mark.waltz Silent and early talkie star Rod La Rocque lacks in real screen magnetism in this murder mystery where he's involved in the family scandals with a rich man, shot and killed through a window as they spoke. The murdered man had made threats to disinherit certain family members, giving plenty of people motive for murder. There's even more suspects as this convoluted mystery gets underway, with presumed members of the underworld doing their best to get their hands on the will. It's slow, pondering, creaky with long pauses, and only passably acted. The insinuations of a series never came to fruition, fortunately, perhaps because of the success of the unrelated radio series, and mostly because of the obvious necessity to replace La Rocque had they decided to go that route. Only a minor actor playing an amusingly tough butler gives this any spark, with the romantic and family angles of the mystery never interesting enough to really get the audience to be in invested in really caring "Who done it".

Rainey Dawn The story, "The Shadow Strikes" is based on "The Ghost of the Manor" by Walter B. Gibson. The film is not all that bad but not as good as I was hoping or expecting it to be. Still worth watching if you like crime mysteries in general or the old radio show.Lamont Granston aka The Shadow is on a murder case. There is a robbery attempt Granston is on the scene but when a murder is involved Granston assumes the identity of a lawyer in order to crack the case wide open. Granston is found out but that does not stop him from becoming The Shadow and solve the mystery.Not as good as the radio show but still a fun watch.6/10

MartinHafer This is the first Shadow movie. However, I have already seen this film's sequel, "International Crime", so I guess I am doing it a bit backwards. I had hopes that this would be a better film than the next one, as "International Crime" was a bit dull. And, fortunately it is in most ways.The plot involves The Shadow, Lamont Granston, inexplicably posing as a lawyer and getting sucked into a murder mystery. When the fake lawyer (Granston) is called to create a new will for a rich guy, in the middle of their conversation the guy is shot dead!! During the investigation, organized crime and the various beneficiaries in the will are all considered suspects--but the real culprit and his reasons are revealed at the end.Granston (Rod La Roque) is The Shadow in this film. However, the character's name in the radio shows and pulp magazines was Kent Allard but he sometimes posed as Mr. Cranston. Why the film got this so wrong is beside me, but what's worse is that almost NONE of the original character (begun in 1930) is present other than his occasionally donning a cloak and fedora. In other words, his weird psychic power to cloud men's minds is gone--and Granston, frankly, is indistinguishable from later characters like The Saint or The Falcon. In other words, he's just another bored gentleman amateur detective. Now this isn't bad--but it's NOT The Shadow in any meaningful way. In fact, at the end of this film, Granston reveals who he is!!! Yet, he returns for more films--which makes no sense. It's all pleasant and entertaining--especially since La Rocque was great as a glib gentleman and man about town. And, compared to other detective B-movies it's pretty good--with decent writing, acting and production values. Just don't expect anything 'Shadowy'!

Hitchcoc I own a few of the old radio shows this is supposedly based on, and I find them delightful. The Shadow is that dark hero who gives up a personal life to lurk in the darkness. He understands the minds of criminals and is able to make his way into their lairs and root them out. His voice is one of threat and he strikes fear into criminals. This is just a police drama with a rather lame plot about a will and who will inherit a bunch of money. We know he is the Shadow, but instead of a wide network and reputation, he seems just like a guy in a coat. He has a sidekick who does a lot of his bidding, there are hidden microphones and unannounced entrances into rooms, but, overall, it's pretty dull. I would imagine the fans, who grew up with the radio character, must have been pretty disappointed.