Title: The Hands of Death
Air date: October 17, 1954
Plot summary: A scientist, Dr. Grelling, is unpleasantly surprised to be greeted one night by the arrival of an old colleague, Dr. Rama Shandu. Back in the day Drs. Grelling and Shandu, back in Tibet, did research on the secrets of cosmic rays and how they drive the aging process. Dr. Shandu has figured out some things about cosmic rays, because, despite actually being 106 years old, he looks about twenty-five. It turns out that Dr. Grelling has a criminal past and is working under a false name, and Dr. Shandu blackmails Grelling into helping him with his further research.
Cut to Margot Lane and Lamont Cranston having dinner at a fancy nightclub. They are approached by a friend of Lamont's, beautiful young actress Netta Shaw. Netta is in a panic because of a strange man who's been staring at her, but Lamont dismisses her concerns, noting that men are bound to stare at her because she's young and gorgeous. Unfortunately, on her way home after dinner, Netta is confronted by the man who was staring at her: Dr. Shandu.
The next day Margot and Lamont are called in by Commissioner Weston, who tells them of an unusual case. That morning, police discovered the body of an old woman in the park. It wouldn't be that strange, for an old woman to suddenly die—except that the body is emitting a magnetic field, and it was positively ID'd by fingerprints as that of Netta Shaw.
Note: This episode is lost, as is almost every episode over the last six seasons of The Shadow, 1949-1954. But a script survives, and is the basis for this recap.
Tropes:
- As You Know: "You know what we learned," says Shandu, and Grelling helpfully recaps for the audience that they learned the role of cosmic rays in driving the aging process.
- Hypnotic Eyes: Another nifty trick that Dr. Shandu has. He uses his hypnotic stare to get Netta Shaw to come with him.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Shandu, whose dreams of ending the aging process lead him to kidnap and murder a young woman as part of his research.
- No Ontological Inertia: After Shandu is murdered by Grelling, his corpse shrivels up into that of a very old man.
- Rapid Aging: Something went wrong with Shandu's experiment with Netta Shaw. She aged some fifty years overnight, and died.
- Really 700 Years Old: Rama Shandu, who is 106, looks like he's in his mid-20s.
- Villain Opening Scene: Evil Rama Shandu shows up at the lab of Dr. Grelling and blackmails him into helping Shandu with his research.
