This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work
at MJMunoz.com. Welcome to Red Panda Report Special Episode 1 where I will be
discussing Episode 1, the very first episode, all the way back from 1937 of
The Shadow. So this episode is called, let me see, The Death House Rescue. It
originally aired September 29th 1937. I cannot find a link to it on, I cannot
find a link to who wrote it or directed it. So I like to give credits where I can.
The only people I can give credits to are the actors and I don't have them listed
right now. But there's a link to all the Shadow episodes in the show notes and
you can find out who worked on what and when it aired, which is exactly what I
did and I'm providing that link for you. Also if you have not had an opportunity
to listen to The Death House Rescue and you'd like to, you can find it in the
same podcast feed since it's not duty free. That's cigarettes at the airport.
Since it's restriction free, copyright free, I went ahead and downloaded the
episode from archive.org and I've put it into, I've uploaded it to my website and
it's in the podcast feed for Red Panda Report and yeah you can find it there or
if you go into the show notes you can find the link that's on my, or you can
find the file to play it and listen to it is in the show notes of this very
podcast episode. So you can hear it for yourself either before you listen to me
talk about the episode or you can check it out after the fact if you like what I
had to say about it and are curious to hear the full thing in context for
yourself. So anyway why am I talking about The Shadow? Because Red Panda is
very much inspired by The Shadow radio show and that's really it. I thought it
would be fun to check out a few episodes of The Shadow radio show and I thought
hey I'm doing this Red Panda thing anyway so I want to, why not just put
them both together and do it like that. So anyway this is the first time you're
gonna get this big preamble. I will do more episodes of The Red Panda Report
specials where I am covering The Shadow and then and in not too long I'll just
be covering The Red Panda Adventures by Greg Taylor distributed by
decoderingtheatre.com. Oh is it your source for adventure? Anyway moving on
I'm just gonna go ahead and get right into it. First of all I'm gonna start off
with things that I thought were less than wonderful, things that were off in
the episode and I really just have one thing which is that there were times
when some of the dialogue felt needlessly drawn out almost like they
were being told to slow down to hit commercial break at the right time or
something like that because I believe the way that these were filmed or
recorded rather was on live radio broadcasts you know they did it live
they performed live and they just had to not mess up if they did you know that
stayed in the record but I think because of that they would have had time
themselves to have each segment last until a commercial break or sponsor at
or what is it ad ad spot and then it would go on from there so I bet there
were times when they either had to speed up what they were saying or slow it down
so they could make time and I felt like I could hear some of that in the episode
so that's not too great but overall it didn't affect too much of it because like
I said there was just a few spots where that turned out that way. For the stuff
that I really enjoyed in this episode I've got a couple things the Shadow has
a fascinating duality to him as a character his help to the Gordon family
is utterly humanitarian while his treatment of lefty and red is almost as
cold and callous as how they treated Paul Gordon who they framed for murder he
was their patsy Lamont and Margot ensure that the Gordon family gets the
financial help they need and Paul gets his freedom his life back on the other
hand it seems like the Shadow relishes driving these criminals into a frenzy
that leads them to put themselves in the crosshairs literally of the police he
gleefully turns their trap back on them his actions are overall heroic but
there's a dark edge to it all that is part of what makes him so compelling
next thing grace and Paul Gordon's dramatic struggle is a perfect start to
the shadows adventures the scene with them at home before Paul gets in trouble
feels so personal and intimate they're utterly sympathetic with their sick
baby who could die without money for medical treatments Paul is earnest and
desperate and not sure why grace married him when grace rebuffs Paul's self
effacement and insists that things will be okay that she believes in her husband
the family's doom is made certain and the stakes are set high it isn't the end
of the world that will happen but it's the end of one family's world if the
shadow can't overturn the death warrant placed on a simple down on his luck man
the petty criminals aren't especially bright or competent but evil need not
be to make the good suffer which that's exactly what's gonna happen that's what
is going on and it's both like the dramatic stakes for this couple and just
like the fly on the wall you know silent viewer I was they say voyeuristic but
that's not the right phrase I'm looking for but just like you feel like you're
there between a couple having this real conversation or at least I did listening
to them and it's just it's very raw and very personal and close and like I don't
know I could identify you know I'm married I have kids and to think what it
would be like if I couldn't handle medical bills which you know if God
forbid there were some sort of emergency I don't know what I would do despite the
fact that I have insurance because most people who have extreme medical
emergencies end up having ridiculously high bills that they can't take care of
