The Shadow

This movie got poor-to-middling reviews when it was released in 1994 but I still hold out hope that it eventually gets its proper respect in TV and Cable reruns, because it's a terrificly entertaining film. Maybe it just takes a certain frame of mind or background to enjoy this movie, but I absolutely love it and frequently go back to it when I want to see how a dark, edgy, and FUN movie is done right.

Alec Baldwin is excellent as Lamont Cranston/The Shadow. Baldwin has never achieved the commercial sucess many predicted for him and this movie perhaps shows why; Baldwin doesn't play a straight protagonist. The movie begins with Cranston as a hedonistic warlord in China and then jumps to his reformed Shadow persona is 1930's New York, and it is Baldwin's performance, which teeters between serious and funny, nice and cruel, that bridges the gap.

Russell Mulcahy and crew did an excellent job creating a 1930's-noir feel to the picture. One of my friends complained that the movie sets were "too obviously fake", I think he missed the point. They re-created the feel of a 1930's movie set, not the 1930's itself!

The movie is a bit campy at times but thankfully maintains the dark edge of the Shadow character, who has no qualms about killing or maiming his opponents (hey, this guy was a bloodthirsty killer in his previous life, you think he's going to forget how to use that power when he changes sides?). John Lone does a nice job as the Shadow's opposite number, Shiwan Khan. The supporting cast is excellent as well (Jonathon Winters, Ian McKellan, Tim Curry) with perhaps the exception of Penelope Ann Miller, whose character and performance were rather annoying, but I can live with it.

Overall I give this movie a BIG thumbs up and recommend it to anyone that enjoys fun movies. I've gotten a mixed reaction from friends I've recommended it to but I think this is the kind of movie where if you like it all, you'll love it.

A short comment about this movie from a German point of view, which may make a difference when we're talking about radio plays/comics adapted to the silver screen:

"The Shadow" as a radio play is virtually unknown around here. (I used the opportunity to check out some old recordings on the web, and it's _awesome_ to listen to!) So, German audiences will just walk into the theatre without any proconceived ideas about how it should be, expecting just any other adventure movie.

As such, IMHO it stood up well. Baldwin is cool; of course his demi-dark side begs for a comparision to Batman, but I think Baldwin wins in terms of credibility and depth of character. The gimmicks and gadgets are neat, Tim Curry as the half-villain is entertaining to watch as always (though he overdoes it a bit at times), the script is well-paced, the action is staged superbly, the music is gripping.

But most of all: Kudos to the production design/special effects/makeup team! They did a superb job in transforming the Shadow's 'invisibility' (as well as his overall looks) from a radio idea to the screen. It was awesome to watch, and at the same time a bit chilling and frightening.

Drawback: Beside the intentional jokes ("I'm not interested in your balls..."), some takes just seemed to be unintentionally funny- perhaps they went a little too far in trying to create a gloomy atmosphere...

Along with _The Rocketeer_, this one's also one of the unfortunately widely underrated films. Certainly not a milestone in film history, but a good and entertaining flick to watch with a bag of popcorn and a girl to hold in your arms during the scary moments. But I'm pretty sure- The Shadow... knows!

Before BATMAN, there was THE SHADOW. In the history of troubled billionaires donning disguises at night, THE SHADOW told the story of Lamont Cranston before Bruce Wayne's story filled DC Comics' pages. Finally, in 1994, the long-running radio drama came to life on the big screen in one of the best adaptations since Tim Burton brought The Dark Knight to the silver screen in 1989. For some reason, the movie never caught on with the public; maybe not as many people remembered the radio version as I did. I loved it, though; I could watch this film again and again.

Alec Baldwin (BEETLEJUICE, HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER) plays Lamont Cranston, a former drug lord who is captured by a Tibetan monk and retrained to fight evil as his penance for doing it. Cranston's power is a kind of hypnotic telepathy; he has the power to "cloud men's minds", which he uses to make himself invisible to evildoers except for his shadow (because light itself can never be fooled).

Cranston lives an exciting double life in what is apparently a glamorized version of the 30's, playing the town as a billionaire playboy and building up a secret network of helpers from those he saves as The Shadow (each identified with a silver fire opal ring given them upon their rescue), until he meets his match in two ways: Cranston loses his heart to enchanting-but-scatterbrained Margo Lane (Penelope Ann Miller), and The Shadow must fight his evil counterpart, Shiwan Khan (John Lone), last descendant of Genghis Khan, who has a hypnotic telepathy of his own and is seeking to bring life as we know it to an end using elements that have never been combined before (Dr. Roy Tam to Cranston: "I guess you'd call it an implosive-explosive-submolecular destruction device." Cranston: "Or an 'atomic bomb'." Tam: "Hey, that's catchy.").

Forget trying to follow the plot; like BATMAN, the plot isn't the point. The point is the look and feel of the movie, and this movie has glamour and pizazz to spare. 1930's New York City has NEVER looked better. The special effects are brilliant (at one point, as water rises in an enclosed room, the invisible Shadow's legs make deep dents in the rising water) and very well used throughout, so that they are not intrusive but rather a part of the story. Like BATMAN, there's also a large assortment of anachronistic gadgetry (pneumatic tubes delivering messages over a sophisticated network, video phones, elaborate neon billboards) that somehow work with the story as well. And the acting--Baldwin, Miller, Lone, Peter Boyle as Cranston's driver, Tim Curry as an evil scientist in league with Lone, Ian McKellen as Margo's father, another scientist whose discoveries are exploited by Khan--is also first-rate. THE SHADOW is the perfect Saturday Night movie: Fun to watch, attractive-looking, and not terribly taxing on the brain. Go see it.

Before mentioning the story, I have to warn potential buyers of this DVD:

Universal Studios committed the unbelievable "sin" of photographing this in the original 1.85:1 widescreen but only offering it on DVD in formatted-to-TV, so you miss a good percentage of the great visuals. Not only that, they zoom the picture to fill the screen so it isn't sharp, either. I hope this situation is rectified. It's a disgrace.

As for the story, it's simply a very hokey-but very entertaining fantasy/adventure, based on the popular radio hero of the 1930s.

This is just pure escapism, not to be judged seriously because it's a dumb story. It's cartoon-like, an outlandish story that mixes action, comedy and a superhero with time-travel and all sorts of strange happenings. For someone who likes to gawk at the sights and sounds of the '30s and '40s, this is a fun film. The surround sound in here is fun, too, especially when The Shadow (Alec Baldwin) speaks.

I have watched the movie several times now after purchasing it and it actually gets better each time I view it. I would highly recommend the film to everyone.

At first (see my earlier comment) I found John Lone's villain to be too weak...but I see now why. The REAL foe in the film is not Khan..but the SHADOW himself. His inner darkside vs his good side. Lone is just there to show you what the darkside could be. HE isn't what scares the Shadow. It's his own past, his evil side, loss of control that plagues the hero.

I wish this had been better received because we could've enjoyed a few sequels by now. And the same goes for THE PHANTOM and THE ROCKETEER.