"Me? The Shadow?
Why, Vincent... The Shadow doesn't exist."
Why, Vincent... The Shadow doesn't exist."
—Lamont Cranston
(The Shadow Serial, 1940)
Veda Ann Borg (Margot Lane), Jack Ingram (Flint) and Victor Jory (The Shadow)
Reputed to be the most faithful film adaptation of the pulp incarnation of The Shadow, today's episode reviews the entire series in FULL! In the early '40s, Columbia were still cutting their teeth on episodic Serials, overspending on properties like Shadow imitator, THE SPIDER, and losing money as a result.
By 1939, the new head of Columbia Serials had a fresh idea:
Spend less money on the serial itself... and more money on a popular license!
Spend less money on the serial itself... and more money on a popular license!
And so, to kick off the 1940 Serial season, THE SHADOW (1940) hit American theaters.
A massive success, and one that features perhaps more direct elements of Gibson's original Shadow stories
than any other adaptation to date!
But it didn't come from a vacuum...
Like 'The Shadow Strikes' before it, 'The Shadow' (1940) drew explicit inspiration from The Walter B. Gibson pulp novels: Namely, the trio of 'The Lone Tiger', 'The Silver Skull', and 'The Green Hoods'!
But The Shadowcast has noted similarities between this serial and at least one other story in The Shadow's late-'30s pantheon! Find out which one it is in our full review of this action-packed pulp classic!
...REPORT!
