The Radio Detectives - BBC 98-06-17 (105) The Shadow Knows

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: The Radio Detectives - BBC 98-06-17 (105) The Shadow Knows
Date: January 1, 2026
Host: Harold’s Old Time Radio

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the legacy of "The Shadow," one of American radio’s most memorable crime-fighting characters from the Golden Age of Radio. It not only traces the origins of the character—rooted in the interplay between pulp fiction and radio drama—but also explores his radio incarnation most famously voiced by Orson Welles. Through narration, interviews, and original broadcasts, the episode uncovers the cultural significance, creative influences, and atmospheric style that made The Shadow a radio legend.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Shadow: Origins and Evolution

• Pulp Fiction Roots (01:48–05:07)

  • The Shadow emerged from early 1930s-40s pulp fiction and radio synergy.
  • The character served as a mysterious narrator for Street and Smith’s thriller stories before evolving into a full-fledged hero within his own magazine.
  • Walter B. Gibson, writing as "Maxwell Grant," authored most of these stories, fueled by "living, thinking, even dreaming the story" and pushing himself to write up to 15,000 words a day (06:38).

• Radio Transition (07:30–08:37)

  • While Gibson created the character, the radio show developed its own cannon, making The Shadow’s alter-ego Lamont Cranston, paired with companion Margo Lane, and gifting him the supernatural ability to “cloud men’s minds”—perfect for radio’s theater of the mind.

Orson Welles as The Shadow

• Performance Style and Impact (08:37–13:12)

  • Orson Welles’ short stint (1937-38) became iconic, characterized by his distinctive delivery and improvisational flair.
  • Welles’ biographer, Simon Callow, underscores the Anglophile performance and its “drawing room comedy” sensibility.
  • Notable moment as Welles recalls his involvement and the enduring fame of the role:

    “I didn’t rehearse them… didn’t know how I’d get out of the well ever, when I was thrown in… The laugh was my laugh. And all the children in the world did it…” —Orson Welles [08:37]

• Transformation in Voice (13:12)

  • Callow describes the contrast between Welles’ tone as Lamont Cranston and as The Shadow, shifting from refined lightness to “grave” and “double bass” when embodying the invisible avenger.

Drama, Themes, and Social Context

• Innovative Radio Techniques (15:51–17:21)

  • Shows were “half-hour oral movies” utilizing montage, sound effects, and cliffhangers reminiscent of cinema serials.
  • The Shadow regularly ended up in seemingly inescapable situations, enhancing suspense for listeners.

• Morality and Paranoia (19:12–21:45)

  • The Shadow confronted contemporary fears: organized crime, conspiracies, secret societies (like the KKK analog White Legion), and foreign saboteurs.
  • Episodes often carried hard-hitting messages, such as this anti-war statement:

    "He was a victim. A human instrument of destruction fashioned by mankind… There is no glory in this for you or the Shadow or for any man." —Orson Welles as The Shadow [21:53]

• The Psychology of The Shadow (23:04)

  • Callow references Welles’ own fascination and guilt, suggesting a personal connection to the themes of conscience and moral reckoning embodied by The Shadow.

    “…The Shadow's claim to know everything was rather chilled him and he quickly put his pants back on and went back home to his wife.” —Simon Callow [23:04]

The Shadow’s Cultural Legacy

• Changing Actors and Media (23:29–25:19)
  • Welles passed the role to Bill Johnston, then John Archer, Steve Corkley, and Brett Morrison—none capturing the same mystique.
  • The Shadow magazine ended in 1949; the radio show in 1954.
  • The character appeared in serials and films, culminating in a 1994 movie starring Alec Baldwin, though the episode suggests the true magic remains with the original radio iterations.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On The Pulp Writer’s Life:

• “I made 10,000 words my goal and found I could reach it. Some stories I wrote in four days each, starting early Monday, finishing late Thursday night… At the finish…I often had to take a few days off as my fingertips were too sore.“
  —Walter B. Gibson (narration) [06:38]