and even in 1937 this was something that the writers the team working on this
decided would be a good hook to pull people into the shadows world and
thought it would work out well and I mean it garnered sympathy for me even
not a hundred years later but like 90 years later or 80 something years later
so that's that's darn impressive I would say okay moving on there were a couple
odd things there are five or six times when people ended dramatic statement with
a phrase like it was only a shadow and the music it's you know it's a little
hokey a little funny but it's also cool and fun at the same time you know that's
the name of the show that's the name of the eponymous character yes it is it's
just got like a funny ring to it but I mean ultimately it works and it does
feel ominous but I don't know it makes a shadow feel ominous and powerful and
ever-present because there are shadows all around you even in the day there
are shadows that loom you know all around I'm out in the bright sunny day
and there are shadows from trees and plants and cars and you know fences and
things like that and I don't know ascribing this power or something to
something so you pick it ubiquitous is kind of interesting kind of lightening
up the imagination and causes it to be stirred I guess you could say and so one
other odd thing grace Gordon lets Margo Lane in because she says she's a friend
she thinks she's a reporter or something at first but when she realizes she's
not and she Margo says she's a friend she's let her in and I find that kind of
strange because she's got you know a ill baby at home who needs to be protected
and her husband's not there and she just let some woman in and you know might be
because it's 2023 and I'm a little cynical because I've seen so much happen
in the world it just seems shocking that you would just so easily let a stranger
in your home especially when you're living in the city and especially you
know under the particular circumstances of her situation it just seemed kind of
odd I there's some cool lore stuff that is discussed brought up in you know
conversation between Lamont Cranston who is the shadow and Margo Lane and I'll
tell you some of the stuff I found so the shadows been at work in the city
for about five years it is unclear how long he and Margo Lane have been working
together it is also unclear if they are a couple or not so if you want to know
about that I have no nothing to tell you about it
Lamont traveled around Europe in the ancient world to become the master of the
mind he is now he refers to psychology natural magics that have been forgotten
by modern man and unnatural magics as the tools of his trade he guards these
secrets from falling into the wrong hands in part by being the shadow only
in secret that's called security through obscurity that's both a tech joke and a
I don't know etymology person joke and I will elaborate because it's I've lost
the plot already and moving on and not only can the shadow cloud men's minds to
make himself invisible to them but he can seemingly alter his appearance at
will he disguised himself as one of the guards to get close enough to Gordon to
see through his minds to see through his mind to find the clue that could save
Paul Gordon okay one last thing I think the shadow can see other people's
memories seeing through their eyes via some form of mind-to-mind connection
which I think he refers to as a type of telepathy he chided Gordon several times
to stay focused on the day of the robbery and on those memories because as
Gordon's mind drifted to other things it became difficult for the shadow to see
those pertinent memories which those end up being the key to get well yeah that
ends up being the key to help the shadow find the clue that will free Gordon and
ultimately doom lefty and red lefty and or right I can't remember which one of
them gets killed but it's one enough to have I think it's lefty red was in the
back seat and I think red was or lefty was in the front anyway yeah that's
about all I have to say so I told you my general thoughts on the shadow things
that I thought weren't so great things that I thought were really good some
interesting things that I found and some observations about the lore and the
world of the shadow that I made or found in listening to this and I suggest that
you check it out at least these episodes with me that I'm going to be talking
about because that's just a little bit more for us to talk about but don't worry
after these half dozen or so special episodes are done I will be going right into
red panda adventures and those will be coming out at a consistent pace my
reviews of them to give you time to listen to them yourself and check out
the reviews and have a conversation with me about it because I like the show and
if you like you like the shadow you're certainly gonna like red panda
adventures and if you like some of the other things that I'm into and that's
how you found me then I think you'll like red panda adventures and want to
talk about them with somebody because lots of cool stuff happens and they're a
lot of fun it's a very well written series written all by one person with
one creative vision which is really cool and really exciting so anyway with that
I am going to head and get out of here and encourage you to go to my website
and check out my other review material as well as my writing and other things
that I have there until next time goodbye and good night I hope you
enjoyed that go to MJMunoz,com to leave any questions comments or other
feedback you might have there you can find all of my analysis art and fiction I
cover books tokusatsu comic books anime and more look around you're sure to find
something else that you'll enjoy as well this has been a story over everything
production