Around the time of the 1930's, Lamont Cranston was to take up man's struggle against evil.... The Tulku taught him how to "Cloud Men's Minds", to fog their vision through force of concentration, leaving visible the only thing he can never hide -- 

-- his Shadow...
Thus armed, Cranston retured to his homeland, that most wretched lair of villiany we know as..... New York City...

In the late night, a single car slowly drives onto the Brooklyn Bridge. As it stops, one man comes out; a Mobster named Duke...