International Crime (1938)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Charles Lamont

Writers:

Theodore S. Tinsley (story)
Jack Natteford (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 April 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Mystery

Tagline:

CRIME DIDN'T PAY WHEN THIS MASTER DETECTIVE STEPPED IN! (original poster - all caps)

Plot:

Lamont Cranston, amateur criminologist and detective, with a daily radio program, sponsored by the Daily Classic newspaper...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Banker | Robbery | Broadcast | Safe

Cast

Rod La Rocque	...	Lamont Cranston (The Shadow)
Astrid Allwyn	...	Phoebe Lane
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Commissioner Weston (as Thomas Jackson)
Oscar O'Shea	...	Editor Heath
Wilhelm von Brincken	...	Flotow (as William von Brincken)
William Pawley	...	Honest John
Walter Bonn	...	Stefan, Flotow's Driver
Peter Potter	...	Burke (as William Moore)
Lew Hearn	...	Moe Shrevnitz the Cabbie
Tenen Holtz	...	Starkhov
John St. Polis	...	Roger Morton
Lloyd Whitlock	...	Attorney
Jack Baxley	...	Det. Inspector Matthews
Paul Panzer	...	Morton's Butler
Harry C. Bradley	...	Barrows (as Harry Bradley)

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:Approved (PCA #4010)

Company:

M & A Alexander Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Based on #118 of The Shadow magazine (January 1, 1937), titled "Foxhound" and written by Theodore S. Tinsley (under the usual pseudonym of "Maxwell Grant").

Movie Connections:

Follows The Shadow Strikes (1937)

Entertaining For a B-Mystery

This Rod La Rocque/"Shadow" feature is pretty entertaining for a B-mystery. It combines the main mystery story with the Shadow's running battles of wits with the police and others. The two Shadow features with La Rocque both have a different feel from the radio and print stories, but both are watchable, and this one is the better of the two.

In this story, the Shadow has a radio show and a newspaper column, both of which he puts to use in solving the murder case that arises. The mystery itself is often just a sidelight to the Shadow's personal entanglements with the police commissioner, with his new, overly eager assistant (Astrid Allwyn), and with some of the principals in the case.

It's the kind of interesting, complex setup that a first-class writer could have done a great deal more with. As it is, although there are a couple of missed opportunities, it moves at a good pace and is interesting enough to make it a decent way to spend an hour or so.