INVISIBLE AVENGER - "The Shadow Knows" (1958)

Well, here it is, not to be confused with the impossible to find 1954 Japanese film, "Tomei Ningen" or in English, also "The Invisible Avenger," this "Invisible Avenger" is a cool little film about an early kinda Super-Hero fellow, Lamont Cranston as The Shadow!!

The Film starts in Nawlins' just off of Bourbon Street, and we get the special treat of hearing this jazzed up Calypso number by this cat whom I'm sure is some kinda Big Easy regular, but I can't figure out what the Hell his name is, so you're on your own! Everybody's having a good time, they just got the news!!

As the film opens, we find disposed Santa Cruz El Presidente Pablo Rameriz and his daughter Fellatio, telling jazz musician with a sympathetic ear, Tony Alcalde about his plan to take his country back! You know, politics 1958, go figure!! Pablo is Dan Mullin, and Felicia is Jeanne Neher!!

Maybe they shouldn't be talking so loud, since Lee Edwards as The Colonel, and his girlfriend played by Jan Carr, are sitting at the table right behind them, sucking in every word!

Tony goes to call his jazz digging amigo in New York, Lamont Cranston, aka The Shadow!!! The Shadow is played by Richard Derr who starred in "When World's Collide." The Shadow was actually a handful of episodes of a show made for TV that never happened, so they took what they had, and made it into a short movie!

But it's too late for Steve Dano as Tony, and this was the only film he was ever in! His solo in this song is over! Check out that wall, guess these guys lean up against it a lot when they're talking!

Lamont can't figure out why Tony hung up, so he and his best buddie, Jogendra, fly on out to 'The Birthplace of Jazz'!!

And, just like last night, The Saints went marching in!!

Welcome to "The Last Door" Meester Cranston!!

Hi, I own this joint, My name's Tara, what's yours? Tara O'Neill was portrayed by actress Helen Westcott, the daughter of acting parent's who started her acting career at the ripe age of four years old! She also was Cynthia Stedman in "13 Lead Soldiers," Vicky Edwards in "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and Nurse Molly Riordan in "Monster on the Campus," just to name a few!

Leo Bruno as Rocco Martinez is just about as welcoming as a knife poked between yer ribs!

Lamont Cranston gets a ride in a the back of a cab!

The cab driver, Sam Page, who just like Steve Dano, Dan Mullin, Leo Bruno, and Lee Edwards, sees or doesn't see Lamont disappear just like their careers in film did! Helen Westcott had more than ten times as many acting roles as all these guys put together!!

"How can you see a shadow if there ain't nobody there?"

Lamont and his mentor Jogendra, relax like guys have a tendency to do! Mark Daniels played the part of Jogendra, or in a direct translation, we're talkin' 'The Master Of Yogis.' Now, personally, I think Ranger Smith might have something to say about that, and by the way, Don Messick, who did Ranger Smith's voice, also did BooBoo's voice, so he might have two things to say about it. Did you know that on the same Yogi Bear show, the voice of Yakky Doodle was done by Jimmy Weldon, host of "The Webster Webfoot Show" and "Phantom Planet" fame! Don't care? Well, The Shadow knows and he thought you might want to know too!

The walls have ears, and the fence has eyes! The tree's got a nose, and the street has teeth!

Good shot of Rocco getting ready to do what he does best!! Not being nice!!!!

Now is this sweet, or what? The Shadow can turn the knobs on the television!! WTF! The very first remote control!!!

The band is swingin' but Lamont notices one guy left an extra horn on the stage and split, so he gets Jogendra to put his mind power on this other dude, and make him play the wrong horn!! Turns out there was a secret message in it!! I thought it was going to be full of thrill pills considering how hyper these hipsters were!

If they ever remake this movie, and put me in charge of casting, I'm going to get David Bowie to play the part of this crazy cat Jogendra, he'd be a ringer!!! The first two films Mark Daniels appeared in were "Marihuana" and "Sex Madness!" What a way to start a career!!

Who do these chumps think they are dealing with anyway?? Really, The Shadow is not invisible, it's just that he puts this freaking mind spell on you, and you can't see him any more. Kind of a moot point, and it gets the job done either way!

Remember El Presidente? When he comes out of hiding, the revelers hoist him up on their shoulders as crowds sometimes do, but some of the people are the bad guys, so they just kind of float him on a sea of hands and off into a waiting car. Maybe you'd have to be there, but I thought it was hilarious!

Tricky guys then transfer El Presidente into a coffin, because the autorities won't mess with a funeral procession!!

The Santa Cruz heavies succeed in getting El Presidente onto their waiting Yacht, and are heading out to sea, but Lamont, Jogendra, and Felicia managed to sneak on board, and Jogendra does one of his mind jobs on the guy steering and whoops............What the hey??

.....the cat sees an iceberg in front of him, and loses control! Wow, that's a real cool trick!!

Dan Mullin also played El Presidente's evil brother Victor, and loses major points for coming up with this weird beard trim job for an alternate appearance!

C'mon, you knew from the start these buffoons didn't stand an ice cube's chance in a hot tub of outsmarting The Shadow in this show, in the pulps, the comics, or any other form of entertainment! It's like wrasslin', he's just too good for all those bozos, and he does it with style!!!