James Douglas (George Lessey), a rich art collector, is murdered in his home and a valuable small Jade statue is stolen. The statue is called “The Missing Lady”. The underworld is a-buzz with everyone looking for the statue. Ox Walsh (Jack Overman) is also looking for The Missing Lady. Apparently, he once had the statue, but it was stolen from him. Another man, Terry Blake (James Cardwell), is also looking for the statue but for his own reasons.
Among those also looking is Lamont Cranston (Kane Richmond). Cranston is the nephew of the police commissioner, Commissioner Weston (Pierre Watkin), and moonlights as the notorious vigilante The Shadow. Helping him in his search is his chauffer, who is also a taxi driver, Shrevvie (George Chandler).
While returning home from a night of investigating, Cranston hears a scream in the apartment next to his. Inside he finds a woman has fainted. The woman is Anne Walsh (Frances Robinson), the wife of Ox. Also in the apartment is the body of Alfred Kester (Douglas Wood), an antiques dealer and associate of Ox Walsh.
Soon to arrive is Gilda Marsh (Jo-Carroll Dennison), who happens to work for Jan Field (George J. Lewis), an artist that works on the tenth floor of the apartment building. After that Police Inspector Cardona (James Flavin) shows up to take over the investigation.
Because of his on-going feud with Cranston, Cardona is quick to blame him for Kester’s murder. Cranston finds himself in the unusual situation of having The Shadow try to prove that Cranston is not a murderer. As he tries to clear his name, more murders are committed.
“The Missing Lady” was released in 1946 and was directed by Phil Karlson. It is a superhero crime mystery with lots of comedy overtones. It is the third and final film released by Monogram in 1946 in its Shadow series. The other two films in the series were “The Shadow Returns” and “Behind the Mask”.
I’m not sure why any of these films are The Shadow films. The titular hero is almost never shown, and the Lamont Cranston character is an idiot and a bit of a misogynist. I wasn’t a fan of any of the three Monogram films.
The film sports too many suspects and too many peripheral characters that are involved but their involvement is a bit confusing, and they are attached to additional crimes and separate murders. In all, the movie has tons of characters, a horrible script, and a complicated plotline. Add to that a poor copy of the film and you have a movie that is difficult to follow and not at all very superhero-y.
If you have to have every The Shadow film out there, well go ahead.