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The Shadow of the Eagle
USA 1932
produced by Nat Levine for Mascot
directed by Ford L. Beebe
starring John Wayne, Dorothy Gulliver, Edward Hearn, Richard Tucker, Lloyd Whitlock, Walter Miller, Edmund Burns, Pat O'Malley, Kenneth Harlan, Little Billy Rhodes, Ivan Linow, James Bradbury jr, Ernie Adams, Roy D'Arcy, Bud Osborne, Yakima Canutt, Billy West, Monte Montague
written by Ford L. Beebe, Colbert Clark, Wyndham Gittens, musical director: Lee Zahler
serial
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The board of directors (Richard Tucker, Lloyd Whitlock, Walter Miller,
Edmund Burns, Pat O'Malley, Kenneth Harlan) are threatened (and sometimes
murdered) by a mysterious villain who calls himself the Eagle, who
writes threatening messages into the sky via airplanes, and who every now
and again bumps one of the directors off. The directors immediately
suspect carnival owner Gregory (Edward Hearn) to be the Eagle, their air
force buddy in World War I who was then known as the Eagle and who accuses
them of having stolen an invention from him. And when it's found out that
the allegedly wheelchair-bound Gregory isn't paralyzed at all, the
directors are almost sure - and furthermore they accuse Craig (John
Wayne), Gregory's closest ally, to be in league with the Eagle, and before
long they even pin a murder on him.
But even as a wanted man, Craig does everything in his power to clear
his boss's name, helped by Gregory's daughter Jean (Dorothy Gulliver),
Kelly the carnival barker (Ernie Adams), the midget (Little Billy Rhodes),
the strongman (Ivan Linow) and the ventriloquist (James Bradbury jr) - who
are such loyal allies that Kelly at one point goes to prison for a murder
Craig is said to have committed (though neither of the two actually had).
The plot soon leads to the usual chases by foot and by car, through
streets, across the country and over rooftops - until it is found out that
the directors haven't actually stolen the invention from Gregory, Kelly
has sold it to them having believed Gregory's dead. That though now makes
Kelly the prime target of the Eagle, but Craig - whose name in the
meantime has been cleared as well as that of Gregory - sets a trap for the
villain, who ultimately turns out to be one of the directors who wanted to
make the others to sell out to him, and his skywriting he did via a
remnote-controlled airplane, as to always have an alibi ...
Typical Mascot serial: The plot is over-convoluted, doesn't
always make perfect sense and contains quite a few cheats and plotholes -
but as usual that hardly matters, the whole thing is fast paced and
delivers the goods concerning action to keep the audience happy. Sure, the
serial is made rather on the cheap, and especially the skywriting effects
are ratehr pathetic, but at the same time it has a certain naive charm,
and if you are into low budget 1930's action, this one might just be your
thing.
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