Orson Welles’ Reflection:

• “I keep wanting to say that was me. You hear Margot, the Temple Bells of Niban. Listen. Three soft notes will strike and then the spell will be broken.”
  —Orson Welles [08:37]

Simon Callow on Welles’ Style:

• “There’s a sort of sense of a silk dressing gown and a cigarette and a long cigarette holder about the performance… It’s very charming indeed.”
  —Simon Callow [10:38]

The Villain’s Threat:

• “For every day I sit in the Death House, one of you will be killed, starting with the foreman of the jury. He’ll die to say I burned.”
  —Orson Welles as Joseph Brett [19:28]

The Shadow’s Anti-War Speech:

• “He was a victim… fashioned by mankind that teaches men to kill their enemies in time of war, yet expects them to forget their murderous art in time of peace…”
  —Orson Welles as The Shadow [21:53]

Simon Callow’s Welles Anecdote:

• “Famously, the radio happened to be on when he was making love to one of his girlfriends. And the Shadow’s claim to know everything... rather chilled him, and he quickly put his pants back on...”
  —Simon Callow [23:04]

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Timestamps Highlights

• 01:01–05:07: Pulp fiction and creation of The Shadow
• 06:38: Walter B. Gibson discusses writing process
• 08:37: Orson Welles reminisces about playing The Shadow
• 09:40–10:38: Simon Callow details Welles’ casting and style
• 13:12–14:37: Contrasts in Welles’ performance as Cranston/Shadow
• 15:51–17:21: Cinema-inspired radio techniques and suspense
• 19:12–21:45: The Shadow battles societal threats and delivers moral reflections
• 23:04: Simon Callow’s story about Welles and The Shadow’s omniscience
• 23:29: Decline and legacy after Welles’ tenure
• 25:19–26:12: The 1994 film adaptation and longing for the original radio magic
• 26:43: Closing credits and Welles’ appreciation for the role

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Conclusion

This episode effectively illustrates why The Shadow remains a cultural touchstone in the history of radio drama. Through historical background, literary analysis, and well-chosen dramatic excerpts, listeners gain an appreciation for the atmosphere, artistry, and enduring motifs surrounding the mysterious avenger who knows “what evil lurks in the hearts of men.” Orson Welles’ tenure—though brief—casts a long shadow, epitomizing the golden age of radio and its power to captivate the imagination.

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Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Orson Welles]

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[Documentary Narrator]

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[Orson Welles]

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[Documentary Narrator]

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[Narrator]

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[Orson Welles]

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[Documentary Narrator]

The cackling laugh and the strains of Saintson's Omphale spinning wheel introducing one of the most celebrated thriller series on American radio, the Shadow. He was as much a superhero as a detective, using his mysterious powers to fight crime in the seamy underworld of Depression era America. In this, the last of our programmes on the radio, detectives will hear recordings never broadcast in Britain before and look under the Shadow's wide brimmed hat to find one of the most famous actors of the century.

[Orson Welles]

I am looking for a man with blood on his hands, the blood of a minister and 10 innocent people he murdered. Are you a man hiding in the fog? Do not try so hard to pierce the fog. You cannot see me, for I am the Shadow.

[Documentary Narrator]

The character emerged from the richly creative relationship in the 1930s and 1940s between pulp fiction and radio. The Pulps were mass circulation thrillers of 50 to 60,000 words in length, churned out monthly by an army of overworked, underpaid hack writers and decorated with eye catchingly vivid, not to say lurid, covers, tempting the would be readers to part with their cash for the chance of sampling the thrills and sensations contained within their nickname derived from the wood pulp from which their cheap paper was manufactured, but it also carried the onomatopoeic ring of a savage beating which appropriately signified the world of crime fiction. The battle against crime was a staple of the pulps, reflecting widespread public concern at the level of organized crime in 1930s America. To combat it, it sometimes seemed that a man with supernatural powers was needed. The flavour of the stories can be gleaned from the first page of the first ever shadow story, the Living Shadow.

