Behind the Mask

When a shady reporter is murdered, the killer is disguised as well-known, masked crimefighter The Shadow. Now, the police are after the mysterious hero.

The Shadow's alter ego, Lamont Cranston (Kane Richmond) must track down the killer impostor before the cops close in.

BEHIND THE MASK is more comedic than one might expect, since in the original, The Shadow was a dark, almost sinister persona able to frighten the criminals he pursued. In this film, The Shadow is marginalized, while the unmasked Cranston does the sleuthing.

Played mostly for laughs, so, don't expect a serious crime drama...

Behind the Mask (1946)

** (out of 4)

Phil Karlson directed this second entry in "The Shadow" series. In this film, a sleazy news reporter is murdered and everyone thinks The Shadow was behind it. The alter ego Lamont Cranston (Kane Richmond) must prove that The Saint wasn't the murderer and find the real one. Every studio during this era had a mystery fighter on their hands and The Shadow belonged to Monogram, which should tell you just about everything you need to know. There's no question that the material here is more second rate than anything else and in the end this just isn't a very memorable movie. I think a lot of the problem goes to the screenplay, which is just rather routine as there's nothing in it that really separates this from the countless other films like it. It certainly doesn't help matters that Cranston is such a boring character that the viewer can never really connect with or really care about what happens to. Another problem is that there's way too much comic stuff. Yes, a mixture of comedy and mystery can be good but not when the jokes fall so flat. The supporting characters are just annoying and especially the assistant's girl who is written as that dumb blonde that gets on everyone's nerves. Richmond really isn't all that energetic or charismatic in the role of The Saint. I'm not sure if he just wasn't interested in the part or perhaps the screenplay just didn't excite him enough to give it more of a push. The supporting players are mostly forgettable, although no one is so bad to where they ruin the film. BEHIND THE MASK will remain watchable for fans of the genre but I think they'll realize that there's not much going on here.

Kane Richmond is the Shadow, and as the shadow, he is the principal suspect in the murder of newspaper columnist James Cardwell. So, with the help of his trusty manservant George Chandler, and despite the help of fiancee Barbra Read and her trusty servant, Dorothea Kent, they investigate until the answer is basically handed to Richmond at the very end. Along the way they frustrate police inspector Joseph Crehan, and his inept assistant, Edward Gargan.

In the midst of all the inactive Fox B series, Monogram apparently also picked up movie rights to the Shadow. William Beaudine began the direction on this opus, only to be replaced some time in the process by Phil Karlson. As a mystery, it's pretty bad. As a slapstick comedy, it's all right; even the big fight sequences are played for slapstick comedy, with Richmond's stunt double swinging from a rope and tossing one opponent at another. With Pierre Watkin, Robert Shayne, June Clyde, and Joyce Compton.

The Shadow is one of the great pre-comic book heroes of the 1930s, so you'd think that this film would be a lot more fun than it is. The problem is that the film-makers didn't seem much interested in making a Shadow film ... what we have here is a not very good detective movie with lots of ill-considered "humorous" scenes.

Not even a curiosity, this is not for Shadow fans. Take a look at the 1940 chapter serial with Victor Jory. Much closer to the original Shadow concept. Though there's still loads of potential for someone to make the definitive screen adaptation of The Shadow ... 'cos Russell Mulcahy's 1994 effort wasn't it either ...

Kane Richmond returns for his second stint as Lamont Cranston/The Shadow in this fourth movie in The Shadow series.up to this point,this this is my least favourite.for me,it was boring and tedious.i didn't find the story all that interesting,or engaging.and the movie annoyed me at times,especially with how loud it was at times.by that i mean lot of shrill screeching,a lot of it by the character of Margo Lane(Barbara Read).Shrevvy(George Chandler)is fairly helpful to Cranston,having more to do this time,and is less of a dim bulb than in the previous movie.that's a positive,at least.overall though,this was a disappointing entry.my vote for Behind the Mask is a 4/10