Flickering Shadows - The Shadow Chapter Play!

My memories The Shadow serial 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, dusts himself off and wanders out only to repeat the whole magilla again. 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. Sadly, much of the action takes place in bright sunshine and that doesn't allow much mood to develop. 

The villains in this thing are really good. The head baddie is called "The Black Tiger" and he's the usual mystery 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. Roger Moore (not that one) is the guy playing Harry Vincent and he gets lots of action in this one, as he does the work of all the Shadow's agents including the taxi driver Shrevvy who is absent. Likewise, we get no Burbank nor any Hawkeye. Vincent drives him around all through the story and even gets captured a time or two himself. The acting is pretty good even if the story feels a bit dull and repetitive. 

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