Sadly Over-hyped

It is a performances centric movie

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Silent and early talkie star Rod La Rocque lacks in real screen magnetism in this murder mystery where he's involved in the family scandals with a rich man, shot and killed through a window as they spoke. The murdered man had made threats to disinherit certain family members, giving plenty of people motive for murder. There's even more suspects as this convoluted mystery gets underway, with presumed members of the underworld doing their best to get their hands on the will. It's slow, pondering, creaky with long pauses, and only passably acted. The insinuations of a series never came to fruition, fortunately, perhaps because of the success of the unrelated radio series, and mostly because of the obvious necessity to replace La Rocque had they decided to go that route. Only a minor actor playing an amusingly tough butler gives this any spark, with the romantic and family angles of the mystery never interesting enough to really get the audience to be in invested in really caring "Who done it".

The story, "The Shadow Strikes" is based on "The Ghost of the Manor" by Walter B. Gibson. The film is not all that bad but not as good as I was hoping or expecting it to be. Still worth watching if you like crime mysteries in general or the old radio show.Lamont Granston aka The Shadow is on a murder case. There is a robbery attempt Granston is on the scene but when a murder is involved Granston assumes the identity of a lawyer in order to crack the case wide open. Granston is found out but that does not stop him from becoming The Shadow and solve the mystery.Not as good as the radio show but still a fun watch.6/10

This is a fast-paced B feature with Rod La Rocque, in the role of "The Shadow", getting involved in a fairly interesting and unpredictable mystery. In several respects, it doesn't really have the expected feel that goes with "The Shadow", but in itself its not bad at all. La Rocque works all right as a mild-mannered, secretive hero, with his manner and even-toned voice conveying calm.The story in this one starts with "The Shadow" breaking up what seems to be just another petty crime, but quickly becoming involved in a wider and more serious mystery. He must assume additional extra identities, playing a risky game with the various suspects and witnesses.La Rocque's restrained style makes it come off naturally enough, and while the rest of the characters are mostly one-dimensional, there is enough going on to keep things interesting. While it has a noticeably different feel from the "Shadow" of stories or radio, in itself it's a fairly entertaining way to pass an hour for anyone who enjoys these old B-movies.

For anybody who enjoyed the last movie update of the Shadow, this movie might be a bit of a shock. The movie lacks the character of the Shadow, twice we see the man and even then he lacks the magic and is just a man with a coat and had whom's face you don't see. Never you see why he strikes fear in the hearts of criminals.It looks like a detective story with as an afterthought the character of the Shadow thrown in. The story is about Lamont taking the identity of an out of town lawyer and in doing so he gets involved in a murder plot. As usual it is about big money to be inherited and gambling. And even the evil gangster in this movie is laughable, he seems to do his own things instead of his men, which proves his downfall.As a mystery, nice ending, as a Shadow movie a tad disappointing.