The Shadow Returns is a 1946 American comedy crime film directed by Phil Rosen and starring Kane Richmond, Barbara Read, and Tom Dugan.

Private detective Lamont Cranston steps in to solve a murder for the police with the assistance of his alter ego, The Shadow.

The New York Times called The Shadow Returns "the first of three above-average Monogram features" but that the character Margo Lane, an intelligent and resourceful character on the radio series, was portrayed as a "blithering idiot" and that Margo came off "far stupider than the film's official comedy relief, Cranston's chauffeur Shrevvie".

The Shadow Returns was thought to be "an entertaining mystery" and the disappearing gimmick considered "handled with subtlety and inventiveness" by director Phil Rosen.

[1] The film was followed by two sequels, Behind the Mask (1946) and The Missing Lady (1946), with Richmond and Read reprising their roles.