Title: "Power of the Mind"
Air date: April 24, 1938
Plot summary: Two spies, Victor and Countess Sarah, have kidnapped a scientist, Professor John Henry. They want the professor to reveal to them the formula for the exceptionally powerful explosive that he has invented. Victor sets his mook Ivan to whipping Prof. Henry, but Henry still won't tell. Instead, the torture drives him to a complete mental breakdown.
So Victor goes to Plan B, which is to kidnap a second person, a psychiatrist, to unlock the mind of the first person. They seize one Dr. Waldeck, who also refuses to assist them. What Victor and Countess Sarah don't know is that Waldeck just happens to be an acquaintance of Lamont Cranston. Dr. Waldeck is a student of the same sort of "power to cloud men's minds" that Lamont is, and manages to send to Lamont an impression that he (Dr. Waldeck) is in danger, and also the name of a ship. When Margo Lane confirms that Dr. Waldeck isn't in his hotel, The Shadow takes the case. He goes down to the harbor and boards the ship, where both Henry and Waldeck are being held captive.
Tropes:
- As You Know: When chiding Lamont for not taking her to dinner, Margo has to say that "Margo Lane, your assistant" wants to go to dinner.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Victor has Prof. Henry whipped in order to give him to give up the formula. Countess Sarah warns him not to go too far, but he doesn't listen, and the torture winds up completely shattering the professor's mind.
- Dramatic Irony: Dr. Waldeck grills Lamont Cranston about this mysterious character, The Shadow, who has learned things about telepathy and hypnosis that relate to Dr. Waldeck's studies.
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: A newspaper vendor hawks a story about Professor Henry getting kidnapped and his lab getting ransacked.
- MacGuffin: The secret formula for the powerful new explosive that the bad guys want from Prof. Henry.
- Muggles Do It Better: As Lamont is worrying about using his psychic powers and telepathy to find out if Dr. Waldeck is missing, Margo says that they should just call Waldeck's hotel to find out where he is. She does, and they find out that the professor is missing.
- Spy Fiction: Two spies kidnap an inventor in hopes of getting the formula for his new explosive.
- Telepathy: Lamont is able to receive a psychic distress signal from Professor Henry, revealing that Henry's been kidnapped.
- Title Drop: While congratulating Dr. Waldeck at the end, The Shadow says "Your faith, and the power of the mind, saved you and Professor Hardy.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Victor and Countess Sarah refer to "headquarters" and Victor says "my country" and then tells Dr. Waldeck that he should get the formula for "our country." Nazi Germany is strongly implied but never named.
