Customer Reviews

Shadow Greatest Radio Adventures

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Altogether now: "The weeds of crime bear bitter fruit...Crime does not pay...The Shadow knows...and the Shadow never fails!"

Lamont Cranston was a wealthy playboy who returned from a trip to the orient with the ability to cloud men's minds through the use of his hypnotic powers. As the Shadow who was "never seen only heard" he made sure that justice prevailed. This 20-hour collection features what professes to be the 40 best episodes of "The Shadow," including the program premier "The Death House Rescue" with Orson Welles and the debuts of Bill Johnstone and Bret Morrison in the title role. To help make the case there is also a 32-page booklet on the classic radio series where you will discover interesting tidbits like the fact that Agnes Moorehead played Margo Lane opposite Welles. This may not be the truly definitive collection of episodes, but it is the most comprehensive I have come across to date. However, for fans of "The Shadow" the question is what episodes are included in this collection and how many holes can you fill in your collection:

EPISODES STARRING ORSON WELLES
The Death House Rescue 9-26-37
The Circle of Death 11-28-37
The Death Triangle 12-12-37
The Society of the Living Dead 1-23-38
The Plot Murder 2-27-38
The White Legion 3-20-38
The Hypnotized Audience 3-27-38
Message from the Hills 5-22-38

EPISODES STARRING BILL JOHNSTONE
Traffic in Death 9-25-38
Night Without End 10-16-38
Appointment with Death 3-12-39
Can the Dead Talk? 3-19-39
Mansion of Madness 11-5-39
The Shadow Returns 11-19-39
The Sandhog Murders 11-26-39
The Voice of Death 12-8-40
Joey's Christmas Story 12-22-40
The Shadow Challenged 1-19-41
The Chess Club Murders 2-23-41
The Ghost Walks Again 3-16-41
The Case of the Three Frightened Policemen 11-16-41
The Ring of Light 11-23-41
The Wailing Corpse 11-8-42

EPISODES STARRING BRET MORRISON
The Gibbering Things 9-26-43
Death to The Shadow 3-12-44

The Living Head 2-10-46
The Valley of Living Terror 10-13-46
Blood Money 10-20-46
Gang Doctor 11-24-46
The Devil Takes a Wife 12-8-46
Scent of Death 2-2-47
Spider Boy 6-1-47
The Phantom of the Lighthouse 9-7-47
The Curse of the Gypsies 10-5-47
Murder and the Medium 11-30-47
The Chill of Death 1-4-48
The Bones of the Dragon 1-11-48
Death and the Black Fedora 1-18-48
One Dead and Two to Go 2-1-48
Preview of Terror 6-5-49

Be aware that "The Shadow: Great Radio Adventures" is available both as 20 one-hour cassettes or in CD format. Finally, I was really surprised to learn that this classic radio show was usually broadcast early on Sunday evening. How can you listen to "The Shadow" before the sun has gone down? My morning routine has included listening to old time radio broadcasts while I get up and going for the day, but the exception to the rule are episodes of "The Shadow." These are saved for late at night when I am the only one up and most of the lights are off...

Radio buffs all certainly agree that The Shadow was among the greatest radio shows of all-time. It is often stated that The Shadow began as a magazine, but that is not quite the case. The character of The Shadow originated as the announcer for Street & Smith's Detective Story, a radio show designed to help sale the magazine of the same name. When listeners began calling in requesting "The Shadow Detective Magazine," something had to de done.

Walter Gibson brought The Shadow to life for over a decade in pulp-type novels. The Shadow Magazine made its way to the public for the first time on March 6, 1931. There were two of these novels each month and between 1931 and 1949, Gibson, a former magician turned journalist, churned out 283 of the 325 shows, creating Commissioner Weston and many other characters later brought to life on the airwaves.

It may surprise some casual Shadow fans to note that Lamont Cranston was originally only one of The Shadow's many personas. Street & Smith wanted to continue The Shadow as the pulp detective of Walter Gibson's novels, rather than the mysterious announcer and storyteller fans had come to love. But their lack of foresight could not kill, The Shadow.

Though a transcribed serial production of 15 minute shows originating in San Francisco, with Carl Kroenke as The Shadow, was syndicated and hung around for 10 years, it wasn't until September 26, 1937 that, The Shadow, as we now know him today, returned to network airwaves via the Mutual Broadcasting System. Orson Welles was the "man-about-town" Lamont Cranston, using a strange power he had learned in the mysterious orient to cloud men's minds so that his alter ego, The Shadow, could fight crime.

While Welles' Shadow was very good, and his stint as The Shadow sent people running to his Broadway production of Julius Caesar in order to get a look at the face of The Shadow, I have always been partial to Bill Johnstone's portrayal of Lamont Cranston. One of my favorite shows ever, The Chess Club Murders, is included here and stars Bill Johnstone as The Shadow.

Over the years, Lamont's constant companion, Margot Lane, would be portrayed by Agnes Moorehead, Margot Stevenson, Marjorie Anderson, Judith Allen, Lesley Woods, and Grace Matthews. Margot Stephenson was the beautiful Broadway actress who had actually inspired the character of Margot Lane.

This is one of the best collections around of The Shadow, and while by no means definitive, a ton of terrific shows are here to enjoy. Since the individual shows have already been listed, I will only list what I believe are the most enjoyable from each of the three men who portrayed the greatest single figure in the history of radio.

ORSON WELLES---Welles was only 22 when he starred in The Shadow. He managed to strike a deal with the sponsor, Blue Coal, which allowed him to do the show "cold" without rehearsal. It served to give his performance as The Shadow an edge. Welles would show up a few moments before airtime, perform a few magic tricks for the cast, then bada bing-bada boom, he would grab the script and run with it.

What Welles could not do, however, was the signature and sinister laugh of The Shadow. Frank Readick (the voice of The Shadow on Street & Smith's Detective Story) continued to both open and close the program.

FAVORITE SHOW---SOCIETY OF THE LIVING DEAD


BILL JOHNSTONE---He began as The Shadow on September 25, 1938. He had trouble with the laugh also, but finally managed to perfect it. My favorite Shadow.

FAVORITE SHOW---THE CHESS CLUB MURDERS


BRET MORRISON---He became The Shadow in 1943, was replaced by John Archer a year later, then returned as Lamont Cranston late in 1945.

FAVORITE SHOW---A TIE---PREVIEW OF TERROR and THE PHANTOM OF THE LIGHTHOUSE


This great collection comes with a stunningly researched booklet by Anthony Tollin, who uses a number of sources to give a far-reaching look at the history of radio's greatest man of mystery, both in print, on radio, and in film.There are marvelous program notes on each episode included in the booklet, supplemented by photos of many of the key players. For fans of radio, the theatre of the imagination, this Shadow collection is not to be missed!

I cannot put into words how disappointed I was with this product. The reason being that once you get passed the first CD's of Orsen Welles' performance all the other CD's are almost completely unaudible. You have to turn the volume up to just be able to make out what they are saying then you have to quickly turn the volume down when the background music begins to play. I purchased some Shadow "remastered" CD's about 8 years ago and they were great! I could understand everyone and everything. After wear and tear I needed to replace them so I purchased this product. I do not know what exactly is "remastered" with this collection because it sounds horrible and in no way "remastered."
I would recommend a different collection of The Shadow. I rated this product 2 stars only because I love the Shadow.