THE SHADOW OF THE EAGLE (1932) John Wayne, Dorothy Gulliver & Walter Miller | Crime, Drama | B&W

The Shadow of the Eagle (a.k.a. Shadow of the Eagle) is a 1932 American Pre-Code Mascot 12 episode film serial, directed by Ford Beebe and B. Reeves Eason and produced by Nat Levine. The film stars John Wayne in his first serial role. He would go on to star in two other serials for Mascot, The Hurricane Express (1932) and The Three Musketeers (1933). The Shadow of the Eagle is now in the public domain.

SYNOPSIS
The Eagle uses sky writing to make threats against a corporation. Nathan Gregory owns a traveling fairground and is thought to be the Eagle. Craig McCoy is a pilot who goes looking for the Eagle when Gregory turns up missing.

Colonel Nathan B. "Skipper" Gregory, a former World War I ace pilot, is the owner of a travelling carnival that has fallen on hard times. Only the money brought in by Craig McCoy, the carnival stunt pilot, keeps the carnival from closing. Jean Gregory, Colonel Gregory's daughter, works with Craig as a wing walker and parachutist.

A mysterious pilot, the legendary "Eagle", thought to have been shot down by accident by his own squadron and killed in the war, attempts to sabotage the Evans Aero Co., a large corporation. He sends threatening messages to the company's five directors by skywriting the date that the "Eagle" was shot down: May 23, 1918. Gregory is thought to be the Eagle because he has a grudge against Evans Aero, which stole his plans for a radio-piloted aircraft. Suspicion also falls on McCoy, who is also skilled in skywriting, and had left the message about the "Eagle" after being paid by an anonymous source.

Craig suspects that the "Eagle" is Mr. Green, a director of the corporation, a pilot who flew in the same squadron as the "Eagle", and the likely culprit who stole the plans to Gregory's invention. When confronted, Green escapes and teams up with two compatriots, Tim Moore and Boyle, but Craig grabs the plans and rushes back to the carnival to show Jean.

Gregory, who is confined to a wheelchair, tries to hide from the authorities. Someone steels Craig's aircraft and tries to burn down the carnival. Hoping to prove her father's innocence, the pair then learn of Gregory's disappearance, captured by the henchmen of the "Eagle". A murder occurs at the corporation and Gregory is again implicated.

Jean still thinks that her father is innocent and with Craig, escapes death on many occasions, fighting with gang members, as they go after the real "Eagle". Craig enlist the aid of the carnival's midget, strongman, and ventriloquist to track down the criminal. Craig unmasks the evildoer (Green) and brings the ordeal to an end.

CAST & CREW
John Wayne as Craig McCoy
Edward Hearn as Colonel Nathan B. Gregory
Dorothy Gulliver as Jean Gregory
Richard Tucker as Major Evans
Ivan Linow as Heinie
James Bradbury Jr. as Henry
Ernie Adams as Frederick "Pat" Kelly
Billy West as Bob the Clown
Lloyd Whitlock as Green
Walter Miller as Danby
Edmund Burns as Clark
Pat O'Malley as Ames
Kenneth Harlan as Ward
"Little Billy" Rhodes as the Midget
Roy D'Arcy as Gardner
Bud Osborne as Tim Moore
Yakima Canutt as Boyle
Monte Montague as Policeman Callahan

Directed by Ford Beebe, B. Reeves Eason
Written by Ford Beebe, Colbert Clark, Wyndham Gittens
Produced by Nat Levine
Cinematography Benjamin H. Kline, Victor Scheurich
Edited by Wyndham Gittens, Ray Snyder
Music by Lee Zahler
Distributed by Mascot Pictures
Release date February 1, 1932
Running time 12 chapters (218 minutes)
Country United States
Language English

Chapter titles
The Carnival Mystery
Pinholes
The Eagle Strikes
The Man of a Million Voices
The Telephone Cipher
The Code of the Carnival
Eagle or Vulture?
On the Spot
When Thieves Fall Out
The Man Who Knew
The Eagle's Wings
The Shadow Unmasked

During the 1930s, after starring in The Big Trail (1930), its subsequent commercial failure meant that Wayne was relegated to minor roles in A-pictures, or starring, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation, such as The Shadow of the Eagle.

The Shadow of the Eagle was cheaply staged and relied heavily on studio sets for interior sequences, although much of the carnival scenes are shot outdoors. Although one of the "poverty row" studios, Mascot was important to Wayne's career and he went on to make two more serials for the studio. In The Shadow of the Eagle, Wayne does most of his own stunt work, which solidified him as a bona fide action star. As the carnival stunt pilot, a Travel Air 2000, commonly known as the "Wichita Fokker", was a popular aircraft used in Hollywood features.

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