[Narrator]

The fog was thick at the center of the bridge where the man stood leaning against the rail. Although the streets of New York were scarcely a hundred yards away, he might have been in a little world of his own. For the only light in the midst of that cloud of black night fog came from an arc light on the bridge. A taxicab carrying a late passenger home shot through the mist. The man stepped away from the rail and crouched beside a post. He saw a flash of the red tail light on the cab. A moment later it was lost in the fog. As the noise of the motor died away, the man stood up again and placed his hands on the rail. He listened as though afraid that another cab might be coming across the bridge. Then, reassured, he leaned over the rail and stared downward. Mist. Thick black mistake. Nothing but mist. It seemed to invite his plunge. Yet he hesitated as many wait when they're upon the brink of death. Until with a mad impulse, he swung his body across the rail and loosened his hands. Something clamped upon his shoulder. An iron grip held him balanced between life and death. Then, as though his body possessed no weight whatever, the man felt himself pulled around in a sweeping circle. He staggered as his feet struck the sidewalk of the bridge. He turned to confront the person who had interfered. He swung his fist angrily, but a hand caught his wrist and twisted it behind his back with irresistible power. It seemed as though the man's strength had been rested from him as he faced a tall, black coated figure that might have represented death itself. The stranger's face was entirely obscured by a broad brim felt hat bent downwards over his features. The man who had attempted suicide was too startled to speak. He felt himself pulled across the sidewalk and at the curb he stumbled through the open door of a large limousine which he had not seen until that moment. The door closed and the car moved on. A voice spoke through the darkness. It was a weird, chilling voice, scarcely more than a whisper, yet clear and penetrating. Your life is no longer your own. It belongs to me now.

[Documentary Narrator]

The leading pulp publishers were street and Smith, and they had a weekly radio mystery show in which their thriller stories were dramatized. The program was introduced and narrated by a mysterious figure with a sinister laugh known only as the Shadow. This character became so popular with radio audiences that street and Smith decided to feature him in his own magazine. And in April 1931, the first Shadow magazine appeared on the newsstands. It was written under the pseudonym of Maxwell Grant by Walter b. Gibson, a 33 year old magician and crime writer who turned the disembodied voice with a chilling laugh into a mysterious crusader against evil. Clad in black cape, slouch hat and concealing scarf, sporting twin Colt 45 revolvers and acting through a network of agents and a series of multiple identities. The character was a potent mixture of Zorro, the Scarlet Pimpernel, the cloaked and masked French master criminal Fantomas, and Frank Packard's now forgotten New York club man and crime fighter, Jimmy Dale. The Living Shadow was a sensational success and the saga was launched. It ran in pulp magazine form for from 1931 to 1949, eventually comprising 325 complete novels. Gibson wrote 282 of them, delivering two 60,000 word novels every month. He composed directly onto the typewriter, moving from one to another of three machines as the words poured out of him. Gibson explained his method of work.

[Narrator]

I had gone on the theory that 2 to 3,000 words a day was a writer's proper stint. Perhaps the maximum one is capable of, certainly a good day's work. But to meet the Shadow schedule, I had to hit 5,000 words or more per day. I geared for that pace and found that instead of being worn out by 5,000 words, I was just reaching my peak. I made 10,000 words my goal and found I could reach it. Some stories I wrote in four days each, starting early Monday morning, finishing late Thursday night. On these occasions, I averaged 15,000 words a day by living, thinking, even dreaming the story. In one continued process, the ideas came faster and faster. Sometimes the typewriter keys would fly so fast that I wondered if my fingers would keep up with them. And at the finish of the story, I often had to take a few days off as my fingertips were too sore to begin work on the next book.

