JohnHowardReid Also known by its re-issue title, "Terror in the Night", this el cheapo production with its cast of nonentities – Bill Bloom had previously played a waiter in "The Party Crashers" (1958) and a role in the Mr. Novak television series, but none of the other players seem to have enjoyed any other credits at all – is not too bad by the humble standards of the non-mainstream exploitation flick, and it certainly has a time warp curiosity value. Director Bill Parker/Ben Posner did have a modest Hollywood career and went on to film in 1964 a re-make of "The Shepherd of the Hills" with Richard Arlen in the title role. Most of his movies, however, were shorts. So "Teenage Strangler"/"Terror in the Night" is really a somewhat incompetent but not too bad a flick for completests like me, rather than the casual DVD buyer. Yes, you can buy at least a thousand murder mystery/teenage trauma movies better than this one And yes, this particular film is now available on DVD from Alpha in a very good print.

classicsoncall You could have floored me with the fact that this flick was made in 1958; it has the look and feel of something at least a decade older. Also the sensibility. The Shadow wasn't a favorite character of mine growing up so I don't know a lot about his origin or history, but I always assumed him to be sort of a detective with an uncanny ability to make himself invisible, as if blending into the dark of night. This story takes on more of a mystical bent, and even includes a mentor for Lamont Cranston (Richard Derr), a mystic who trains him to develop his powers of mind reading and invisibility. They exchange thoughts via telepathy, and one could make a case that the real power behind the Shadow is his partner Jogendra (Mark Daniels).In this effort, the Shadow is summoned by a friend to New Orleans who winds up murdered. The victim was helping to protect one Victor Ramirez, who was plotting to overthrow Generalissimo Valdez of Santa Cruz and set up his brother in the general's place. I thought the plot a rather odd one for a Shadow movie given my earlier comments, but as I say, I'm a relative newcomer to the character.Historically speaking, the picture seems to draw a parallel to events of the era as they were occurring in real life. Fidel Castro was plotting to overthrow the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, assembling a group of revolutionaries that included his brother Raul. The Ramirez brother connection in the picture could have possibly been based on the Castro's, but who knows. The story starts out in the city of New Orleans, apparently near enough to the mythical country of Santa Cruz to parallel Cuba's location to mainland Florida. If it all sounds like a stretch, well I'm just trying to figure out what relevance a military coup has to do with The Shadow.

wes-connors "The legendary mind-clouding man of mystery is back in this film noir tale set in New Orleans, where nothing is ever as it seems. Exiled Spanish leader Pablo Ramirez is hiding out on Bourbon Street as plans are laid to overthrow the oppressive dictatorship that currently exists in his country. A fascist generalissimo has planted assassins in the city to dispose of Ramirez and thwart his impending coup d'etat. Lamont Cranston (Richard Derr) - aka the Shadow - is summoned to protect Ramirez and thus ensure a successful revolution. The Shadow summons up his supernatural powers of hypnosis and invisibility to save Ramirez and stop his enemies' diabolical exploits," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.This TV try-out may be re-edited to include the execution footage, which seems a little heavy for 1950s television - or, maybe did they did show executions in westerns back then - anyway, the eerie "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men… the Shadow knows!" line interrupting the drama a couple of times perfectly illustrates why this series was successful on the radio - and, also, why this visual representation was unsuccessful; the picture simply does not live up to the mystery inherent in the series' famous catchphrase. Mr. Derr is a good lead, but not very mysterious; mystical sidekick Mark Daniels (as Jogendra), creepy Dan Mullin (as Pablo & Victor Ramirez), and shadowy James Wong Howe are interesting.***** The Shadow: Invisible Avenger (12/2/58) James Wong Howe ~ Richard Derr, Mark Daniels, Dan Mullin

rlupoff-1 If not a "made-for-TV-movie," this film may have been intended as a pilot film for a TV series that never got made. When I saw it in a theater more than 30 years ago, that was my impression.The Shadow is of course a grand old multi-media figure. A generation of kids grew up on the Shadow radio show and comic books, millions of other readers bought the pulp magazine or Shadow books, anywhere from the early 1930's to the 1960's. And of course there was the Alec Baldwin film -- also, not a bad effort. But they just couldn't decide whether to play it as a real adventure story or as parody. Like other attempts in the same era (The Phantom, Doc Savage) that's a prescription for failure.To me, the best screen "Shadow" of all time was the late Victor Jory, but probably that's because I saw the Jory version when I was a little kid and didn't have very tough critical standards.I'm still hoping for a Shadow movie with a first rate production from a good, solid script. In the meanwhile, watching earlier efforts like "The Invisible Avenger" aka "Bourbon Street Shadows" just gives me the old "glass-half-empty-glass-half-full" sensation.Dick Lupoff