Tuesday, July 10, 2018

International Crime (1938)

A loose sequel to The Shadow Strikes, again starring Rod La Rocque as the charismatic crime fighter/radio show host/journalist The Shadow. The Shadow has a new assistant Phoebe (Astrid Allwyn) who ends up getting The Shadow arrested after the murder of an international banker.

The Shadow is released but his relationship with the Police Commissioner (Thomas Jackson) remains tense and he ends up cutting the The Shadow off from police news especially after The Shadow broadcasts a wanted criminal live on air.

In a tight spot The Shadow investigates the killing of the banker helped/hindered by Pheobe. He ends up posing as a "Central European aristocrat" (in a rather "Allo Allo" way) to make friends with two foreign suspects who he thinks are investigated with the murder.

It is an enjoyable film with it's sinister foreign criminals, The Shadow is an entertaining character though rather unrealistic but the breezy way he carries out his investigation makes the film fly. As with the earlier film The Shadow as portrayed was quite different to the radio drama / pulp fiction character people knew pretty well.