[Documentary Narrator]

The success of the novels led inevitably to the new version of the Shadow returning to radio in his own show. Gibson had nothing to do with the radio show and indeed it developed differently from the novels. In the books, the Shadow was in reality Kent Allard, internationally famous aviator. But when he was not being the Shadow, he posed as Lamont Cranstoun, big game hunter and explorer who was frequently away on expeditions. For the radio series, the Shadow really was Lamont Cranstoun. In place of a network of agents, he acquired a glamorous female companion, Margo Lane, and also a powerful and unusual weapon in his fight against crime. He'd mastered in the Orient the technique of clouding men's minds so they couldn't see him, only hear his voice. And he used this ability to terrorise evildoers. It was a perfect radio device. The first Shadow in the new radio incarnation was Robert Hardy Andrews. But the most famous, even though he played it only for the 1937-38 season, was Orson Welles. In Conversation with Peter Bogdanovich. He. He recalled his involvement in the series.

[Orson Welles]

I was the original Lamont Kratz, as far as I know, but I wouldn't. But you didn't write that. Oh, no. My God. I didn't even know how they came out. I didn't rehearse them, you know, I didn't have dress rehearsals. I didn't know how I'd get out of the well ever, when I was thrown in and the laugh was. Your laugh? Yes, and all the children in the world did it. You know, in those days, that was my favorite radio show. People keep talking about it. I hear on television. People keep talking and making jokes about it. Lamont Cranston. They still remember that name. I remember it. The Shadow, and they don't know I was it. I keep wanting to say that was me. You hear Margot, the Temple Bells of Niban. Listen. Three soft notes will strike and then the spell will be broken.

[Documentary Narrator]

How did Wells get the part of the Shadow? His biographer Simon Callow explains.

[Simon Callow]

His first really big scale venture in radio was sort of so independent effort of his called Les Miserables, which he adapted himself extremely well, in my view, and played Jean Valjean. And the company that had commissioned this decided that if they were going to revitalize the Shadow, which had already existed with another performer, and adapt it so that there was a sort of dual personality, so that the Shadow became something rather like Superman, that he had a double identity, that maybe Wells would be the man for the job. It was supposed to be secret. Nobody was supposed to know that it was him. But Wells being Wells, the secret got out or was let out at the first possible opportunity.

[Documentary Narrator]

Perhaps reflecting the Scarlet Pimpernel inspiration and the upper class gentleman crime fighter tradition, Wells opted to give Lamont Cranston a virtually English accent.

[Simon Callow]

There's a sort of sense of a silk dressing gown and a cigarette and a long cigarette holder about the performance. He was quite Anglophile, but he also loved doing his English accent that. I mean, it gave him great pleasure to do that. And he sort of did it at every possible opportunity. And Welles, who came from the Midwest, was one of the best spoken actors on the American stage in the sense that almost all American actors who worked in the classics aspired towards a sort of English accent. And in this case, it's almost comic to think of Wells doing this rather clipped drawing room comedy sort of voice. And it's very charming, I think. Very charming indeed. And as I say, the. The drawing room comedy and the relationship with Agnes Moore, who was the actress that Wells admired more than any other actress in the world. It's very amusing, the by play between them. It's delightful, really.

[Orson Welles]

Well, here we are, Margot. Yes, but where, Lamar? The fog so thick I can't see a stain. This is the little village where the Reverend Colby and 10 of his parishioners were killed by a mysterious explosion in his church. Oh, that was horrible. But Lamont, it happened days ago. What can we do? Murder has been committed, Margot. Wholesale murder. And the killer or killers are still at large. But according to the newspaper report. Yes, I know. The paper said the authorities have been unable to uncover a possible motive. Investigation is hampered by the refusal of the Fisher folk of this quaint little village to cooperate. Perhaps they're afraid to talk. Lamont. It's surprising. What? Superstitious. What about this rich Mrs. Ackley you were talking about? Lamont? Where does she fit into the picture? I don't know, Margot. All I know is that about three months ago she returned from the Far east with a man who calls himself the Prophet. This man claims to be the leader of a cult worshiping a deity known as the Ancient One. Is there such a cult? There was, but it was stamped out nearly five centuries ago because its ceremonies and rituals included human sacrifice. Human sacrifice? Oh, how horrible. Then you think there is a connection between the so called Prophet, the destruction of this Christian church and the murder of Reverend Colby? Margot? I don't know. I'm going into that cottage down the road. There are some questions. I'll wait in the car. That awful foghorn, it gives me the creep. You'll be safe here, Margot. But don't get out of the car. All right. Now, Lamont Cranston and the Shadow are going to find out something more about this mystery of the house on the cliff.

