The Shadow 276 Syndicate of Death

SYNDICATE OF DEATH was originally published in the February 1, 1944 issue of The Shadow Magazine. Death threatens the life of an eccentric inventor. The Shadow will be forced to use every ounce of his strength to thwart the powers of evil that hover around his amazing new invention. By Shadow standards, this tale is a bit of a yawner... a big tedious. Of course, it did come from 1944, when the pulp adventures were sagging a bit. But even by 1944 standards, this story is just lacking. It's lacking anything to make it unique, although it gives a half-hearted try. But it fails, and we are left with a most unmemorable story. An actor on Broadway, a bit crazy as they all seemed to be in these type of stories, is plotting murder on a fellow Thespian. Jan Kranda plays the part of Heinrich, the mad assassin, in "The Impostor." And Rex Troy, the leading man, has got to go. So Kranda switches a loaded gun for the prop gun. How often have we seen this? So Rex Troy dies, or so we are led to believe. Of course, it later turns out that he didn't die and there's a lot of switching around which really just makes the reader fatigued. Anyway, Kranda believes Troy is dead, so he is motivated to go into hiding. And what better way to go into hiding than disguised as Professor Bartlett, an inventor? Professor Lucien Bartlett has an amazing new invention, an amplified x-ray machine called a cathodoscope. It can see through walls. With this device, it would be possible to look through a vault door and see the combination. It's a device which criminals could put to definite use, and have decided to acquire regardless of whatever stands in their way. Greedy investors are seeing dollar signs. This invention, once proven, will be worth millions. Of course, if the invention is proven to be a fraud, the investors will drop out. And whoever is left, will own the whole worthless thing. But what if it's not worthless? What if the investors are tricked into thinking it is a fake, but in reality it works? Some sinister mastermind figures this all out. Fool his fellow investors that the cathodoscope is worthless and they will sell their shares for pennies on the dollar... to him! And then he will be the sole owner and will become rich... rich... rich! And how does he go about convincing them that this device is a fraud? First he has to convince the actor Jan Kranda that he has killed fellow actor Rex Troy. Then Kranda will seek a way to hide from the law, and will easily agree to masquerade as Professor Bartlett. And as the inventor Bartlett, he will make it appear he is trying to swindle his investors who will then sell their shares and the mysterious Mr. Big will be sole owner of this valuable new invention. Is your brain hurting yet? All this scheming, plot and counterplot, convoluted conniving seems to be the long way around, just to achieve such a simple end. It's so unnecessarily confusing! But anyway, to continue... Professor Bartlett is abducted from his lad to be replaced by Jan Kranda who masquerades as the real professor. Bartlett's investors are treated to a sham performance, intended to be clearly revealed as fake, and convince the investors that the invention is a fraud. That way, the real working invention can reside safely in the hands of crime! Luckily, we have The Shadow! And luckily, his alter-ego, Lamont Cranston, is one of the investors in the cathodoscope. He's there, when the demonstration takes place. Only The Shadow suspects that the real Professor Bartlett has been replaced by a duplicate. Only The Shadow suspects that the invention being demonstrated is not the real cathodoscope, but a clever fake. Only The Shadow can whisk the professor's young daughter Elaine out of harm's way. Only The Shadow can find the secret hiding place where old Professor Bartlett is being forced to complete the work on his invention. And only The Shadow can unmask the master villain behind the entire scheme. This story comes from 1944, and by this late in the series, changes were taking place. Most notably, the issue of two Cranstons is dropped. In most Shadow novels, The Shadow often takes on the guise of Lamont Cranston when the real Cranston is absent. In this story, there is only one Lamont Cranston, and he's also The Shadow. There is no attempt to explain that there is another, real, Cranston. Another change is that the dual identity of Cranston and The Shadow is no longer a secret even to his agents. In this story, Lamont Cranston tells Margo that he is The Shadow. "Professor Bartlett needs the special protection that I can best give him as The Shadow." He even changes into The Shadow in the presence of Harry Vincent and Margo Lane. This would never have happened earlier in the series. In earlier years, his agents occasionally suspected some connection between the Cranston and The Shadow. Usually they contemplated that he might be another agent for The Shadow, like they were. But not here. Cranston is The Shadow, and he doesn't seem to care if his agents know it! By 1944, The Shadow radio shows was starting to have it's effect on the pulp stories, and in this one it shows. In a nod to the radio show, mention is made of the "weed that bears bitter fruit." The line is spoke by Shrevvy, who was also in the radio version. The dialogue seems a bit artificial, as though it was intentionally forced into the story even though it didn't naturally fit. Cranston gets to practice some hypnotism, in this tale. Too bad we don't actually get to see The Shadow hypnotize his victim. But alas, we are only told about it in retrospect, and even then only rather vaguely: "Cranston had thrown a hypnotic grip on Troy from the moment that the meeting began... which had first clouded Troy's mind as to his visit to Kranda." Notice that the ability to hypnotize is specifically referred to as "clouding" men's minds. Another obvious nod to the radio series which used that phrasing in it's opening signature. And it also alludes to The Shadow's radio ability to achieve invisibility: "All that remained of The Shadow was his laugh! The thing was incredible. It made a literal fact out of The Shadow's famed invisibility." Of course, in the pulp series, The Shadow had no powers of invisibility. He couldn't cloud men's minds, so they could not see him. But now and then it was casually mentioned that criminals mistakenly believed him capable of that feat. All, apparently, in an effort to tie the radio and pulp series closer together. Recurring characters in this story include Margo Lane, Clyde Burke, Hawkeye and Harry Vincent. Hackie Moe Shrevnitz is only referred to as Shrevvy. Another nod to the radio series. Contact man Burbank is mentioned, but doesn't actually appear. As for the New York police force, there's no sign of Commissioner Weston. Joe Cardona appears at the end to help mop up the gangsters in the climax. One thing I've always found interesting about the stories from the 1940s is that more and more often The Shadow was accused of being a criminal. In the earlier years, the law recognized he was a power for good, assisting them. But in the 1940s, occasionally the law would ignore his years of service, and accuse him of switching to the side of lawlessness. Even Joe Cardona, who had been saved by The Shadow many times and should have known better, wasn't immune from this suspicion. In this story, Joe muses, "Well, the wise birds always said he'd go crooked himself some day, so this must be it." Where's that loyalty, Joe? In this mystery, we see that Shrevvy has a bit of a potty-mouth. "Shrevvy cut off with a string of expletives." It's not often that we see him swear, but he does so here. The original title of this story was "Eyes of Death." I think that's much more appropriate, interpreting "Eyes" to mean the machine that can see through walls. But the editors at Street Smith decided to change it to "Syndicate of Death" even though the only syndicate is the group of investors. The connection is tenuous at best. In looking back at this story, there's not much to make it stand out. It's a routine Shadow adventure, but doesn't really have anything special to offer. The amazing invention isn't used to full effect; it's just the motivation for everyone's actions. I would have loved to see more of the x-ray machine in action. There was one scene that sticks in my memory. The Shadow is climbing up through the trap door in the ceiling of an elevator, when the cables are cut. The elevator plummets six or seven stories to the basement. Inside is found a mangled body. Could it be The Shadow? Did he die? Well, of course not. But it was fun to try to figure out how he escaped, and who the body belonged to. And all was finally explained, it was a pretty satisfying explanation. But one memorable scene can't save this story. It's really pretty ordinary. This one doesn't get my recommendation, unless you just want to say you've read them all.