Behind the Mask (1946)

Don't Believe the Hype

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Jeff Mann is a terrible person. He's a part-time new reporter and part-time blackmailer. In other words, as he investigates crimes, he digs up lots of dirt on people and uses it do bleed these crooks. Not surprisingly, he is soon killed--by a man dressed up like the Shadow. Now Lamont Cranston (the real Shadow) is going to prove he's innocent by finding the real killer.This movie came out many years after the pulp magazine and radio versions of The Shadow. That is why it's so inexplicable that the film ISN'T close to being correct--they SHOULD have known the character better. The radio version (the most famous of them) was a practitioner of Asian arts--with the hypnotic ability to cloud people's minds, to influence them to do what he wants and to make himself seem invisible. This was a HUGE part of the character--yet NONE of that is in this film. Instead, he just guides a dumb cop to solve the crime. As a result, he's pretty much like any other B-movie detective--and bears MUCH more similarity to Bulldog Drummond and the Saint--both of which also were always about to become married when crimes strike and distract the hero. As a result of this sameness, the film comes off as much blander than it should. Overall, a typical B-movie that has lost its sense of uniqueness--which it SHOULD have. Not terrible (especially since it has a mildly funny sense of humor about it) but not all that great either.By the way, although it's been used in films and TV, killing someone by injecting air into the veins is NOT an easy thing and is way too impractical and difficult a thing to really be employed. I've talked to doctors about this (since my wife writes thrillers) and they assure me it's just not a way you can easily kill someone--especially not in the manner you see here in the film. Trust me on this one.

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.

An early B comedy by Phil Karlson this was a nice surprise with a stone cold open on an odious blackmailer making his rounds. Ooops! It's a crusading reporter shaking down his list of suckers. The opening scene has him slapping a "sucker", who kinda likes it, and then relieving her of the stiletto she was about to slide into his back. So there's no shortage of suspects.Kane Richmond is solid as Lamont/Shadow with a Jack Carson-like presence, albeit on a B level. The rest of the cast has a few familiar faces. Condolences to others who also peg the killer. It's a formulaic cliché that has been done to death but I actually liked that I could finger the culprit at first siting. Lots of inappropriate humor, S&M is a strong undercurrent with a comical cross dressing sequence thrown in, this movie begins and ends with slaps and spankings. If you think this stuff is "corny" because it's period 40s... too bad for you.

Second of three go rounds with Kane Richmond as Lamont Cranston aka the Shadow. In these films Cranston is not like the pulp/radio character with the ability to cloud men's minds, instead he dressed all in black and a mask and stands in the shadows. Ah well.The plot of the film has Cranston foregoing his wedding to Margo Lane in order to clear his name. It seems that some one impersonating the Shadow has killed a blackmailing reporter. The death may have been lucky since it appears the no goodnik was typing out who the shadow really was when he was killed.More comedy then mystery this is a waste of celluloid since the comedy isn't very funny and the mystery nonexistent (you know who the killer is the minute he walks on screen). Mostly this is lots of round and round the various locations for no good reason other than kill time.Much of the first ten minutes is the reporter going around threatening all of his victims in order to lay out the suspects. Its boring. Worse is the clue that reveals who the killer is is so painfully obvious that that no one, not even police as stupid as the ones in this film, would have missed it.If you can take it for what it is (and forgive its deep flaws) you have an okay time killer, but at the same time its an hour you will never get back. Easily the worst of this set of three Shadow films.