Title: Gun Island
Air date: October 23, 1938
Plot summary: Lamont and Margo are taking a Caribbean cruise together—they were never definitively stated to be lovers, but c'mon. In any case, they are on a cruise together when Captain Nielsen, the captain of their ship, sees another ship on the horizon, on fire. The cruise ship comes to the rescue and takes on board one "Capitan" Joe and fifteen of his men.
It's a bad idea. Captain Joe and his men are pirates who promptly murder Captain Nielsen and seize his ship. They sail back to a small island that is the lair for Captain Joe and his men, with Lamont and Margo as their prisoners. Lamont becomes invisible as The Shadow, while Captain Joe takes custody of Margo. Lamont and Margo soon find out that something completely different from piracy is taking place on the small island.
Tropes:
- As You Know: Lamont feels the need to say "Take this part of the Caribbean Sea where we're vacationing now" when talking about how the area used to be rife with pirates. Later after a gunshot, Margot has to say "He shot Captain Nielsen!" in order to tell the viewer that Capt. Joe did indeed shoot the other captain.
- Busman's Holiday: Well naturally Lamont and Margo can't just take a cruise and have fun. They have to get ensnared in piracy and espionage.
- City with No Name: If this episode had been produced a few years later it would have been Germany or Japan named as the country that is using the island as a weapons depot. But this was 1938, so Captain Joe tells Margo to look at the name stamped on the bombs, and Margo is shocked to learn that "that country" is using the island as a secret base.
- Fat Bastard: It's a radio show but Lamont and Margo do still refer to Captain Joe as a fat guy on a couple of occasions. Margo even expresses surprise at how quickly Captain Joe can move.
- Foreshadowing: A pretty obvious example. Early in the episode someone mentions completely out of nowhere that Lamont can hypnotize people. Sure enough, at the climax Lamont hypnotizes Captain Joe to stop him from dropping the grenade and blowing the island up.
- Greater-Scope Villain: It turns out that the island which the pirates use as their lair isn't actually just a pirate lair. It is actually a secret base for an unnamed foreign country, and it is chock full of bombs and torpedoes. The idea is that the foreign country, which is too far away from the United States for air attacks, will use the island as an advanced base for bombing American cities. The pirates are actually just the garrison of the secret base, and they attacked and seized the cruise ship out of boredom.
- Ruthless Modern Pirates: Captain Joe and his men seize the cruise ship and kill Captain Nielsen and his crew.
- Vacation Episode: Lamont and Margo are on a Caribbean cruise together when they are captured by pirates.
- Villain Opening Scene: The film opens with Captain Joe and his men setting fire to their own ship as part of their plot.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Captain Joe and his men set their own ship on fire in order to attract the cruise ship, which they proceed to seize.