[Simon Callow]

When he becomes the shadow, this rather. This famous oriental trick of the disembodied voice, then he becomes very grave and he. He sort of plunges into his double bass area. And as. As Lamont Cranston, he sort of plays rather more bassoons and flutes and it's. It's a very effective contrast.

[Orson Welles]

So you weren't expecting me? And yet prisons are filled with shadows. Shadows in the minds of men walking in the shadow of death itself. What do you want? You put me here. Send me to the chair. Why can't you let me alone? Because your career of murder is not over. Because I know you mean to carry out the threat you made in court. Yeah. Yeah. And you can't stop me, Shadow. I can't because you're going to tell me how the jury, the prosecuting attorney and Judge Wilson are going to be killed. You're crazy. I'm not telling you anything, Shadow. I'm not afraid of you anymore. I got nothing to lose. You are telling me, Brecker. Yeah. You see, I can read your mind. One thought is racing through. Through your mind now. It's mirrored in your eyes, etched on your brain. You're lying, trying to trick me into telling you. All right, I'll tell you what you're thinking about. You're thinking of a man. He. He acts strangely.

[Documentary Narrator]

He's.

[Orson Welles]

That's it. He's. Shell shock. Am I right? No.

[Documentary Narrator]

No.

[Orson Welles]

Stop it. This man is very close to you. I've got it. Your brother, his name is. Lets see. Danny. Danny, isn't it? No. No. Go away. Leave me alone. Even now, your brother Danny is hurrying home to get a high powered rifle. That's all I need to know, Brecher. All I need to know.

[Documentary Narrator]

What made Welles's Shadow so arresting and mysterious. Was his idiosyncratic delivery of the lines, Introducing pauses at unpredictable moments.

[Simon Callow]

He was very admired for his rhythmic irregularities. He later developed a much kind of smoother overall legato delivery. But as a young man, his phrasing took everybody by surprise. Part of it was because he generally hadn't read the script before. So he's kind of busking it a little bit. Sometimes he didn't know how a sentence was going to end when he started it. But nonetheless, he did. Very consciously and cleverly phrased in a constantly surprising way.

[Documentary Narrator]

The Shadow radio shows were strongly influenced by the contemporary Hollywood cinema. They were, in effect, half hour oral movies. Employing techniques such as montage to create atmosphere and advance the plot.

[Orson Welles]

Engine room, stand by for test number 11. Engine room standing by. Commander ship, full speed ahead. What the. Engine room. Hello? Hello? Engine room. Chief engineer Queen reporting boiler explosions, sir. Three casualties, sir. Good Lord. What happened, Commander? Boiler explosion, Lieutenant. Hard luck, sir. Luck nothing. You mean another case of sabotage?

[Documentary Narrator]

Yes.

[Orson Welles]

Sabotage. Submarine L21 calling submarine base. Submarine L21 calling submarine base. Submarine base answering L21. Go ahead, L21. Submarine L21 in distress. Submarine L21 down off Diamond Head cannot rise. Emergency. Emergency. Damage. Looks like sabotage. Looks like sabotage.

[Documentary Narrator]

Like the cliffhanging cinema serials, the shows gloried in trapping the Shadow in impossible situations and seeing him extricate himself. As, for instance, when he was trapped in a rapidly flooding burial vault. In Society of the Living Dead.

[Orson Welles]

So long, Shadow. Let's see you get out of that spot. Shadow. Michelle.

[Documentary Narrator]

Water.

[Orson Welles]

Water it is. Water. Water. Shannon, the water's being stink on the floor already. Yes, and it's rising every minute. I'm going to try to break down the door.

