Surprisingly incoherent and boring

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

To me, this is NOT a Shadow film. The Shadow in this case is still Lamont Cranston but "The Shadow" is his persona as a radio news broadcaster! NOTHING like the old radio show at all! Come on, what were they thinking when they made this tripe?! And that girl - Phoebe Lane drives me insane! I'm sorry I just wanted to slap her for all of her "Wait for Phoebe" lines - among other things. She is the most irritating character, no wonder Lamont Cranston wanted to give her a hard time - but she is the niece of the owner of the radio station so she can do whatever she pleases - including ruin the station I'm assuming (she was doing at great job at that when I started fast-forwarding through the film)! It was her that totally ruined what might have been an okay film for me to watch - I can't stand her! Lamont Cranston does not turn into The Shadow as he should and this Phoebe chick *deep sighs*! I'm sorry I can't give this one a good review - and it's NOT a "Shadow" film if Cranston does not turn into "The Shadow" - and that Phoebe!! "Wait for Phoebe"!!! -- very unfunny!1/10

This is an odd little B-movie--one that at least is different. Rod La Roque stars as "the Shadow"--a combination radio celebrity and amateur crime solver. Using his show, he periodically tweaks the noses of the local police--who respond by arresting him on trumped up charges (wow...I guess the Constitution wasn't created until after 1938). And, along for the ride is one of the most common clichés in crime films of the era--the spunky and occasionally annoying reporter (who also happens to be the daughter of the radio station owner). Together, they investigate a crime AND have a good time! For the most part, this is light and silly B entertainment. It's not terrible but cliché-ridden and only adequately written--at best. But, on the positive side, La Roque was very good in the movie--and it makes you wonder why he had faded to a B-actor after a relatively promising series of films in the 1920s and early 30s.Adequate.

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.

A strange little offshoot of the Shadow mythos. Definitely the better of the two Shadow movies starring Rod La Rocque. This time, Lamont Cranston is a crusading crime journalist who writes a daily column entitled "The Shadow"! He does not wear the famous cloak and slouch hat, has no mind powers and everybody knows that he is the Shadow. His assistant is Phoebe Lane, who is cute and dizzy and not much relation to the superior Margo Lane at all. The film is based on the wise-cracking style of "The Thin Man" and occasionally delivers a genuinely funny moment. But for the most part this is a pretty dull murder mystery involving foreign agents. Completely lacking in the film noir, supernatural atmosphere of the radio series and the magazine. A curiosity but hardly The Shadow we know and love.