Vanishing Shadow, The
Entry updated 8 April 2024. Tagged: Film.
US Serial Film (1934). Universal Pictures. Directed by Lew Landers (as Louis Friedlander). Written by Basil Dickey, Het Mannheim, George Morgan and Ella O'Neill. Cast includes Richard Cramer, James Durkin, Ada Ince, Walter Miller, Onslow Stevens. Twelve 20-minute episodes. Black and white.
Stanley Stanfield (Stevens) visits Professor Carl Van Dorn (Durkin), the world's greatest authority on electrical energy and a friend of his late father, who had previously been the owner of a crusading newspaper, The Tribune. Stanley shows him the blueprints for his Invention, hoping the Professor can help him eliminate a problematic side-effect. Van Dorn agrees; after the other departs he looks thoughtful, then begins working on his remote-controlled Robot. Outside, Stanley saves Gloria Grant (Ince) from a traffic accident: she turns out to be the daughter of the man who hounded his father to an early grave, crooked business magnate Wade Barnett (Miller); however, her dislike for his methods means she is estranged from him and now uses her mother's maiden name. To pay for Van Dorn's assistance, Stanley plans to sell some valuable bonds – but not to Wade, who wants them to become owner of The Tribune, thus silencing the only voice raised against him. When the pair tussle at a stockbroker's office Wade's gun goes off, accidentally shooting the stockbroker – unfortunately Stanley is left holding the gun and Wade assures him he'll "swing for this", so he flees.
Stanley goes to Van Dorn's city laboratory: here the Scientist explains he had been working on a similar invention to Stanley's – which is a "vanishing ray" (see Invisibility), and the blueprints have enabled him to finish it. Wade's thugs, led by Dorgan (Cramer), now arrive, so Stanley straps the device to his stomach and turns it on: he glows then becomes invisible, though still casting a shadow (the problem he mentioned). Unable to find him, the thugs depart. Stanley and Van Dorn decide to use the ray to discover Wade's crooked secrets: Stanley wants to expose Wade to the law, so looks concerned when the other insists they will be "judge, jury ... and executioner" (see Crime and Punishment). Van Dorn also reveals his hand-held "destroying Ray ... that attacks only living cells"; we see it make a plant wilt, a scene reused twice. Gloria helps them, including passing on the news that the stockbroker was only injured. Wade is aware that his daughter is aiding Stanley and – to Dorgan's frustration – insists that nothing be done that might endanger her. At one point Wade believes she has been killed and, grief-stricken, suspends his plans; he returns to his scheming on discovering Gloria is unharmed.
Events usually involve Gloria, Van Dorn or Stanley being captured, only to be freed by the others or their own wits, with a cliffhanger ending at the end of each episode. We also see more of Van Dorn's inventions – such as a remote control for opening gates and some more hand-held rays: one that cuts through metal (effectively a laser), another that paralyses. Wade manages to steal the bonds, but Stanley invisibly – save for his shadow – enters Wade's office and, using the metal-cutting ray, opens the safe to get them back. Gloria and Van Dorn also get to use the invisibility device, as does Dorgan. At that point Dorgan has acquired many of Van Dorn's inventions and captured Gloria, so decides to blackmail Wade – mainly out of frustration, blaming his failures on the other's insistence his daughter not be harmed. Wade, realizing he loves his daughter more than anything else, informs the police: when they arrive Dorgan shoots Wade, then is killed by the police: Wade is held by his daughter and with his dying breath tells her he has left his wealth to her as "my atonement to your mother and you".
Though later film serials were mainly aimed at younger adolescents, The Vanishing Shadow belongs to an era – then ending – with a target audience of adults or the family, so its characterization is a little deeper and the plot tighter. Wade even has a character arc: the false alarm over his daughter's death has him questioning his priorities, and when Dorgan holds Gloria hostage he has had enough and decides she, not his ambitions, come first. Van Dorn is more than a Clichéd eccentric scientist: aside from looking askance at his "judge, jury ... and executioner" remark, Stanley twice voices concern on why he is "always inventing things like this [the robot], of a destructive nature?" We also see an unpleasant side to Van Dorn when, as Dorgan uses Gloria as a human shield, he urges Stanley to fire the cell-destroying ray even if it kills her. Later his misogyny is openly stated: "There is nothing in the world I fear as much as women" (see Paranoia), though he eventually softens his attitude towards Gloria. His sexism is treated as eccentricity rather than a Psychological flaw (see Feminism). He also hinders as much as he helps: two cliffhangers involve his booby-traps – of which he is rather fond – accidentally being sprung by Stanley and Gloria. After being held back following its introduction in the first episode, the ungainly robot is set on Wade's thugs by a gleeful Van Dorn in the tenth; in episode 11, having gained a head injury, Van Dorn temporarily wanders into Mad Scientist territory and – cackling – sends the robot into Wade's house ... unfortunately Stanley is held prisoner inside and the cliffhanger involves the machine trying to kill him.
Though Stanley calls the robot by that name, the older Van Doren refers to it as a "mechanical man", presumably reflecting the shift in terminology between generations; additionally, whilst not gun-shaped, Van Dorn's hand-held Weapons might be considered Ray Guns. Why the invisibility device is called a "ray" is unclear. Given its length, The Vanishing Shadow inevitably has much padding, whilst the special effects are unremarkable and the resolutions to the cliffhangers anti-climactic (in the middle of using the laser-like ray to free Stanley from one of Van Dorn's deadly booby-traps, an injured Gloria appears to faint ... but then doesn't). Nonetheless this is an entertaining work, with Van Dorn's laboratory equipment being enjoyably clunky and the acting a little better than in most serials. [SP]
links
previous versions of this entry