Adam Graham A nice waste of an hour. The acting was passable, though the Shadow's mentor guy was a little creepy. The plot was mostly predictable with a few plausibility issues. (Yeah, we're going to show what we believe to be an execution on television.) Having listened to quite a few episodes of the radio Shadow, my conclusion is the Shadow does best when operating like a Super Hero, as he did with Orson Welles in the lead. When the Shadow operates as a shamus with a special trick, it's a lot cheaper.This is okay, but if it was a pilot for a TV show, I can see why it didn't make it. Still, for fans of the Shadow, this is a rare opportunity to see an attempt at bringing that mysterious voice to film.

wes-connors "The legendary mind-clouding man of mystery is back in this film noir tale set in New Orleans, where nothing is ever as it seems. Exiled Spanish leader Pablo Ramirez is hiding out on Bourbon Street as plans are laid to overthrow the oppressive dictatorship that currently exists in his country. A fascist generalissimo has planted assassins in the city to dispose of Ramirez and thwart his impending coup d'etat. Lamont Cranston (Richard Derr) - aka the Shadow - is summoned to protect Ramirez and thus ensure a successful revolution. The Shadow summons up his supernatural powers of hypnosis and invisibility to save Ramirez and stop his enemies' diabolical exploits," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.This TV try-out may be re-edited to include the execution footage, which seems a little heavy for 1950s television - or, maybe did they did show executions in westerns back then - anyway, the eerie "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men… the Shadow knows!" line interrupting the drama a couple of times perfectly illustrates why this series was successful on the radio - and, also, why this visual representation was unsuccessful; the picture simply does not live up to the mystery inherent in the series' famous catchphrase. Mr. Derr is a good lead, but not very mysterious; mystical sidekick Mark Daniels (as Jogendra), creepy Dan Mullin (as Pablo & Victor Ramirez), and shadowy James Wong Howe are interesting.***** The Shadow: Invisible Avenger (12/2/58) James Wong Howe ~ Richard Derr, Mark Daniels, Dan Mullin

disdressed12 for me,this is the best of the six movies in The Shadow series.i found it entertaining,and well paced.there's more action,excitement and suspense.Richard Derr(in his only outing as Lamont Cranston/The Shadow) is the best actor for the character,out of these six movies.he just seems more convincing and believable in the role.this story is a bit different than the previous ones,in that Cranston is shown here as he has just begun to understand his powers.along for the ride is his teacher in the mystic arts,Jogendra,Played by Mark Daniels.in this one we get to see the Shadow utilize his powers,something we haven't actually seen before.this incarnation seems to me to be the most fitting for the character.for me,The Invisible Avenger is a 6/10

rlupoff-1 If not a "made-for-TV-movie," this film may have been intended as a pilot film for a TV series that never got made. When I saw it in a theater more than 30 years ago, that was my impression.The Shadow is of course a grand old multi-media figure. A generation of kids grew up on the Shadow radio show and comic books, millions of other readers bought the pulp magazine or Shadow books, anywhere from the early 1930's to the 1960's. And of course there was the Alec Baldwin film -- also, not a bad effort. But they just couldn't decide whether to play it as a real adventure story or as parody. Like other attempts in the same era (The Phantom, Doc Savage) that's a prescription for failure.To me, the best screen "Shadow" of all time was the late Victor Jory, but probably that's because I saw the Jory version when I was a little kid and didn't have very tough critical standards.I'm still hoping for a Shadow movie with a first rate production from a good, solid script. In the meanwhile, watching earlier efforts like "The Invisible Avenger" aka "Bourbon Street Shadows" just gives me the old "glass-half-empty-glass-half-full" sensation.Dick Lupoff