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The Shadow of Silk Lennox
USA 1935
produced by Ray Kirkwood for Commodore Pictures
directed by Ray Kirkwood, Jack Nelson
starring Lon Chaney jr, Dean Benton, Marie Burton, Jack Mulhall, Eddie Gribbon, Larry McGrath, Allen Greer, Theodore Lorch, Frank Niemann, Murdock MacQuarrie, Dick Rush, Hal Taliaferro, Ace Cain, Budd Buster, Jules Cowles, Ray Turner
written by Norman Springer, music by Dean Benton
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Silk Lennox (Lon Chaney jr) is a nightclub owner who is slick as can be
- and he has to be, too, because he's also a powerful mobster who has his
hands in every major heist in town. The police know about this of course,
but they can't stick anything on Lennox, because he always manages to
provide a waterproof alibi. Eventually, the G-men take over, and Lennox is
brought in on a murder charge, a murder he actually committed, but all the
G-men can do is to hold him in a cell for a few hours, until his shyster
springs him free. Plus, Lennox' stay in the holding cell even seems to
have paid off, since there he has made the acquaintance of master
safecracker Farley (Jack Mulhall), a man he could very well use in his
organisation ... and wouldn't you know it, before you know it, Farley has
sprung himself from the cell and joined Lennox' gang. The police are of
course on the lookout for Farley, first and foremost in Lennox' nightclub,
but Lennox manages to keep him under covers. Then he figures that it might
be a good idea to stage another heist while the police are still looking
for Farley - which is when Lennox' luck finally changes, because Farley
turns out to be a G-man, and he has the police in tow ... and ultimately,
Lennox dies in the final shootout. Dean Benton and Marie Burton play the
romantic couple, two nightclub performers who get sucked into the
proceedings, but their roles are rather clumsily woven into the plot.
One of Lon Chaney jr's first starring roles, this is nothing but a
cheaply and shoddily made gangster drama that lacks an interesting plot to
properly carry it. And as an actor, Chaney has not yet come to full bloom
and sadly lacks the proper charisma of other gangster actors of the 1930's
like Edward G.Robinson, James Cagney, Paul Muni, George Raft or the
up-and-coming Humphrey Bogart.
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