The Whispering Shadow

1933 American film

January 21, 1933 (1933-01-21)

^[1]

Running time

12 chapters (225 minutes)CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Whispering Shadow is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery^[2] serial film directed by Colbert Clark and Albert Herman and starring Béla Lugosi in his first of five serial roles. Lugosi received $10,000, the highest known salary of his career, for this film. The serial was filmed in 12 days and was the last role for actor Karl Dane.

Plot

The Shadow in The Whispering Shadow is an underworld mastermind. He has invented a device that allows him to kill by radio control.^[3] He, along with several other persons, seeks the Czar's jewels. The series is notable for the constant false clues and decoy actions that make nearly everybody a suspect.^[4]

Cast

Bela Lugosi as Professor Adam Anton Strang
Viva Tattersall as Vera Strang
Malcolm McGregor as Jack Foster
Henry B. Walthall as J.D. Bradley - Company President
Robert Warwick as Detective Robert Raymond
Ethel Clayton as The Countess Helen (Chapters 5-8)
Roy D'Arcy as Professor Alexis Steinbeck
Karl Dane as Sparks - Dispatcher
Lloyd Whitlock as Young - Henchman No. 3
Bob Kortman as Jasper Slade - The Convict
Lafe McKee as D.W. Jerome - Company Vice President

Production

The cinematography mimicked that of Karl Freund in Universal's Dracula - for example, using close ups of the actors' eyes - in order to take advantage of Bela Lugosi's fame as the star of that film.^[4] The shadow of The Shadow is not real; It was drawn in later by animators.^[4] Harmon and Glut comment on that "If Street & Smith, owners of the original [The] Shadow of magazine and radio fame, had found out about the owner of the whisper, they might have sued."^[4] The serial was later edited down to a feature-length edition (as was common in those days).

Chapter titles

The Master Magician
The Collapsing Room
The All-seeing Eye
The Shadow Strikes
Wanted for Murder
The Man Who Was Czar
The Double Doom
The Red Circle
The Fatal Secret
The Death Warrant
The Trap
King of the World_Source:^[5]

References

^ "Amusements". The Sacramento Bee. January 20, 1933. p. 8.
^ Cline, William C. (1984). In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 180-181. ISBN 0-89950-101-X.
^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 371. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "14. The Villains: "All Bad, All Mad"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. pp. 341–344. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
^ Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 209. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.