2/5 Lon Sr.: "Shadows" --- Lon Jr.: "Shadow of Silk Lennox"
  by Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth)
In THE SHADOW OF SILK LENNOX (1935), Lon Chaney Jr. was still using his birth name of Leighton. The troubled man character he later became known for is nowhere in evidence here. Chaney plays an upbeat, arrogant gangster who'd laugh in your face while pulling the trigger.

This Poverty Row programmer has a Roaring Twenties feel to it. Despite an OK atmosphere, cool autos and a few interesting outdoor shots, the movie is ultimately dragged down by goshawful nighclub numbers and shootouts with pistols that sound like pop guns.

Ray Turner as a bug-eyed "feets don' fail me now" stereotype gets a solid 9 on the un-PC meter. Marie Burton plays the rather homely quote-unquote: dancer who clumsily hoofs it to Dean Benton's self-written and sung tunes.

The best thing about this one: seeing a young and happy Chaney.
The worst: almost everything else.
"Silk Lennox" is ideal background to an afternoon nap. (1.5 stars out of 5)


ALPHA VIDEO offers bargain priced, often hard-to-find vintage movies that are ideal for those willing to skip DVD extras. Their transfers show no evidence of restoration, so quality varies from one title to the next, with "fair to good" being the average.

Also from ALPHA:
Ralph Graves stars in TICKET TO A CRIME (1934) as a P.I. trying to solve a country club murder that has many likely suspects.