INTERNATIONAL CRIME

US, 1938, 62 minutes, Black-and-white.
Rod La Rocque, Astrid Allwyn, Thomas E.Jackson, Oscar O' Shea, Lew Hearn, William Pawley.
Directed by Charles Lamont.

There have been various versions of The Shadow over the decades. This is an entertaining 1939 version with Rod La Rocque as Lamont Cranston, amateur criminologist, crime reporter, broadcaster.

There is some screwball comedy as well as the crime investigation. Astrid Allwyn plays Phoebe, niece of the newspaper proprietor, tired of working in domestic reporting and wanting adventure. She bursts into Cranston’s broadcast with news of a fire at a theatre. Cranston has a feud with the police chief, Weston, Thomas E. Jackson, and there is a meeting at the theatre only for there to be an explosion elsewhere in the city, a safe being opened and a rich industrialist being killed.

There are all kinds of shenanigans with Phoebe turning up at odd times. The police chief threatens the editor with no police news because he is tired of the feud with Cranston. A safe cracker has also been released from jail, Honest John, who confronts Cranston in his studio and thwarts the police – though helping out with the gun at the end. Cranston’s driver, Moe (Lew Hearn) provides some wisecracks as well as saving the day (even with a toy gun filled with cigarettes).

Because Phoebe has identified her informant and indicated that he has a foreign accent, Cranston and Phoebe go to restaurants to identify him, finding two Germans involved in financial conspiracies, thwarting bankers, prepared to do further murder.

Even though Cranston does spend some time in jail, Phoebe bails him out and he is able to continue his broadcast (to millions of listeners) each night.

Happy ending for all – except the criminals.