind control to appear invisible at times and to force information from a variety of thugs.
(Daniels and Derr)
The plot is centered in New Orleans and deals mostly with the return of an exiled leader to some generic Hispanic nation or other. There's a murder to be solved and some thugs to round up, but mostly it's a series of mind tricks and attempts at sophistication that seems overwrought. Cranston's infatuation with jazz is a big part of the early parts of the show.
Apparently, this "movie" was also released later as
Bourbon Street Shadows with more sexy stuff added to make it seem adult. The poster above shows several scenes not in the version I watched. Neither of these is a fantastic bit of entertainment, but they both are worthwhile for anyone interested in the Shadow and that hero's lengthy influence in pop culture.
Rip Off
No comments:
Post a Comment