Great Film overall

Best movie ever!

A lot of fun.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Then you'll probably like this movie. Maybe.If you like the Walter Gibson, et al, Shadow then you might want to avoid this unless you are an insane completist like me.The Shadow & Margot were never meant to be a slapstick version of Nick & Nora and unfortunately that is what has been done to them in this. Okay, Shrevie was always played for laughs on the radio so he is acceptable that way (though I prefer the crafty cabbie from the pulps) but even then he wasn't a total moron.Oh, the mystery part? Yeah, I suppose there is one and its not the worst mystery ever filmed, that might just be 'Sinister Hands', but if you don't guess whodunnit ahead of time its probably because you fell asleep & didn't care.

An early B comedy by Phil Karlson this was a nice surprise with a stone cold open on an odious blackmailer making his rounds. Ooops! It's a crusading reporter shaking down his list of suckers. The opening scene has him slapping a "sucker", who kinda likes it, and then relieving her of the stiletto she was about to slide into his back. So there's no shortage of suspects.Kane Richmond is solid as Lamont/Shadow with a Jack Carson-like presence, albeit on a B level. The rest of the cast has a few familiar faces. Condolences to others who also peg the killer. It's a formulaic cliché that has been done to death but I actually liked that I could finger the culprit at first siting. Lots of inappropriate humor, S&M is a strong undercurrent with a comical cross dressing sequence thrown in, this movie begins and ends with slaps and spankings. If you think this stuff is "corny" because it's period 40s... too bad for you.

My vote is the vote I would have given when I first saw Kane Richmond as The Shadow, not positive that this was that movie, however, it was in the 1940's, then later in the 1950's on television when I saw it. Since that time I have collected quite a bit about this character, and here is some of it.The Shadow was a magazine/booklet that was at news stands/bookstores in the early 1930's. A radio show was brought into being, and at first The Shadow was the person who introduced the drama and the actors. Then at a later date, Orson Welles started playing the lead character of The Shadow who really was Lamont Cranston wealthy man-about-town, who's lovely girlfriend was Margo Lane. Lamont Cranston received schooling in the far east by his teacher known as Tenga who could communicate with Lamont via their minds, and he taught Lamont the "power to cloud men's minds." Of course he could cloud Women's as well. This show was on radio for many years. There were a few movies made with the character of The Shadow.

The Shadow is one of the great pre-comic book heroes of the 1930s, so you'd think that this film would be a lot more fun than it is. The problem is that the film-makers didn't seem much interested in making a Shadow film ... what we have here is a not very good detective movie with lots of ill-considered "humorous" scenes.Not even a curiosity, this is not for Shadow fans. Take a look at the 1940 chapter serial with Victor Jory. Much closer to the original Shadow concept. Though there's still loads of potential for someone to make the definitive screen adaptation of The Shadow ... 'cos Russell Mulcahy's 1994 effort wasn't it either ...