THE WHISPERING SHADOW (1933) Bela Lugosi, Viva Tattersall & Malcom McGregor | Action, Crime | B&W

The Whispering Shadow is a 1933 American pre-Code 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.

SYNOPSIS
The Shadow in The Whispering Shadow is an underworld mastermind. He has invented a device that allows him to kill by radio control.[1] 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.

A mysterious criminal known as The Whispering Shadow commits crimes by means of a gang he controls by television and radio rays. Jack Norton, whose brother was murdered by The Whispering Shadow, suspects that the eerie Professor Strang - whose ghostly wax museum contains figures far too lifelike - may be involved in the crimes.

CAST & CREW
Bela Lugosi as Professor Adam Anton Strang
Viva Tattersall as Vera Strang
Malcolm McGregor as Jack Foster
Henry B. Walthall as J.D. Bradley
Robert Warwick as Detective Robert Raymond
Ethel Clayton as The Countess Helen
Roy D'Arcy as Professor Alexis Steinbeck
Karl Dane as Sparks
Lloyd Whitlock as Young
Bob Kortman as Jasper Slade
Lafe McKee as D.W. Jerome

Directed by Colbert Clark, Albert Herman
Cinematography Edgar Lyons, Ernest Miller
Distributed by Mascot Pictures
Release date 1933
Running time 12 chapters (225 minutes)
Country United States
Language English

NOTES
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. The shadow of The Shadow is not real; It was drawn in later by animators. 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." The serial was later edited down to a feature-length edition (as was common in those days).

Chapter titles

Poster for Chapter 7
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

#oldmovies #freemovies #action #crime #classicfilms #freemoviesonline #blackandwhite #lostandfoundfilms