Rod La Rocque, supposedly playing the Shadow |
This is the second of two films, following The Shadow Strikes, in which Rod La Rocque plays the pulp character, Lamont Cranston, aka the Shadow. Or rather he plays a pallid imitation of the Shadow. In this Lamont Cranston is not a costumed adventurer with the power to cloud men's minds, but merely a dull, rather obnoxious criminologist who writes a column and broadcasts a radio show in which he spends much of his time making fun of the alleged ineptitude of Commissioner Weston (Thomas E. Jackson). Instead of Margo Lane, we get the equally obnoxious Phoebe Lane (Astrid Allwyn of Love Takes Flight), a dilettante who got a job as a reporter only because her uncle owns the paper. The scenes of Lamont and Phoebe dickering are meant to be cute, but are merely tedious beyond measure.
Astrid Allwyn and Rod La Roicque |
Verdict: One can only imagine what the millions of Shadow fans thought about this mess. *.
2 comments:
Ah, so this is the famous Rod LaRoque! Have yet to see him in a film!
He was big stuff back in the silent era, although not quite on the Valentino level. Bad casting for The Shadow, alas.
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