Copyright 18 April 1938 by Grand National Films, Inc. New York opening at the Globe 15 May 1938. U.S. release: 2 April 1938. Australian release through British Empire Films: 27 June 1940. 5,874 feet. 64 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Lamont Cranston, alias The Shadow (Rod La Rocque) is a witty Walter Winchell character who writes and broadcasts a newspaper column in which he lampoons the city's bungling police force. The commissioner (Thomas Jackson) is not amused. He retaliates by banning Cranston's newspaper from access to all press release bulletins issued by his department. Cranston rescues the paper by foiling an elaborate murder/embezzlement plot and handing the police a full (if totally undeserved) credit for the capture of the criminals.
NOTES: Second of the seven The Shadow pictures. The first, The Shadow Strikes (1937) also starred Rod La Rocque. Third was a Columbia serial, The Shadow (1940), starring Victor Jory. Monogram Pictures entered the fray in 1946 with The Shadow Returns, starring Kane Richmond, who also played The Shadow in Behind the Mask (1946) and The Missing Lady (1946). Finally, Republic lensed Bourbon Street Shadows in 1958, starring Richard Derr.
COMMENT: One of the best "B" films ever made, it's hard to believe that this movie is so little-known today. Based on an extremely popular radio serial, you'd expect to find a host of fans singing the picture's praises.
Well, perhaps not. The Shadow depicted here cleverly departs somewhat from the comic strip character with cloak and wide-brimmed hat. Instead La Rocque and his ingenious scriptwriter have opted to present the hero as a suave, sarcastic radio commentator who has it in for the police. In fact the skillful debunking of authority figures is so thoroughly amusing, I marvel that International Crime has not been singled out for special attention by the cultists.
The problem here of course is that former matinee idol La Rocque, despite his ingratiating performance (we love the scene in which he runs through a variety of foreign accents in radioese for the benefit of the My Friend Irma-brained heroine, so capably impersonated by Astrid Allwyn), is unknown to the corduroy set. A pity. La Rocque provides a delightful spoof of the conventionally brash hero, his tongue smoothly tripping through polished lines of delicious invective that never flag from start to finish.
La Rocque alone would be worth many times the price of admission. But, as it happens, The Shadow is not the only colorful character in the play. In fact the script allows a wonderful line-up of our favorite bit players many a choice moment. For instance, Thomas Jackson has a great time as the harassed police chief and - though I've not the space to run through the whole cast - William Pawley as a reformed safecracker, Will Stanton as a jail drunk and most especially, Lew Hearn as a too obliging cab-driver are absolute musts for special accolades.
As for the direction, Charles Lamont has rarely been so stylish. His only films which bear comparison to this sterling effort are the much-praised horror spoofs of the mid-1950s such as Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Francis in the Haunted House which do have a cult following. International Crime is equally amusing, far more quirky and much more forcefully acted. Furthermore it's superbly photographed by Marcel Le Picard whom I always regarded as one of the worst hacks in the business. I was wrong. It seems that Le Picard was rarely given an opportunity to show us what marvelously atmospheric effects he was really capable of achieving.
SYNOPSIS: Lamont Cranston, alias The Shadow (Rod La Rocque) is a witty Walter Winchell character who writes and broadcasts a newspaper column in which he lampoons the city's bungling police force. The commissioner (Thomas Jackson) is not amused. He retaliates by banning Cranston's newspaper from access to all press release bulletins issued by his department. Cranston rescues the paper by foiling an elaborate murder/embezzlement plot and handing the police a full (if totally undeserved) credit for the capture of the criminals.
NOTES: Second of the seven The Shadow pictures. The first, The Shadow Strikes (1937) also starred Rod La Rocque. Third was a Columbia serial, The Shadow (1940), starring Victor Jory. Monogram Pictures entered the fray in 1946 with The Shadow Returns, starring Kane Richmond, who also played The Shadow in Behind the Mask (1946) and The Missing Lady (1946). Finally, Republic lensed Bourbon Street Shadows in 1958, starring Richard Derr.
COMMENT: One of the best "B" films ever made, it's hard to believe that this movie is so little-known today. Based on an extremely popular radio serial, you'd expect to find a host of fans singing the picture's praises.
Well, perhaps not. The Shadow depicted here cleverly departs somewhat from the comic strip character with cloak and wide-brimmed hat. Instead La Rocque and his ingenious scriptwriter have opted to present the hero as a suave, sarcastic radio commentator who has it in for the police. In fact the skillful debunking of authority figures is so thoroughly amusing, I marvel that International Crime has not been singled out for special attention by the cultists.
The problem here of course is that former matinee idol La Rocque, despite his ingratiating performance (we love the scene in which he runs through a variety of foreign accents in radioese for the benefit of the My Friend Irma-brained heroine, so capably impersonated by Astrid Allwyn), is unknown to the corduroy set. A pity. La Rocque provides a delightful spoof of the conventionally brash hero, his tongue smoothly tripping through polished lines of delicious invective that never flag from start to finish.
La Rocque alone would be worth many times the price of admission. But, as it happens, The Shadow is not the only colorful character in the play. In fact the script allows a wonderful line-up of our favorite bit players many a choice moment. For instance, Thomas Jackson has a great time as the harassed police chief and - though I've not the space to run through the whole cast - William Pawley as a reformed safecracker, Will Stanton as a jail drunk and most especially, Lew Hearn as a too obliging cab-driver are absolute musts for special accolades.
As for the direction, Charles Lamont has rarely been so stylish. His only films which bear comparison to this sterling effort are the much-praised horror spoofs of the mid-1950s such as Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Francis in the Haunted House which do have a cult following. International Crime is equally amusing, far more quirky and much more forcefully acted. Furthermore it's superbly photographed by Marcel Le Picard whom I always regarded as one of the worst hacks in the business. I was wrong. It seems that Le Picard was rarely given an opportunity to show us what marvelously atmospheric effects he was really capable of achieving.