All fingers point to Bela Lugosi as the mastermind behind a series of truck robberies where the perpetrator is only known through their voice, nicknamed the whispering shadow for the way they identify themselves to the people only intend to rob. Obviously, the voice sounds nothing like Lugosi but that has not stopped him before or after this. In most of those cases, the films were much better than this one which other than the slapstick fight scenes is painfully dull.Lugosi overacts, showing that at times, he deserved the wretched reviews that he got. However, he really is the only thing of interest in this which can be seen in several variations. I don't recommend the entire 12-part serial, as it comes out to be over 4 hours in length. The much edited feature version that I saw was just painful to get through, so I can't imagine the full length serial being any easier with all of its repetition.

1933's "The Whispering Shadow" was Bela Lugosi's serial debut, and also the first that I actually purchased, because this was the only one of his 5 serials that had no feature version. The scenes in his elaborate waxworks prove to be the most memorable, although his character is one of numerous red herrings believed to be the title mastermind, whose identity revealed in the final chapter seems to be a real cheat. This Mascot serial lacks a musical score, which makes it stand out from the others Lugosi did, and doesn't really utilize him as the star. The next, 1934's 12 chapter "The Return of Chandu" allows him to be a genuine, two fisted serial hero (at age 51). He was the star villain in 1936's "Shadow of Chinatown," at 15 chapters the longest, but perhaps most enjoyable, since he works with beautiful Luana Walters, against former Olympic athlete Bruce Bennett (Herman Brix), with a supporting cast of familiar faces like Richard Loo and Victor Wong. 1937's Republic "SOS Coast Guard" was the only one where he was billed second, after hero Ralph Byrd, a well made 12 chapter slugfest, with less footage of Lugosi than the others, assisted by Richard Alexander (Prince Barin in Universal's "Flash Gordon") as the hulking, mute manservant. 1939's 12 chapter "The Phantom Creeps" was done at the familiar Universal studios, with a suitable supporting cast, including hero Robert Kent, Edward Van Sloan, and Lee J. Cobb, but among so many gadgets, the well remembered robot was played by Bud Wolff. Bela's batting average in serials was far better than Boris Karloff or Lon Chaney, although it must be stated that Boris did his last chapterplay before 1931's "Frankenstein," and that Chaney starred only in his first (1932's "The Last Frontier") and last, the 12 chapter Western "Overland Mail," for Universal in 1942 (reduced in stature as an evil henchman in all the others).

Here is another wonderful movie serial from the factory that perfected the genre at the dawn of sound... MASCOT PICTURES. There is such a superb story yet to be told in the life of both this studio and its young founder Nat Levine. It only existed from 1927 until 1935 but was the template for REPUBLIC PICTURES, both as a studio and as a serial factory. It was closed by ruthless Republic Founder Herbert J Yates when he foreclosed on them via his film lab Consolidated Film Laboratories to which MASCOT owed big film processing debts..... along with other small studios like MONOGRAM and LIBERTY. However in those early 30s, MASCOT created a genre .. the talkie action serial with sci fi effects and incredible miniatures by Howard and Theodore Lydecker. Yates lusted after it all to become a mini-Mayer type mogul and won the day by financial default to lump all his debtees together to make his studio in 1935. As a result REPUBLIC PICTURES was created and lasted until 1960 but clever little MASCOT was steamrolled, its talent poached and its style and film library stolen. Nat Levine was discarded in 1937 and bankrupt in 1939. Nobody from these other studios could work under Yates and even Monogram management escaped to GRAND NATIONAL and UNIVERSAL before re-forming in 1937. Levine was not yet 40 years old. He then went to manage cinemas... showing Monogram and Republic Pictures. How awful for him... and what a great biopic there is in this man's exciting young life. (Spielberg? Scorscese? HBO, hello?).....THE WHISPERING SHADOW is one of many spooky and elaborate labyrinth serials now turning up on Alpha Video DVD, a poverty row specialist that is releasing dvds made from old TV prints filmed directly off TV monitors and onto a DVD master. It seems to work well enough but I do believe there is a market for genuinely releasing these great 30s films properly from existing negs. Sometimes the movie version is available and this one is seen as MURDER BY TELEVISION. In the mean time, we can savor what is possible this way. As with HURRICANE EXPRESS or THE THREE MUSKETEERS especially the underworld sci fi cowboy movie serial epic (!) .....THE PHANTOM EMPIRE......... remade in 1936 as Republic's first serial UNDERSEA KINGDOM.THE WHISPERING SHADOW is a convoluted chase with eerie visuals and wonderful atmosphere. It also interestingly uses Television as a title and as a device which shows us in 2008 how advanced and aware the movie-going public was of TV itself, because to include it in a film so prominently in 1933 as realistic and exciting possibility is a surprise to most viewers today. From the same period is THE RETURN OF CHANDU and in 1937 THE SECRET OF TREASURE ISLAND (Columbia)... but the most absurd obscene and fully wacky is THE LOST CITY (1935). Enjoy! These ancient sci fi serials make great TV wallpaper at your next party.

In my youth (1980 or thereabouts), I was a projectionist at an art-movie cinema (remember those?). Anyway, one summer we showed an episode of "The Whispering Shadow" before each week's feature, and all can say is that it was great cheesy fun. My favorite episode was the one that ended with our hero and heroine trapped in a room--AND THE WALLS START MOVING IN TO CRUSH THEM TO DEATH! And as the walls move in, they wibble and wobble, because they are obviously just two muslin-covered stage flats being pushed in by a couple of stagehands, and all the while the hero and heroine roll their eyes and cling to each other and scream and scream and scream! Too funny for words. All joshing aside, the final episode does have an interesting twist that made my twelve weeks in the projection booth worth the while.