[Narrator]

Useless.

[Simon Callow]

Burger.

[Orson Welles]

What do you mean? You can't even save yourself. No, I. I can't even save myself. If help doesn't come soon as this ball fills to the roof, the Shadow will die as quickly as you, Burger.

[Documentary Narrator]

The Shadow not only used terror to obtain his ends, he also applied the deductive reasoning that was the stock in trade of the radio detective.

[Orson Welles]

Let me see those notes. Margot. What makes you think Hartnick Clay's is mixed up with this White Legion Lamont? Clay seemed rather confused when I appeared to him this afternoon as the Shadow. This may clean up matters. What have you got there? It's a copy I made of a memorandum that was on Clay's desk. Let's see. Oh, what in the world does it mean? These two words. Convocation, Water, Chapel. Then this string of letters and numbers. S U N, m a R.21 one. Doesn't make sense. Yes, it does. S U N is Sunday. M A R is march and then 20 and 11. Convocation, water chapel. Sunday, March 20, at. But that's today. Yes, probably at 11 tonight. And I have an idea that the Water Chapel is the place where they're holding Alton Parker prisoner. We're going to find out. Bring the car and meet me in the block next to clay's house at 8 o'.

[Simon Callow]

Clock.

[Orson Welles]

Margot, if clays is going to that meeting, we'll follow him.

[Documentary Narrator]

The Shadow pitted himself against what were seen as the major threats to American society in the 1930s. A series of conspiracies confirming what historian Richard Hofstadter saw as the paranoid strain in American politics. There were gangsters.

[Orson Welles]

Before you pass sentence on me, I'm gonna pass sentence on you. You, Judge Wilson, on Sloan, the prosecuting attorney, on those 12 good and true saps on a jury. And one more. Maybe the guy that really trapped me in the first place. The only guy smart enough to get me the Shadow. That will do, Joseph Brett. But you have nothing to say in your own behalf. This is in my own behalf. And you'd better listen, all of you. I know I'm on my way to the Death House, to the chair. But I'm warning you. For every day I sit in the Death House, one of you will be killed. Starting with the foreman of the jury. He'll die to say I burned.

[Documentary Narrator]

Sinister secret societies like the White Legion. A ku Klux Klan type organization also threatened American democracy.

[Orson Welles]

The prisoner, William Devens, has confessed his part in a conspiracy against the sacred institutions of the White Legion. We give him to the All High Commander. Let the accused know his fate. Have you anything to say, Devens? I plead. Will you? Don't kill me. I've got a wife. Silence. Please. Let me go. Give him another taste of the whip. That's better. Now secure the prisoner and stand him over the trap door. Don't. Don't open the trap.

[Documentary Narrator]

Rings of foreign saboteurs threatening the defense systems of the nation were another recurrent element.

[Orson Welles]

What are you waiting for, Shadow? Why don't you speak? How long have you known I was in this room, Doctor? For quite some minutes. Shadow, while I'm not a master of your art of invisibility, my mind is sensitive to such a forceful concentration as you exert to cloak your presence. I see. Since you sent Rigo away, it is evident you are not afraid of me. Fear has a luxury I do not allow methods. Your career of Sabotage is over, Dr. Arnheim. I think not. I have never met a man who did not have a prize, Shadow. I have only one price for your kind, Doctor. Prison.

[Documentary Narrator]

Sometimes the stories contained a hard hitting political message. As in the Shadow's powerful anti war speech at the end of the Silent Avenger.

[Orson Welles]

Well, I guess that's that. Don't suppose we'll ever know what really happened. Anyway, there's one consolation. Looks as if the Shadow fell down on this case just as badly as we did. Not quite, Commissioner Weston. Oh, so you got here in time to take credit for this, eh, Shadow? There is no credit, no glory in the death of Danny Brecker, Commissioner Weston. He was a victim. A human instrument of destruction fashioned by mankind that teaches men to kill their enemies in time of war, yet expects them to forget their murderous art in time of peace. Danny Brecker was an enemy of society, a killer. But only because you and I and countless thousands made him one. Now, Commissioner, there is no glory in this for you or the Shadow or for any man.

