Underplayed Gems

The Vanishing Shadow (1934)

The Vanishing Shadow poster
Directed by
Lew Landers
Genre
science fiction film
Country
United States
Runtime
4h 02m
Rating
7.1 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A scientist builds a ray gun and a robot to fight criminals. The serial follows his battles against a villain who also has advanced weapons.

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What happens

The Vanishing Shadow is a 1934 Universal science fiction film serial directed by Lew Landers. It features what is believed to be the first appearance of a hand-held ray gun in film. (apart from The Death Ray). Many science fiction gadgets, including a robot and The Destroying Ray, are also featured in the serial. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.