[Documentary Narrator]

Simon Callow believes that the Shadow had a particular appeal for Welles in the.

[Simon Callow]

Context of Wells himself. They're very striking because they're all about guilt and conscience and how criminals would be caught out. And as well himself was so full of guilt about so many different things. And famously the radio happened to be on when he was making love to one of his girlfriends. And the Shadow's claim to know everything was rather chilled him and he quickly put his pants back on. And went back home to his wife.

[Documentary Narrator]

Wells gave up the role of the shadow in 1938 and it was taken over by radio actor Bill Johnston, who played it until 1944, being succeeded in turn by John Archer, Steve Corkley and Brett Morrison, none of whom quite matched Welles in Power or Mystery. The series finally came off the air in 1954, five years after the Shadow magazine had ceased publication. It had become an integral part of the imaginative lives of the successive generations of young Americans growing up in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. We in Britain never heard the Shadow radio shows, but his adventures appeared from the late 1930s in the thriller magazine and British audiences were able to see the Shadow in films. For he had a low budget movie career, beginning with a couple of features in 1937 and 1938 starring former silent screen idol Rod La Rock, a Columbia serial with Victor jory made in 1940, and a trio of Monogram B pictures starring Caine Richmond in 1946. In the late 1940s, Wells himself contemplated a film version of the Shadow.

[Simon Callow]

Wells did consider making a film of the Shadow, amongst various other projects which seemed to somehow come from his past. He kind of reached this tremendous peak with Citizen Kane, obviously, and then, almost as if he wanted to. Citizen Kane had been almost too serious for him. He then tried to spread himself back out again into all sorts of popular entertainments, magic shows, comedy shows on the radio. You know, he would sub for Jack Benny quite often, and he was always looking for whimsical, comical, melodramatic material. He'd really considered so many things, and the Shadow was just one of those many things that, that. And I think he. He's right. It might well have made a rather marvelous film.

[Documentary Narrator]

In his hands, the Shadow finally returned to the big screen in 1994. The film was written by David Kepp, who steeped himself in the radio shows and the pulp novels and came up with an amalgam of the two in which he explained how Cranston acquired his mysterious powers. He'd had an earlier career as a Chinese warlord and drug baron and had plumbed the depths of evil before transforming himself into a crusader against crime. The film pitted Cranston against his alter ego Shiwan Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan who arrives in New York dreaming of world conquest.

[Orson Welles]

The Shallow Nose.

[Documentary Narrator]

The film was an exhilarating exercise in pure style, with some stunning art Deco sets and an epic Jerry Goldsmith score. But it was compromised by the injection of the inevitable post modern irony and by a hopelessly bland and uncharismatic performance from Alec Baldwin in the title role. For the real and inimitable experience of the Shadow, you have to go back to those original radio shows of the 1930s, when Orson Welles brought his formidable talents to the airwaves to create a living legend in the annals of crime fighting.

[Orson Welles]

The part of Lamont Cranston and the Shadow has been played by one of the most distinguished figures in the theatre today, Mr. Orson Welles. Mr. Wells, still a very young man, is making for himself a unique place in the field of dramatic art. We have been indeed fortunate in having Mr. Wells on our Shadow programs. Now, I know all of you would like to hear a few words from Mr. Well, Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Words can hardly express my great enjoyment in doing this program for you. And now, before I leave you, I want to thank our sponsors for giving me the opportunity of doing this show. I want to thank our cast for the wonderful work they've done throughout our entire season. And above all, I want to thank you, our listeners, for your loyalty. We all hope you've enjoyed listening to the shows as much as we have playing them. And now, ladies and gentlemen, good night and goodbye. You have just heard a dramatized version of one of the many copyrighted stories which appear in the Shadow magazine. As you so evil, so shall you reap evil. Crime does not pay. A Shadow knows.